I spent the day yesterday driving to and from San Diego [250 mile round trip] and made extensive use of the Adaptive Cruise Control with Low Speed Follow.

I wanted to relate my experience with this marvelous bit of technology. On the way to San Diego the trip was fairly uneventful. I was mostly going against the flow of traffic at the tail end of rush hour. I simply got into the car pool lane, set the ACC to 75 mph and sat back. I didn't need to touch the gas pedal for almost 2 hours as the traffic flow rarely impeded my progress. Pretty milquetoast kind of driving and use of ACC.

On the way back I was in the middle of rush hour and experienced very slow traffic. I hadn't used the ACC [with Low Speed Follow] much in those conditions. I was very pleased with how the system performed. When traffic slowed to a crawl the ACC slowed the car to keep pace with the car in front of me. For one extended period [probably at least 20 minutes] the traffic moved from 2-3 mph up to 25 mph without ever coming to a full stop. The ACC, using just the electric motors moved me along in perfect sync with traffic. A few times when traffic stopped the ACC brought me to a complete stop and held me there[like when brake hold is working]. When traffic began to creep along, I merely touched the gas pedal and the ACC reactivated and I did another long stretch of slow speed driving, using only the electric motors. It made the whole experience of driving in heavy traffic much less tasking. In addition, with the car modulating the acceleration, particularly in EV mode, I got over 33 mpg on the 125 trip back from San Diego, even better mileage than the straight cruise down in no traffic [around 31 mpg].

My only criticism is that when i got off the freeway and had to take control of the gas and brake pedals, it was like a new experience. The ACC-LSF had spoiled me. If anything, the this great technology lulls you into inattention since the car is driving itself so much.

 

That about sums up my opinion. :-)

 

Yup, pretty cool stuff. I have a video of it working in rush hour traffic but have had no time to upload. Will do so this weekend. I would not have procured this car without it.

 

Agreed!

 

I rarely find myself disagreeing with George and Bob and Malibu about this car, but I do not find myself using the ACC so much. I agree that it is a totally amazing technology and that it works pretty well. But there are two reasons I am not using it regularly. First, I find that the low-speed follow is not as smooth as my own foot; it tends to be a bit jerky when accelerating and stopping. I can do bettter.

Second, while the high speed ACC works flawlessly, I still prefer the feeling of connectedness to the road that I get with my foot on the gas pedal (which is why I have complained elsewhere in the forum about the too-strong reactive force gas pedal). Perhaps I have not given it enough of a try, but every time I do I wind up feeling just a tad not in control. Not unsafe, just a little more tense, with nothing to do with my right foot. Especially when the car in front slows down, I want to ease up on the gas, but I'm not on the gas! I am not a luddite, and I appreciate the technology in the car and use most of it, but this one I can't seem to master. It's not that it doesn't work totally perfectly, which it does. Maybe it's because I am older than the rest of you with more miles of driving the old-fashioned way. Ha! :-)

BTW, this is the best car I have ever owned. First real snow storm this week; the car never seems to lose control. It is wonderful and the fact that there are still 86 unsold is a perversion of rationality, IMHO.

 

I understand.

As with some of the car's other functions, ACC involves a digital on/off switch, and it does not feel as progressive, as gradual as people would prefer.

Sometimes when the car is deciding to brake, it can wait too long.

It will brake correctly, but it seems to take 0.25s to make sure that the car ahead isn't going to come back to speed before it brakes.

In consequence, when it decides to brake it can be a little hard on a passenger who doesn't know what's going on.

And when it's coming to a full stop, it won't know to let up at the last moment, so you get that feeling of stopping suddenly and then falling back into the seat afterwards.

If you were stopping yourself, with your analogue million points of thought instead of the car's single point of thought, you would brake more gradually and not shake people up at the last moment just before the full stop.

Nevertheless, it's a huge help to me on a long commute on a road on which the traffic offers few opportunities to pass, and on which road traffic varies between 35 mph and 60 mph, on an ongoing basis.

I arrive home at night and I arrive at work in the morning feeling much better than I did with any other car I've ever owned.

CAUTION: All these fancy things, ACC, LKAS, CMBSS, are of no help with the suicidal geese wandering out from Mike's Pond.

They're of some value when the cows get out.

 

My only concern with ACC-LSF; not so much on freeway driving at freeway speeds though.

 

I agree that it is hard to break a lifetime of having control over your driving. I still enjoy the feeling of control but in heavy stop and go traffic on LA freeways, I prefer letting the Acura nannies take over. It took a little time to trust ACC since it is so alien to our life long driving experience.

Most of the time I too prefer not to use the ACC but I appreciate it when the traffic gets bad....it just reduces my stress. It is just another option that we can choose to use if we want to.

 

Malibu posted exactly what I was thinking. In honesty, it took me about a month to start trusting the system because a) I LOVE the physical movements required to drive and b) occasionally the system brakes later than I would, and harder, or at least that's how it feels when I'm not in control.

Honestly, the system drives like my wife.


I don't use it in inclement weather because one must be on top of their driving game in that situation.

 

I don't have that feature in mine since I have the Tech, but quite frankly I would not want it. That would take some of the fun away from driving it. It is so hard to resist pushing that gas peddle. I completely understand why people with high end sports cars drive fast. It is because they can and it is fun.

I got an invitation to the Manhattan Car Club through a couple of friends, so I will see what that is all about. I was there for an event a couple of years ago and snapped some pictures which if I can figure out how to upload I will do it. So far I have been unsuccessful in my attempts. We will what happens.

