Automobiles

[Lionel]

My wife's car has this feature. I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate it. The worst. Turn it off.

Heavily marketed gadget I guess. We will see. I was part of a pack, full of stuff you do not need :)

[Matthew Strongin]

Heavily marketed gadget I guess. We will see. I was part of a pack, full of stuff you do not need :)

It's not just the marketing. It's how the car will slam on the brakes for you in situations that don't really call for it. Turn it off.

[Saab2000]

I would like adaptive cruise control on my next car. Oddly, it's available on some pretty mid-level cars and on some of the Audis, it's an expensive option and then only on the highest trim level. I'm talking specifically about the Q5 here. I can't comment on the emergency braking 'feature'. Some of this can be turned off, and some can't.

As to the size of the Q7, I've never seen a vehicle of that size hide its size as well as it does. It's not a small vehicle, I'll grant that. But it's not gigantic either. But on the road it really disguises its size well. I don't find it frumpy or with a saggy rear end. I find it reasonably attractive, as SUVs go.

[Blue Jays]

”...As to the size of the Q7, I've never seen a vehicle of that size hide its size as well as it does.
It's not a small vehicle, I'll grant that. But it's not gigantic either. But on the road it really disguises its size well.
I don't find it frumpy or with a saggy rear end. I find it reasonably attractive, as SUVs go...”

A really sweet bit of news would be if the third-row seating could be deleted in favor of greater interior stoage.
The Q7 can be ordered without a sunroof, which boosts ability to travel with bicycles upright with a simple fork mount.
Won’t someone at Audi in product design management please think of the cyclists?!?! LOL.

[Saab2000]

The Q7 can be ordered without a sunroof, which boosts ability to travel with bicycles upright with a simple fork mount.
Won’t someone at Audi in product design management please think of the cyclists?!?! LOL.

Really? This is awesome! I'm not a lover of moonroofs/sunroofs in the least. Makes me like it even more.

As to the third row, I basically agree. That said, they do fold down completely flat and when the second row is folded, the surface inside is quite large. Almost as nice as my old Yukon, which could have been used as an emergency camping area.

[nahtnoj]

I saw a Q7 at an auto show a few years back and was impressed at how flat the rear gets. Its a very legitimate car camping vehicle.

But put me in the no more VAG products camp - unless I'm in a financial situation where I'm happy to just piss away money leasing them.

[Blue Jays]

”...Really? This is awesome!
I'm not a lover of moonroofs/sunroofs in the least. Makes me like it even more...”

You are correct. There is a delete code in the Audi order program at the dealership.
The reality is moonroofs/sunroofs are used .0001% of the time and are just something that can eventually break.
Murphy’s Law dictates that were it to leak or break...it will occur during a monsoon. I never order them.

[Lionel]

I would like adaptive cruise control on my next car.

I have that as well in the same "pack". We will see if I ever use it.... Sort of doubt it.

[j44ke]

The adaptive cruise control is annoying. Not necessarily in my car, but in other people's cars. I'll be driving on the highway, and one of these Audi/RR/BMW SUV's will appear in the rear view with their headlights in my rear window and then they'll just sit there, 10 feet off my bumper. Like I'm in their tractor beam or something. It has taken slowing down to 45mph to finally get them to disengage their cruise control and go around me. Were they sleeping in the back seat? Nuts.

The anti-collision braking has worked well a couple times already. Both times were due to someone else avoiding another car in a merge situation. Not sure I would have banged into them if the braking didn't activate, but it was close enough I am glad it came on. I've never had it go off in any situation other than those two times.

[Matthew Strongin]

The anti-collision braking has worked well a couple times already. Both times were due to someone else avoiding another car in a merge situation. Not sure I would have banged into them if the braking didn't activate, but it was close enough I am glad it came on. I've never had it go off in any situation other than those two times.

Maybe it depends where you live. A common highway maneuver in Miami is for someone to cut across multiple lanes in the gaps between cars. In our normal controlled chaos highway (though more chaos than controlled) it goes pretty smoothly as long as you hold your speed steady. With the anti-collision braking it quickly goes from cruising along steadily to your car slamming on the brakes, potentially causing the person behind you without adaptive cruise control to slam into your rear end, and setting off sirens inside the car. Then, while the car that passed in front of you has gently moved to the next lane, you're left wondering WTF happened and why you almost shit yourself.

[Saab2000]

Adaptive cruise control may well be a mixed bag. I can see the negatives and have experienced what was described above. It can be frustrating for a car leading and maintaining a steady speed to have someone just come up right behind and stay there.

I have a three hour drive to Chicago once per week or at least a few times per month and I want something that takes the edge off the drive. We'll see what that turns out to be.

The GTI has excellent seats that aren't fatiguing but the cabin noise is a bit high in the GTI and the ride quality is 'firm', to say the least.

