[gr4z]

Ok so I specced Auto Cruise Control. I have to be honest its the only let down on my F36 as I love every other option. I find ACC like binary. Its either on or off and nowhere in between. When someone pulls in it takes an age to do anything and then wham accelerates like mad. When someone pulls out it slams on the brakes even though they are far ahead. I can only imagine what others think behind me. I've tried adjusting the distances using the control on the steering wheel but for £800 or whatever it was I don't rate it.

Which begs the question can I have normal cruise control instead? I don't see a way to turn the ACC feature off. Any tips?

Ta

[JNW1]

I had active cruise on my E92 335i (bought second-hand) and, while I know some people like it, I thought it was absolute rubbish and there's no way I'd spec it on a new car. Sadly, though, I'm not aware of any way of turning it off; think the best you can do is to have it set so it looks as far ahead as possible but I don't think you can disable the active bit....

[Grant_7]

I've used similar systems from other Manufacturers and always found you have to work around them, which defeats the point in my book.

I know there's a few on here that swear by it, but I'm certainly glad I didn't specify it.

[SkyJawa]

Once you know its nuances its brilliant. I do miss it on the m140.

You can set it into normal cruise with brake mode without the radar, I did it on my 06/2014 car but only once or twice to test ages ago. IIRC its a long press on one of the distance control buttons.

[davybull]

Yep just reduce the radar distance to zero and hold the button for a short time and you have normal cruise.

I do like ACC in certain circumstances but other times it is rubbish.

Dave.

[gr4z]

It's not bad in heavy traffic and only on dual carriageways or motorways. In light traffic or single lanes I find it useless and a hindrance actually. Sometimes dangerous if someone is too close to you at the back and it slams on the brakes.

Will try what you suggest. Thanks

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by SkyJawa

Once you know its nuances its brilliant. I do miss it on the m140.

You can set it into normal cruise with brake mode without the radar, I did it on my 06/2014 car but only once or twice to test ages ago. IIRC its a long press on one of the distance control buttons.

Well have to agree to differ on the merits of active cruise but the second part of your post appears to give the OP the answer he was looking for!

[NISFAN]

As SkyJawa has correctly mentioned, a long push on the distance adjust button turns off the active part.

You do have to learn some little tricks and help it out from time to time, but it does show how far artificial intelligence needs to come before we truly get self driving cars.

[gr4z]

Originally Posted by NISFAN

As SkyJawa has correctly mentioned, a long push on the distance adjust button turns off the active part.

You do have to learn some little tricks and help it out from time to time, but it does show how far artificial intelligence needs to come before we truly get self driving cars.

Can you enlighten me to these tips? As I spent £800 on this feature I would like to use it more but as it stands I don't like it at all.

[Drek]

I'm with the OP on this, I can't stand the thing. As before, long press of the distance button will turn it into normal cruise. Some tips include using Eco Pro to avoid harsh acceleration but the one I found most useful was taking control of the throttle whilst the system is still active. That way you don't hang back so far and you can also accelerate more sooner whilst the car in front of you pulls over. It's not perfect though. The only time I found it useful was on quite motorways in Croatia (!), plenty of time to do its thing and hardly any traffic behind to bunch up and wonder WTF you're doing. Wouldn't spec it again.

[GaryUFM]

I'm getting used to this now. For instance, I like the way it can tell (presumably by measuring the change in distance) if I've pulled out behind a faster car on a motorway.

Let's say a car is going 90 to my 70, I can judge his rate of overtake, and pull out with a reduced gap, knowing within seconds he'll be well clear. It won't slow me down then and will actually begin to accelerate if below the set speed, albeit at a slower rate than the other car is passing.

I think the main thing is anticipation for the most part, and getting used to when the brakes will kick in at each distance setting, and where possible, making the maneuver before that point. It doesn't get around someone else pulling in front of you though, you're right there.

Anyway, I suppose a case of ETTO. But as to turning it off, I thought you just pressed the button to the right of your right hand knee? The place where the little storage drawer would be if you'd specced the extra storage. It's what I've got. And if I press it so it is not lit as green (its default setting) then it behaves just as standard CC.

This not the same in the 4 series?

[Drek]

I thought that just turned off the anti-collision setting?

[ep22jg]

This a dissapointing!!
I had ACC on my S4 (bought used with it on) and exactly like the op, thought it was too basic and not really comfortable to use.