 

Or many of the test drives I've had to endure over the years...

 

^^^ Ha! I guess we sometimes forget about the poor dealer guys. Probably because I always give sales guys seriously fun test drives, pushing as hard to the edge as I can. Or maybe that's what you're complaining about, Colin?

 

Even without using the ACC, I feel exactly the same when driving long trips with this car. Whether because of the quiet, or the seat comfort, or the feeling of being well planted on the road, or the general handling, I have now finished eight multi-hundred mile trips and I feel way less "road-tired" at the end of every one. It is completely noticeable. It's hard to exactly describe, but speaking as a mostly highway driver, this may be the Hybrid's best overall feature.

 

I agree that this is a great feature but I find the best thing about the Sport Hybrid is that it lives in my garage.

 

Today for the second time, I returned a V6 TLX that I'd had for a few days.

I was very glad to get back into the RLX.

 

the ACC does work perfectly. i specially like how you can change the follow distance by cycling through the steering button, more distance for trucks, etc. still, i do find that it will make you a bit lazy and tend to follow slow traffic for a longer distance than you should with such a rocket of a car.

one thing i would change if i could is make it more audible. it does give a faint chime when it slow you down but with the Krell reading my HDD at level 14 you cannot notice it.

 

If you look around in the manual you will find there is a way to change the volume of many of the audible announcements. I'll bet one of them will change the chime for the ACC. I'll do a search when I can get to the pdf Manual I downloaded and let you know if I find anything. I recall there are at least two separate volume controls -- one does the nav stuff [directions etc.] and at least one other which probably includes things like the ACC and other voice controls.

 

I will Malibu thanks. actually, i have the manual in pdf makes it easier to searsh.

 

had a strange experience with ACC today. Got caught in a traffic jam on the freeway - stop and go. Put it on slow speed follow for 25 mph
was working well until the car in front accelerated and so did ACC, but seemed faster than normal. Was getting close to car in front as it was slowing down. All of a sudden collision avoidance kicked in with Alerts to Brake. ACC was not braking yet so I "stepped" in.
Now I've lost some confidence

 

have pasted a copy of the Warning from the owners manual below. Notice there is a warining concerning the "limited braking capability" of ACC:





uuWhen DrivinguAdaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low Speed Follow (LSF)*
Driving
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low Speed Follow (LSF)*
Helps maintain a constant vehicle speed and a set following distance behind a
vehicle detected ahead of yours and, if the detected vehicle slows to a stop,
decelerates and stops your vehicle, without you having to keep your foot on the
brake or the accelerator.
1Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low Speed Follow (LSF)*
3WARNING
Improper use of ACC with LSF can lead
to a crash.
Use ACC with LSF only when driving on
expressways or freeways and in good
weather conditions.
3WARNING
ACC with LSF has limited braking
capability and may not stop your vehicle
in time to avoid a collision with a vehicle
that quickly stops in front of you.
Always be prepared to apply the brake
pedal if the conditions require.
3WARNING
Exiting a vehicle that has been stopped
while the ACC with LSF system is
operating can result in the vehicle
moving without operator control.
A vehicle that moves without operator
control can cause a crash, resulting in
serious injury or death.
Never exit a vehicle when the vehicle is
stopped by ACC with LSF.
* Not available on all models

 

did you memorize the whole manual

in this situation, it did not seem like car in front was stopping all that quickly, but I was becoming uncomfortable before the brake warning came on so I was preparing to stop

good to know though

 

My trick is that I downloaded the Owner's Manual to my computer. It is easy to let the computer search for the appropriate section.

 

I've had the same experience as you, getakey. This happens if I leave the set speed at the speed limit and traffic slows to a crawl. I have learned in that circumstance to lower the set speed so that the car doesn't accelerate too quickly.

For example, if the flow of traffic slows from 70 mph to 10 mph for a considerable stretch, I lower the set speed to, say, 30 or 40 mph. The speed on ACC can be set really quickly. Just press and hold the lever down or up and the set speed starts changing by 5 mph instead of 1 mph.

Malibu, I have the manual on my iPhone. That's my secret to rapid lookup.

 

You've reminded me of one of my more annoying things to do with ACC: I don't like the way that it will gradually accelerate, but hold a gear or two down for too long, as if it needed the lower gear because the car was trying to get somewhere in a hurry.

There've been many times that it'll get up around 7000 RPM before it stops, then shifts up, then shifts up again to where it should've been all along.

If I am carrying passengers, I'll intervene against ACC many times in order to avoid shaking up the crew.

If I'm by myself...what the hell. :-) There must be a reason they do it that way. Maybe in 2015 it's the only way to keep the carbon deposits off the valve seats.

 

What Bob said. If the set speed is too high for the actual speed your are going, then the car will attempt to quickly accelerate to get up to that set speed, hence the situation getakey experienced.

I learned this early on in my adventures with ACC. Interestingly enough, I rarely use it these days (unless im on a road trip or extensive highway driving). It was fun at first seeing how far I could go from point A to B and never once having to hit the gas pedal. Until I got to the point where I started feeling disconnected from the vehicle and the whole "experience" of driving the car was lost.

Basically like a pilot who enjoys "flying" a plane versus sitting back and letting autopilot fly waypoints...

 

my speed was set at 25mph

well aware of how to quickly change speed

 

Gotcha. I haven't had that issue at that low of speed. Either that, or I am braver than I thought I was.