[j44ke]

Maybe it depends where you live. A common highway maneuver in Miami is for someone to cut across multiple lanes in the gaps between cars. In our normal controlled chaos highway (though more chaos than controlled) it goes pretty smoothly as long as you hold your speed steady. With the anti-collision braking it quickly goes from cruising along steadily to your car slamming on the brakes, potentially causing the person behind you without adaptive cruise control to slam into your rear end, and setting off sirens inside the car. Then, while the car that passed in front of you has gently moved to the next lane, you're left wondering WTF happened and why you almost shit yourself.

Miami - 6th Borough of NYC

Drivers polish their skills here and then go to Miami for the spacious highway system.

[roseyscot]

The adaptive cruise control is annoying. Not necessarily in my car, but in other people's cars. I'll be driving on the highway, and one of these Audi/RR/BMW SUV's will appear in the rear view with their headlights in my rear window and then they'll just sit there, 10 feet off my bumper. Like I'm in their tractor beam or something. It has taken slowing down to 45mph to finally get them to disengage their cruise control and go around me. Were they sleeping in the back seat? Nuts.

The anti-collision braking has worked well a couple times already. Both times were due to someone else avoiding another car in a merge situation. Not sure I would have banged into them if the braking didn't activate, but it was close enough I am glad it came on. I've never had it go off in any situation other than those two times.

Maybe they want you to get out of the left lane? Just kidding, but seriously, how do people not learn that the left lane is for going faster than the other lanes? If you're not going faster, GTFO.

[j44ke]

Doesn't matter whether I go faster or slower. Always 10 feet off the back bumper. Automaton driving.

I've had people flash their high beams at me in the right lane. Why? To get me to move into the middle lane so they could exit the highway faster? Probably.

[davids]

Maybe they want you to get out of the left lane? Just kidding, but seriously, how do people not learn that the left lane is for going faster than the other lanes? If you're not going faster, GTFO.

Don't you live around here?

I used to drive down 95 in Maine on Sunday afternoons in the summer, as everyone headed back to Boston after the weekends. I'd sit in the right lane of the six-lane highway and pass hundreds of cars stuffed over on the left side of the road.

[twowheels]

I love ACC once you learn to use it and rely on it. Its excellent for variable speed traffic. You do need to set the proper following distance for the circumstances. Sometimes it will go haywire with people cutting across lanes and driving in 2 lanes. But I'm not a fan of automatic braking. I've never needed it because I actually pay attention while I'm driving. It came on once for no apparent reason and scared the crap out of me. These technologies are leading to self driving cars, which are going to have issues based on how this shit works.

[Blue Jays]

My new Audi Q7 has a VSalon “quick connect” button that conveniently projects unread posts directly onto the windshield.

[davids]

My new Audi Q7 has a VSalon “quick connect” button that conveniently projects unread posts directly onto the windshield.

I've got that in my Honda Fit too.
Admittedly, it's the aftermarket version with my phone and a portable projector plugged into the lighter.
But it's totally worth it.

[j44ke]

I love ACC once you learn to use it and rely on it. Its excellent for variable speed traffic. You do need to set the proper following distance for the circumstances. Sometimes it will go haywire with people cutting across lanes and driving in 2 lanes. But I'm not a fan of automatic braking. I've never needed it because I actually pay attention while I'm driving. It came on once for no apparent reason and scared the crap out of me. These technologies are leading to self driving cars, which are going to have issues based on how this shit works.

The two times it came on in my car it was quicker than my reflexes which were going to do the same thing anyway.

As an experiment when I first got my car, I drove it down a stretch of open highway with the lane minder and automatic cruise control, and I did not have to hold onto the steering wheel. Pretty much an automatic car from that perspective. But then one of those liquid tar patches fooled the lane minder and the car followed that instead of the white lines. So that told me our roads would actually have to be in a lot better shape for automatic features, as currently designed, to be totally dependable.

Now I drive with all the automatic features turned off, because I think I am more alert when I am the one driving, not the car. The only one I use is the auto-start that shuts the engine off at stoplights, and I turn that off when I am in stop-and-go traffic because I cannot imagine that's good for the longevity of the starter/battery.

[rmplum]

FYI, when you consider your "distance" toggle for your active cruise control it's not really adjusting the physical distance to the car ahead. It's actually toggling the time gap, which means they are all speed variable. So on the same setting your real world following distance will change based on vehicle speed. Mercedes and Tesla have 8? different follow settings right now, which is splitting hairs imho.

Also, something even as "new" as 3-4 years old is pretty dated now as the software/hardware and calibrations are advancing quite rapidly. It's also impossible to judge all of them by how one system works. Every manufacturer right now has some strengths and weaknesses, but they don't really always pop out unless you do back to back to back drives. Some do braking better, some now have variable accelerating settings (casual to aggressive), some are more consistent in their distance maintenance than others. We've also seen huge variation in performance within the same model - for an example testing an Audi Q7 that is a excellent, followed by an identically equipped vehicle a few weeks later that has all sorts of issues with consistency (likely out of calibration).