Is there any way to cancel the ‘A’ bit of the ACC, and just have basic cruise control?  I have RTFM’d but theres no mention of it.

 

The reason is yesterday I was happily driving on a 2 lane dual carriageway, when the car in front turned onto the (short) slip road on the left, and decelerated quite sharply.  My ACC picked thus up and applied the brakes, much to the annoyance of the car behind me. (And me, for that matter!)

 

Before i am accused of travelling too closely behind, the ACC was quite happy at the distance i was previously keeping.

Nope... If you have ACC then it's always adaptive I'm afraid.

Thanks, as I feared...

12 hours ago, Baxlin said:

My ACC picked thus up and applied the brakes, much to the annoyance of the car behind me. (And me, for that matter!)

 

You can always over-ride ACC and front assist with the accelerator

12 hours ago, Baxlin said:

Is there any way to cancel the ‘A’ bit of the ACC, and just have basic cruise control?  I have RTFM’d but theres no mention of it.

 

The reason is yesterday I was happily driving on a 2 lane dual carriageway, when the car in front turned onto the (short) slip road on the left, and decelerated quite sharply.  My ACC picked thus up and applied the brakes, much to the annoyance of the car behind me. (And me, for that matter!)

 

Before i am accused of travelling too closely behind, the ACC was quite happy at the distance i was previously keeping.

 

You can alternatively adjust (reduce) the distance that it works at.

 

But just remember that if you adjust and it hits something you could be held culpable. The police would say you're not driving with due care and attention. 

 

If I engage it, it's usually in average speed limit area to stop getting a ticket, but I always keep things under manual control as to avoid sudden braking and the possibility of a rear end collision. 

@Baxlin - the key part of Active Cruise Control is that you will need to drive in a more defensive way.  ACC is good, but takes some getting use to . 

I am assuming that as you are in West Hertfordshire, then it is Bonkers Central in terms of traffic most of the time.  ACC is doing its job properly - its stopping a head-on and the car behind was stupid enough to be following you too closely.  Yes, you can adjust your speed as appropriate and yes you can reduce the braking distance via ACC, but as @langers2ksays - if you drive into the back of the car in front and it was determined you were driving too close, its a charge of driving without due care or attention.

2 hours ago, varaderoguy said:

the key part of Active Cruise Control is that you will need to drive in a more defensive way. 

 

Agreed, You need to be ready to take over yourself, disconnect, brake or accelerate especially when other traffic is doing stupid things. Same with normal CC. To be fair the manual says a lot about using it and the problems.

 

For me ACC is one of the best bits of kit on the car, it works very well but it has limitations. The biggest problem I have with it is if you leave a fraction too much space then all hell breaks loose when someone kindly elbows themselves in and if you leave too little space you are too close. I don't use it around busy traffic and I tend to drop it out around junctions

 

You also need to appreciate the effect indicator use has on it. 

 

On 30/05/2021 at 08:34, flybynite said:

For me ACC is one of the best bits of kit on the car, it works very well but it has limitations. The biggest problem I have with it is if you leave a fraction too much space then all hell breaks loose when someone kindly elbows themselves in and if you leave too little space you are too close. I don't use it around busy traffic and I tend to drop it out around junctions

 

You also need to appreciate the effect indicator use has on it. 

 

Don't currently have ACC on mine but I used to have a 2014 Golf 7 GTD some years back which came with Adaptive Cruise Control and I thought it was great (no lane assist - which would have made it awesome) however,  even with it set to the shortest permissible gap there was always someone who felt there need be no gap betwixt me and the car in front.   This quickly rendered ACC useless on my weekly M6 slog as I'd often have one car after another treating the gap as there personally reserved space.   If I didn't intervene I'd almost be going backwards.  People behind would get miffed because cruise was no longer in my control.    

18 minutes ago, Insearchofaskoda said:

This quickly rendered ACC useless on my weekly M6 slog

 

IMHO that is not where ACC (or basic CC) are worth using. Busy stretches of road with people darting around are where you should have hands and feet on the controls. Automatics are just not there yet and even on the Tesla I used last year they have a long way to go.

 

On long quieter stretches of motorway is where I think it does best when giving the right foot a rest and change in position is a necessity. To be able to just let the car slow itself down for slower traffic when there is other traffic in the outer lane is great, then when it clears just indicate and it accelerates back up to speed all without touching the CC. In the past either slowing it down manually or braking/disconnecting it each time you needed to pass something became a pain on long runs.

 

With an electric handbrake it also does stop-start traffic very well, one thing I miss on the Octy from some of the others I drive.

 

If I had one criticism it would be to have the distance vary better with speed, I find myself bumping the distance up a notch or two at higher speeds and back down at lower speeds.