Drove an Audi A7 the other day for a couple of hundred miles on all types of roads. All the "usual" gubbins -nav, bluetooth etc.
Also had those headlights which turn with steering (OK, Cit DS had them in 1956) but also auto dip when cars coming other direction. Thought it might not dip when coming up behind cars but it recognised rear lights and dipped. Also not confused by reflective/illuminated roadsigns.How do they do that?
Also that radar(?) thing - on cruise will keep you a certain distance behind cars in front. Clever enough to vary distance with speed so that on motorway at 70 will keep you 100 metres behind but approaching roundabout will allow you within (say) 3/5 metres of car in front - not only slows car but also applies brakes (and brake lights). Very clever - reckon I could have driven the 200 miles without touching a pedal or dipswitch.......except.....
Auto dip only worked when opposing headlights were in view, so didn't dip when you could see the headlight beam but not the lights. Also on undulating roads could see truck "top of cab lights" and they did not dip until headlights in view so probably dazzled oncoming at times??? Also seemed a bit slow in dipping - almost as if lights were tilting down rather than switching to dip.
Radar thing was great except if approaching roundabout with no car in front of you so car expected you to go round it at 60 or 70! If another car was approaching or on roundabout from right neither the dip or "radar" saw the car.
So I still had to stay awake!! But one day??????
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Yeah, mine does that. I've got nowt to do except steer these days. Auto wipers, lights, dip, cruise, intelligent nav, beepy parky things, voice control everything, the lot. Boring to be truthful.
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do they have a "disable" switch?
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On the driver or the car, Z ?
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either, preferably not both at the same time.
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"Boring to be truthful"
Maybe Humph, except that I found it less relaxing in that I kept wondering whether the car would "do things" rather than ME automatically dipping and braking etc. Suppose one would get used to it if driving one regularly. Worried about the dazzling thing also - I prefer to dip when I see the beams rather than the actual lights.
Car also recognised a built-up area and dipped while under street lights - very clever!!
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Pretty impressive Phil. I'm waiting to get my hands on something that parallel parks itself automatically - that should be a real eye-opener. Driven plenty of new Jags/Range Rovers with adaptive cruise, they even allow you to adjust the following distance from 3 or 4 seconds down to the full Audi :)
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"adaptive cruise"
Ah, so that's what it's called Dave - not radar thingy!!
Not sure I'd trust the self-parking lark in someone else's expensive car!!
Like the "down to the full Audi"! 6 inches?? 2cm ish? ;-)
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>>I'm waiting to get my hands on something that parallel parks itself automatically
You mean the Russ swift option:www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=d0kX1sNN1g0&feature=endscreen
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>> Pretty impressive Phil. I'm waiting to get my hands on something that parallel parks itself
>> automatically -
some Lexus models do it. To be honest, some of the technology is getting silly now.
As I commented re satNav a while back, it has the danger of taking away common sense from drivers.
As another example, I like the rearview camera, with 'predictive' function, but can live without it.
As I'd have to when it packs in.
Many folk are so gadget-bound that they don't know the alternative - remember the story of the woman in tears because her remote control wouldn't open the doors and she couldn't get home? Some kind soul assisted her by taking the remote, inserting the key in the lock, and opening the car that way!
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>> >> Pretty impressive Phil. I'm waiting to get my hands on something that parallel parks
>> itself
>> >> automatically -
>>
>> some Lexus models do it.
The Prius does it as well, with one slight snag. The system works using a rear-facing camera, which also gives you a picture and cue lines on the main display for reversing.
It's a heck of sight quicker to park it using the TV picture and cue lines than it is to get it happy with where it is, fire up the autopark and let it do it itself.
That said, it does manage to swing itself neatly into spaces you'd swear were too small for it with millimetric accuracy. First time I tried it I had to stop, get out and convince myself that the nose wasn't about to clip the thing in front. It actually had given itself about 2cm of clearance, which looks rather too close from the driver's seat!
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The VW system uses extra parking sensors in the front bumpers (there's an extra on either side) to measure a space and to work out when to turn. So if your car has parking sensors already this is a cheap option.
I decided I did not want it even for a low cost on my car. I tried it on the demo and it failed to park. I've said before why - it needs to turn in sharp for it to work and so can then detect an object with the rear sensors which aborts. Still clever.