This was a 2010 car and I'd hoped it had moved on by know ..... obviously not!!

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Drek

I thought that just turned off the anti-collision setting?

It does

RTFM people!

[NISFAN]

Originally Posted by gr4z

Can you enlighten me to these tips? As I spent £800 on this feature I would like to use it more but as it stands I don't like it at all.

As has been mentioned, using the accelerator overrides the system on a temporary basis, which you need sometimes when someone cuts into your gap, or you want to begin accelerating when the car in front is moving out of your lane (the ACC won't start accelerating until the car in front completely crosses the lane line.

The other little tip is if you are coming up to a car you intend to overtake, indicating overrides 'car present in my lane' which allows you to get much closer (and start accelerating) without the system locking on to the speed of the car in front. Although I appreciate most BMW owners won't have experienced this trick....what indicators

[teaston]

I think you just need to change your expectations of it, it isn't an auto pilot.

What it is, is cruise control that you don't have to stop using if there is vehicles in front of you, which considering there's almost always vehicles in front, is brilliant!

If something pulls out though, brake and then hit resume. If the car in front turns off then just accelerate yourself until it loses the car in front.

[Tengocity]

I didn't don't like it at first and then used it in standard mode, but then you realise that all those situations where ACC doesn't work that well are just situations where standard cruise just doesn't work at all.

I've now got so used to It that when I came to spec my second F30 it was then one of the first things on the spec sheet.

I spend a lot of time on congested motorways and stop start traffic where it makes life very easy though.

[73henny]

I had it on a Mk7 Golf I used to have. Hated it. Its only any use if you want to go at exactly the same speed as the car in front. And in reality how often is that?, because the car in front could be going slower than you want, or changing speed unnecessarily. What I hated most about it though was when travelling in either lane two or three, and gaining on a slower car in front, its often the case that that car is passing another vehicle and is about to pull in after completing the pass. I can see that he's pulling in and will have cleared my lane before I catch him, but the bloody radar CC slows the car completely unnecessarily

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

I didn't don't like it at first and then used it in standard mode, but then you realise that all those situations where ACC doesn't work that well are just situations where standard cruise just doesn't work at all.

I've now got so used to It that when I came to spec my second F30 it was then one of the first things on the spec sheet.

I spend a lot of time on congested motorways and stop start traffic where it makes life very easy though.

The sort of thing that really put me off the active cruise in my E92 was the typical motorway scenario where you're in (say) lane 3 and a car pulls out in front to overtake a car in lane 2. You can see that in all probability they're going to move back to lane 2 as soon as their overtake is complete so with no active cruise you just lift your foot; however, with ACC it would brake and slow the car to maintain the distance so it then had to accelerate it again when the lane cleared. I just concluded I could make smoother and more fuel efficient progress without it and therefore stopped using it; my E92 had a black leather interior with piano black inlays and many was the time I cursed the original owner for not spending their money on a glass sunroof instead of ACC!

ETA: While I was typing I see 73henny has made exactly the same point!

[Tengocity]

Totally agree it can frustrate at times, but those times are not really times when normal cruise would be so much better. In that situation I would just tap the cruise off, then re-engage, or else put my foot on accelerator. I know that begs the question of why bother, but it's active cruise, not autonomous driving!

So for me on most long motorway journeys it's a real boon, and gives a lot of reassurance that if you're distracted for a second at the wrong time then it's also got you covered, hopefully avoiding the all too common rear end shunts I see every day.

Also, in the slow moving crawl at rush hour then it's superb. But I'll do 35k miles across the two cars this year, so my circumstances justify it more than for others I'd guess.

[SkyJawa]

A combo of the ACC on our Octavia with the BMW variant would be pretty good.

What I really miss from the BMW on on the Skoda is it brings you to a complete stop and stays there. Then to move off you either press resume on the wheel or tap the accelerator. In the Skoda once you've stopped it tells you to activate the brake and if you don't after a few seconds starts moving again. Once on the brake you have to start off again on your own and re-engage the cruise once moving.

However once moving the Skoda/VW variant is much more configurable and better.

[gr4z]

Thanks for all these tips guys. It's good to know I'm not the only one frustrated with ACC.

Will tinker. Especially thanks for the tip about using the indicator!