Keen to know what regenerative setting you are using in your IV? 

 

On the motorway, 'auto' seems to work perfectly fine for me but around town on electric only, I prefer the 'high' setting.  Probably because I'm use to the high or 'B' mode regenerative braking on our e-Golf. 

I don't have an IV (I am contemplating one at some point) but I was interested in how the auto regen works?
I as understand it (screenshot from manual below), as long as you specify the right options, it uses the Satnav and sign recognition etc to figure out what the situation is ahead and then sets regen levels accordingly. So I guess if you're coming up to a roundabout, the regen is quite strong?

If so, it's interesting as it means you do need to keep the Satnav up to date to make the car function properly?

If you just ignore updating the car Satnav, and use Google maps or whatever (as I suspect many people do for navigation purposes) , the car presumably won't drive as efficiently?

Edited 18 July, 20223 yr by DavidY

The system in my IV works completely different to my e-Golf.  It is much more sophisticated, although not consistent.  In my e-Golf in 'B' mode (highest regen setting), I know the more I take my foot off the accelerator, the stronger the regen and quicker we slow (used around town only.  I use no regen on the motorway, free wheeling which improves range).  In my IV and in 'auto' mode, as you pointed out, it uses systems listed above to evaluate the situation and therefore determines how much regen to apply.  Although clever, in every situation you are not aware beforehand of how much regen the car will apply and I find I have to apply the brakes myself much more and in some cases, harder than I would usually. 

 

The sat nav doesn't need to be programmed for the car to use.  I don't programme the sat nav for driving around town for example and I have come up to a number of roundabouts with no vehicle in front and the car recognises the roundabout from the sat nav I assume and applies a higher portion of regen.  However there are roundabouts on my route which the car doesn't recognise and applies hardly any regen.  I tend to find the system works better if there is a vehicle in front where the radar also helps to determine the amount of regen in order to keep a safe distance.  Although, again it sometimes is a bit dumb and may not apply regen hard enough meaning I have to put the anchors on to stop the car going bumper onto bumper.  Inconsistent as I mentioned, which is why I tend to set the regen on 'high' giving me more control as I lift my foot off the accelerator.  

 

Don't get me wrong, it is a very clever system.  Regenerative braking is like marmite.  You either like it or you don't and coming from ICE vehicles, those who go down the gears in a manual gearbox will probably adapt to this feature easier.  Others in an auto may take more time to get use to it.  My wife drives an auto and loved the one foot control using regen on max in our e-Golf.  However I don't think she would like the inconsistency the IV gives when in 'auto' mode.  In 'high' or 'low' setting, I think people will adapt easier as there would be more consistency in how much regen is applied with the driver controlling this. 

 

I hope this helps.  Another thing to note, is unlike a lot of the other features in the vehicle, once the car is turned off settings applied tend to go back to it's default mode.  However the regen setting remains as set by the driver as part of the drivers profile which is nice.   

21 hours ago, LSport said:

Keen to know what regenerative setting you are using in your IV? 

 

On the motorway, 'auto' seems to work perfectly fine for me but around town on electric only, I prefer the 'high' setting.  Probably because I'm use to the high or 'B' mode regenerative braking on our e-Golf. 

Auto mode also looks for cars ahead of you. Which means it will brake with regen, if the car in front of you slows down. This happens even if you don't have cruise enabled.

 

I like Auto the most. Since it lets me coast when possible, but does slow down using map or other cars. 

 

You can always manually use regen by holding the left paddle or switching to Sport mode from the gear knob.

Return to auto by holding right paddle, or going back to D.

10 hours ago, LSport said:

The system in my IV works completely different to my e-Golf.  It is much more sophisticated, although not consistent...  

Ah very interesting. I hadn't thought of the usability impacts of a system with a variable amount of regen which you can't always predict.

 

My DSG Octavia (early Mk3) has the freewheeling "Eco mode" functionality too - I do feel that on some roads it's a real benefit, although not so much in urban environment.  Do I take it that the IV no longer freewheels when it thinks regen isn't required?
 

8 hours ago, timster said:

You can always manually use regen by holding the left paddle or switching to Sport mode from the gear knob.

Return to auto by holding right paddle, or going back to D.

 

That's a useful tip. As someone who doesn't have an IV (yet??) I have browsed bits of the online manual, but I hadn't come across that info.

I set the regen to maximum when we first bought the car. I rarely need to use the brakes as the regen is so effective: around 700Wh added to the battery on a long 3-mile hill near here. I sometimes use the cruise control as a brake controller. For example if set to fifty and I approach a speed limit, I adjust the setting as appropriate and the car drops speed quickly. This may explain why the Enyaq has rear drum brakes: the front disks do most of the braking anyway and with a more powerful e-motor than our iV, presumably the regen braking is also more effective. I didn't know about using manual mode to adjust the regen, so I'll try it out later.

@DavidY 'Coasting' mode.