The VW system does parallel parking and reversing into a space in a car park.
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>> Auto wipers,
Never found a system that works satisfactorily, and that includes the current BMWs.
Scenario usually goes something like this:
Starts to drizzle. Wipers do nothing.
Visibility starts to be seriously compromised. Eventually, they do a single wipe.
Repeat the above 3 or 4 times.
Then the system will sort itself out and put the wipers on normally. For about 10 seconds before they inevitably go into high speed mode and start flapping around like something demented until I lose patience and knock them into normal manual mode.
One gadget that genuinely doesn't make life easier. I hate it.
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>> >> Auto wipers,
>>
>> Never found a system that works satisfactorily, and that includes the current BMWs.
>>
Never even tried one but just between Mrs B and me there's a wide difference in tolerance for blurring by raindrops v possibility of wiper going screeeeeee over the glass.
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I had a car with auto wipers, auto lights, auto dipping mirror. They all worked very well, inc the wipers. I moved to a car with manual wipers, manual lights. They work very well too.
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Nice if you like that sort of thing, not for me though and avoid as much as possible all these unecessary toys.
A i don't want or need them and B they'll go wrong.
Think i might have discovered why so many lorries have spotlights on the roof now thanks to Phil's post, its late dipping by wheeled computers with bored out of his skull steering wheel operative dozing gently...i suppose 400W+ suddenly lighting up along the roof would trigger the auto dip a bit sharpish, the manual dip probably too..;)
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I'm a convert to auto wipers. The Octy's work perfectly for me, after being 'woken up' at the start of journey or onset of rain.
Auto lights are a step too far though. They seemed to work well enough on BMWs, but I can tell when it is dark, and can turn on lights when I want them - often before many other road users.
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"400W+ suddenly lighting up along the roof would trigger the auto dip a bit sharpish, the manual dip probably too..;)"
Spot on GB - I always dip when I see the roof "sidelights" on trucks - headlights are so low on modern trucks and driver so high they are probably dazzled by the majority of car drivers who are also so low seated
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Yes, you can see where the problem will be when auto dip is the norm - night driving will be a succession of blindings with HID lights, unless we agree that retaliation is standard ;-)
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>>why so many lorries have spotlights on the roof
I thought it was watching too many re-runs of Convoy.
10-4 Rubber Duck.
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It's easy to forget to dip sometimes. I did it last night.
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I'm another convert to auto-wipers: I don't think I've ever twiddled the LEC's silly do-everything stalk past the 'Auto - high sensitivity' position, although I do occasionally press the end for a single wipe when the raindrops are in front of my eyes but not obscuring the sensor. But, like Z, I can still cope when I'm in the Volvo with its manual switch, provided I remember to use my right hand, not my left.
I remember being impressed by how well the auto-wipers worked in a Passat Sport I test-drove in 2002, so it must be pretty mature technology by now.
But auto-lights are rubbish. Judging how visible you are is far more complex than measuring ambient light levels, and like Alastair, I usually feel the need to boost my visibility before the car does. Only good thing about mine is that on the Auto setting the lights go off with the ignition, whereas the manual setting leaves them on.
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Oi, what about people like me who are going to own one of those heaps when they are 15 years old and everything is going wrong?
Keep it simple for Christ's sake.
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I don't think i'm likely to worry too much about who will be buying my new car in 15 years time. Effectively new cars devalue to no real value after 10 years. Manufacturers and purchasers don't need to think beyond that.
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My auto wipers are mostly OK, so I leave them set - the switch position for auto can be programmed for intermittent or auto, and the sensitivity or interval as relevant can be adjusted with a rotary collar on the stalk.
The lights are just annoying. The sensitivity can be adjusted but there is no way to stop them switching on and off when there is sun and dark shade. I'd rather not use them but the switch positions go OFF-AUTO-SIDE-HEAD so in going from the off position to on, they first come on, then go off, then come on again in stages. Designed by iriot.
The car also has "Adaptive Front lighting System" (AFS of course) which is just a gimmick. It means than when a certain amount of lock is applied a supplementary sideways pointing lamp by the headlight comes on. It doesn't really add much To Be Honest (TBH).
