Thank you everyone. Special thanks to Ieolito for excellent explanation (in what probably isn’t his/her first language).
My real issue with ACC is (for example): going uphill at 70 in the inside lane of a three lane motorway. A long way ahead is a lorry which I know is going slower than 70 but there’s a lot of traffic in the middle lane (especially the full-time middle lane users) going a little bit more than 70.
I could just speed up but, hay, I’m on cruise. The trouble is: I’ve forgotten that ACC slows the car down imperceptibly and, before I know it, the car is doing 63 when I’m still miles away from the lorry. I just hadn’t noticed and it annoys me for being such a twit.
I do my very best never to brake on the motorway because I believe it causes those back-ups that we all hate; you know - the ones where there isn’t any apparent reason why your queue of traffic has slowed appreciably. I’m also conscious that, although I’m aware that my car will travel 25-30 metres braking in the dry at 70, the vehicle in front is moving too. So, actually, I have a lot more leeway. After all, our notional lorry, even travelling at 50, will take longer than my car to stop at 70 all things being equal.
Anyway, there we are; some love ACC, some don’t. I just wish I had conventional cruise without some algorithm deciding for me when it was going to slow the car. I’m just better at doing that.
And, on that note, I expect we’ve all read and succumbed to the baleful effects of ADAS, notably “lane assist” (which I have on my Fiesta and which has been permanently switched off after it tried to steer for me on the car’s first day). If the car I wanted to buy did not have some way of switching off lane assist (and I mean a button not stabbing at some screen to try to get through sub-menus - probably on the move….), I wouldn’t buy it. I’ve learnt how to deal with front assist but it still catches me off guard, like a horse shying at a paper bag, and I find myself asking my car (yes, quite dotty) “what on earth is the matter? For goodness’ sake stop over-reacting”.
By the way, this is my first Superb (after a sequence of 5 Octavias) and I like it very much (I don’t hold ACC against it!). I went back to diesel too this time. Goodness, I’m glad I did. I love the torque (so, I’d probably like an electric car; it just wouldn’t do 700 miles on a “tank” would it?!).
best wishes
m