Adaptive Cruise Control - any good?

[Jeremy]

Good video Edman!

What's the flashing white icon on the left of the screen though?

I don't recognise that from my UK spec car.

 

[moooose]

Thanks everyone for your input - much appreciated.

 

[ericblz]

Sorry to bring back an old topic, but I can't figure out why it turns off after being stopped for 3 or 4 seconds. In case the driver falls asleep? I'd imagine 15 seconds would be reasonable if that is the concern.

'When cruse control speed is set and green color on the dash, the car will stop and start by itself.
If you stop to long, it will disingage and go red, just press the gas once to reactivate.'

 

[jelloslug]

Sorry to bring back an old topic, but I can't figure out why it turns off after being stopped for 3 or 4 seconds. In case the driver falls asleep? I'd imagine 15 seconds would be reasonable if that is the concern.

'When cruse control speed is set and green color on the dash, the car will stop and start by itself.
If you stop to long, it will disingage and go red, just press the gas once to reactivate.'

I can only imagine that it's a liability issue.

 

[noakey]

ACC works great in low speed traffic.
Slows down, keeps distance (can be adjusted) accelerates and stop.
When cruse control speed is set and green color on the dash, the car will stop and start by itself.
If you stop to long, it will disingage and go red, just press the gas once to reactivate.

It almost automatic pilot in traffic.
Really cool for slow moving traffic.
Watch my video.
http://youtu.be/KTk6ceKsG1c

Still need to play with it to find the sweet spot on distance setting.

ACC is awesome... I use it every day...
Also see owner videos I have been collating...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt6C30nR-2fWvHbYAGuqOnQBrSWYTy9-Z

 

[stormsaw]

I was sold on ACC with the ICE vehicle that I purchased around a year before we bought our i3. With the ICE vehicle I can get 2mpg greater gas mileage when using the ACC. I wonder if use of the ACC produces greater range in the i3.... I bet it does.

 

[jfox]

Got 2000 miles on my REx now and having a lot of fun with the ACC. The only problem is that for my long commute I get so used to it braking that I have to remind myself to brake manually once I turn it off.

Also folks (and the manual) say to press the accelerator to resume ACC if stopped for a bit, but you can also push the RES button on the steering wheel instead of using your foot.

 

[noakey]

Ever had the acc not see the vehicle in front. Last week on the motorway my acc crept up on a white caravan and I had to intervene.. it didn't show the vehicle icon on the dash either. The sun was behind us. I think maybe the contrast between the caravan and the road surface wasn't good?

But after 5000 miles on my BEV I use acc loads... its a pleasure to drive and be economical with.

 

[ironsia]

I've only had mine for 2 driving days, but an additional point is that the CC (and ACC) is supposed to act more economically in holding the set speed when in EcoPro or EcoPro+ settings. That's something I've long hankered for. Whether it will allow the speed to lag a bit more behind the set point on longer climbs, or is just gentler in resuming speed, I haven't discovered yet (back in the mists of time, I was a control system engineer, and had some experience with cruise controls and E-throttles). I'm glad i got it. The owner's manual is full of lawyerese warning you not to place too much reliance on the system - it will have failures and drop-outs.

 

[noakey]

I've only had mine for 2 driving days, but an additional point is that the CC (and ACC) is supposed to act more economically in holding the set speed when in EcoPro or EcoPro+ settings. That's something I've long hankered for. Whether it will allow the speed to lag a bit more behind the set point on longer climbs, or is just gentler in resuming speed, I haven't discovered yet (back in the mists of time, I was a control system engineer, and had some experience with cruise controls and E-throttles). I'm glad i got it. The owner's manual is full of lawyerese warning you not to place too much reliance on the system - it will have failures and drop-outs.

5000 miles, 3 drop outs and one invisible caravan... that's pretty reliable to me...

 

[Boatguy]

I've also been very happy with the ACC. Sometimes it doesn't anticipate quite like I would, particularly around town, and it can be a little sluggish to start after the light turns green, but that is resolved with an easy press of the gas.

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I have a related question. How do you smoothly transition from ACC to "manual". Just hitting the switch causes the car to immediately being regen braking which is very abrupt (especially for the car behind me). The best I've been able to do is to press on the go pedal to very slightly accelerate, then turn it off, then adjust speed manually as needed. This works, but accelerating when I really want to gradually decelerate is a bit awkward. Given it's choices, I'm not sure what would be optimal, perhaps switching to coast for one second or gradually ramping up the regen braking.

Anyone found a way to smoothly transition from ACC to manual?

 

[jadnashuanh]

THe go pedal seems to have increasing resistance as you wish to make it go faster. I've found that (at least it seems that way) if you press the pedal until you get some resistance or the start to accelerate, then turn the ACC off, you neither speed up or slow down.

 

[noakey]

I've also been very happy with the ACC. Sometimes it doesn't anticipate quite like I would, particularly around town, and it can be a little sluggish to start after the light turns green, but that is resolved with an easy press of the gas.

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I have a related question. How do you smoothly transition from ACC to "manual". Just hitting the switch causes the car to immediately being regen braking which is very abrupt (especially for the car behind me). The best I've been able to do is to press on the go pedal to very slightly accelerate, then turn it off, then adjust speed manually as needed. This works, but accelerating when I really want to gradually decelerate is a bit awkward. Given it's choices, I'm not sure what would be optimal, perhaps switching to coast for one second or gradually ramping up the regen braking.

Anyone found a way to smoothly transition from ACC to manual?

Just dip the accelerator slightly and then release ACC. After a few goes you get to know the sweet spot, and on disengaging, your passengers wont notice a thing.

 

[WoodlandHills]

How do you do it with only one foot? Is that even possible? It feels unnatural to brake with my left foot while throttling with my right. Does not mean I can't learn, but it seems clumsy.

 

[i3Alan]

How do you do it with only one foot? Is that even possible? It feels unnatural to brake with my left foot while throttling with my right. Does not mean I can't learn, but it seems clumsy.

To clear the ACC without using the brake pedal, just tap the ACC on/off switch. It will disable the cruise control, but not loose your speed setting, so you can then tap Resume to re-engage just as you were.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The cruise control on most BMW cars can be disengaged several ways...first, by pressing the brake pedal, but also by momentarily pressing the CC ON button (well, activating the air bags will do it too!). Pressing that longer than a momentary one or hitting it again will turn the whole system off, but a single momentary press just does the same thing as hitting the brakes. If you have previously put your foot on the go pedal, with a very quick learning experience, you can transition off quite smoothly. No need to play footsie with both feet on the brake and accelerator pedals.