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I think auto-lights were popularised by countries with lots of road tunnels, something that we haven't been able to afford to make since the victorian steam era.
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I lost my auto wipers and lights when I moved to the Volvo from the C5. I miss them, as does Mrs B.
The wipers were almost faultless although could be confused by a filthy windscreen, and I loved the way that the lights would come on if the wipers had to operate at anything more than a gentle intermittent wipe. How often do you see people in poor visibility spray with no lights on?
The cornering lights were also useful on country lanes
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>> But auto-lights are rubbish. Judging how visible you are is far more complex than measuring
>> ambient light levels,
>>
I agree. It was quite foggy in Hertfordshire this morning but the S-Max auto lights (wrongly) thought it bright enough not to need lights.
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We had a car with auto lights. SWM used to use a road with some big tree shadows and she was always being flashed by oncomers...I presume the lights were going on and off. I disabled them before we eventually got rid of the thing...Citroen C3 semi-auto.
On the other hand, I was waiting to make a right into our road off the main road at about 1845 on Friday. I was waiting for a white Trannie sized van to come past...there was another vehicle following, but there was enough gap to make the turn before it arrived.
Not so ! As the van passed me I saw the street lights reflecting on something close behind it....a dark coloured Ka......No lights at all.
Prime lazy iriot candidate for auto lights. Got me chips home safely that time, though !
Ted
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Current Golf Vi is our 4th car with all the auto-stuff (also my A4 B5 had an auto-dimming mirror 12 years ago).
I found the auto wipers were really poor and quite frustrating on my Audi A4 B7 but acceptably good on my BMW E91 330D and really quite competent on both Golf VIs.
Auto lights were similar, too sensitive on the Audi (in fact they needed a software update IIRC), fine on the BMW and Golfs (which had DRLs anyhow).
Auto dimming mirrors are fantastic, I thought they were a pointless extravagance until I had one, now I am a convert.
Current Golf has an amazing and largely pointless number of configuration options available via the computer / MFD. Doesn't have any radars though (apart from retro-fit park sensors). I found the rear-view camera on various hire cars surprisingly useful too - perhaps something similar to the auto-dimming mirror in the 'you never knew you needed it' category ?
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All your complaints about your MK6 Golf and indeed mine, are only going to get worse in its successor the MK7 out shortly. Here we'll have e-handbrake and Autohold, Tyre pressure monitor and Stop/Start across the range and also some sort of radar distance control, I believe.
If you thing the MK6 complicated, think on!
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30 years ago electric windows and fuel injection were deemed "complicated".
20 years ago ABS and aircon were deemed "complicated".
10 years ago Traction Control and Automatic Stability Control were "complicated".
Today they almost all work with no problems in the car lifetime (Jags and RR excepted of course).
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>> If you thing the MK6 complicated, think on!
>>
Actually I wasn't complaining about the Golf VI, it seems to do most things pretty well, I'd have waited for the Golf VII but having arrived in Australia I needed a car quickly and they have good offers on the outgoing Golf VI.
I'm a technologist so I like the 'features', my (Australian spec) car has the tyre pressure monitoring and hill hold as standard (but park assist is not fitted here). I had the hill hold feature on my 330d too and I found it quite acceptable in use, since our car is also (necessarily in Australia) a DSG I'd say it works particularly well.
Many of these features are just 'software'. E.g. for the auto-parking, with drive by wire and electric power steering the computer (via the cam-bus) merely needs to activate those peripherals in response to calculations made from data coming from the parking sensors - notice that it is a very cheap 'upgrade' on cars which are already fitted with the front & rear sensors. Similarly flat tyre monitoring merely uses the ABS sensors which are already fitted, the rotational speed increases as the tyre deflates and the effective circumference decreases.
These 'features' are almost 100% profit to the car manufacturer, I suspect that many can be 'retrofitted' by people with access to the appropriate equipment to communicate with the ECU.
An adage from my industry which you might want to bear in mind is that 'hardware eventually fails and software eventually works'. Provided the ECU programming is debugged / maintained then these features should prove as robust as anything else whereas electro-mechanical features will eventually wear out.....
I worry far more about the longevity of the twin-charger engine and the DSG box, however not enough to put me off the purchase. Having said that - the car is delightful to drive and the engine/gearbox combination is very impressive.
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Mon 8 Oct 12 at 23:36
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The VW parking system uses additional parking sensors on the side of the bumpers. With the demo car I didn't like the system but thought to myself the visual info was of use.... the side sensors are not on the cars if you don't have the auto-park option. On front bumper, there are only four sensors (very useful with visual and audio feedback). The auto-park uses the missing two sensors.
I know the car could do the auto park if the sensors were there. And they could be added. When I got the car last year I think the additional cost over the standard sensors was less than £200. So less than £2/month to me probably. Had I realised the side sensors were available... providing more info when parking plus the party trick parking.... I might have got them. Probably not.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 9 Oct 12 at 00:38
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>> The VW parking system uses additional parking sensors on the side of the bumpers.
I *think* it's slightly different with the Golf as the outer / side sensors are fitted if you opt for factory fit parking sensors with no factory option for rear-only on the standard car. The 'upgrade' cost from this to full-on automated parking is less than GBP100 IIRC - still probably 99% profit to VW I'd contend.
On a more philosophical note, in Aus I see relatively few cars with parking sensors. Tow-bars on the other hand are almost ubiquitous and increase rather than detract from the resale value of a car. They ought to as they're at least GBP1000 fitted and the (nice IMHO) removable / retractable European style ones don't appear to be available even as options on European built cars. Different markets..... in Hong Kong just about every car had reverse park sensors and I never once saw a vehicle with a tow-bar.
I remember doing the 'lease cost' calculation.... IIRC my company's lease scheme demanded every option be paid for over the term of the lease and was attributed a residual value of zero (auto and leather excepted possibly). With my preference for 2 year leases this meant I avoided adding expensive options to cars but I had (have) colleagues who are happily funding GBP10K of options on their BMWs over 3 or 4 years only for the lease company to benefit (albeit marginally) at resale time.
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>>Auto dimming mirrors are fantastic, I thought they were a pointless extravagance until I had one, now I am a convert.
>>
I have had the use of one for a few months and I do not like them at all!
I much prefer the the old manual dip feature.
My only options are to curse it, drive with a finger over the sensor or carry a "Post-it " to stick on it.
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The more i read and learn, the more likely it is i'll be at the wheel of a Dacia Duster petrol when my blissfully simple chariot starts to rot through....though that may well get a full strip and chassis/body refurb instead, thinking 4 years time when its 20....can't think how else to avoid this stuff and still drive something bigger than a shoe without going old school 4x4 again.
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I welcome modern technology. Just ensure it's not French.. (How many diesel hybrids have PSA sold? Not many I guess)
Most of you would no doubt prefer a man with a red flag or acetylene headlamps... or carburettors or opening windscreens or semaphore indicators :-)
Last edited by: madf on Tue 9 Oct 12 at 10:46
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I fear that many on this site would see semaphore indicators as as a dangerous innovation. I too am somewhat bemused by people who buy new cars and then seem to spend time and effort switching off the features such as start-stop or auto dimming mirrors.
It's progress people - enjoy it!
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Despite what I said above, I do enjoy technology. Indeed I have several laptops, an HTC smartphone and a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet.
I also have, as you know a MK6 Golf now just over 3 years old and haven't disabled any of its electrical wonders. I do have some reservations about its auto wipers but have to say that perhaps 90% of the time they work OK although I often have to invoke a quick wipe as they refuse to clear the screen to my satisfaction whereas a fixed interval wipe would have taken care of that. The trouble is obvious that the sensor only covers a very small area of the windscreen.
I have never disabled the DRLs nor want to, but am a bit alarmed about the sudden flash of headlights when they come on for reasons that seems illogical on a bright day when they might react to a shadow and then don't come on on some dull days when I thought they might have.
Other than that this Golf is the best that VW have produced to date.
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>> I fear that many on this site would see semaphore indicators as as a dangerous
>> innovation.
Not really:
tinyurl.com/9jkqd8m
What a cheek!
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Being ejucated, I prefer the great classics.....
www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=kqiUGjghlzU
Ted
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Bloomin' clever these modern cars! - Runfer D'Hills
