[Answer42]

The intelligent cruise control system sounds great, slowing down when needed and then speeding up when possible. It'll make driving in slow traffic less of a chore but how effective is it? Do you get really close to the car in front before the system slows down the car?

 

[Zeus]

From what I know you can't activate cruise control under 40mph or something like that ? You can't use it in some sticky traffic if I remember correctly

 

[Pat]

The ICC cannot be enabled under approx. 30 kph or 20 mph, this is a common safety limit for cruise control systems. The distance can be set up to 50 m.

The system works like a dream, it is so effective that you tend to forget about it and find yourselves cruising blissfully behind a slow car at a ridiculous speed, but as soon as you pull out to overtake, the Q30 kicks down and accelerates.

We’ve been able to verify that the ICC is capable of adjusting in permanence to the traffic flow speed down to nearly standstill.

We faulted it once, as we were following a vehicle with a rack of bicycles at the back.

 

[Indiana Jones]

The cruise control can't detect bicycle racks?

 

[InfiniteClass]

Darn, 30kph isn't bad at all. That'll come in real handy in traffic down here. But you may need to elaborate a bit more on that bicycle rack thing.

 

[infinite]

while 30kmh/20mph is good, even cruising at that speed you will get idiots jumping in front of you if your trying to keep a steady pace in slow moving traffic like that. in situations like that i always throttle it myself.

 

[Indiana Jones]

We faulted it once, as we were following a vehicle with a rack of bicycles at the back.

What do you mean, it faulted once when there was a bicycle rack?

 

[Pat]

I should have qualified that observation: my wife was at the wheel and I was trying to coach her through the use of the ICC, she hates cruise control as a rule as she doesn’t feel ... in control (go figure!), at a stretch she prefers to use the limiter. When we experienced the problem, she assured me that she had the ICC enabled, but I still have my doubts. So in effect this has to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[InfiniteClass]

Ah... okay now that clarifies quite a bit lol

Either way, we'll have more people reporting on how sensitive it is and all of that good stuff so I'm sure this won't be the last we're hearing of this situation or occurrence with bike racks.

 

[Indiana Jones]

I'm not one to use cruise control either. Maybe I'm just too old school but I want to be in control and be able to react with a moment's notice.

 

[Zeus]

I'm kinda the same way. It's only when I'm going real far out and there's a long empty open highway, I'll throw it on just to give my feet a rest.

 

[Pat]

Personally, I use the cruise control as much as I can and probably more, I simply love it and the ICC on the Q30 is awesome. In the past, when this was still possible, I used to drive as fast as I could (and sometimes faster); now of course this is no longer possible and I find it tiresome to try to maintain the ridiculous speed limits that are imposed on us, therefore I find that the cruise control has become an essential tool. In fact when I selected the car, the ICC was an important criterion and actually was, in some cases, a deal breaker.

 

[Zeus]

Which other vehicles did you look at that didn't have the ICC ?

 

[Pat]

Only one didn't comply, the Subaru Crosstrek, the ICC (a feature of the Eyesight System) is available in the US but not in Europe. The car was for my wife and she had a real crush on the Crosstrek but, despite the fact that this car is a piece of engineering wonder, I was not too happy with the CVT gearbox and the lack of turbocharger (not to mention the fact that it's not exactly in the same premium league as the Q30 but that was a lesser concern). Nevertheless I was prepared to make allowance for those drawbacks and pull the trigger if I could have had the Eyesight system, I could not so that was it.

 

[Indiana Jones]

Maybe the US Eyesight System system for the Crosstrek didn't meet Europe standards. Odd that one country would have an important option and one doesn't.

 

[Pat]

It's nothing to do with standards since the Outback is offered with the Eyesight option, I think it is merely sheer misguided marketing strategy.

 

[infinite]

Unless it's one of those things they're saving for a future model year. I honestly believe car makers do that, it's how they get people to always buy and upgrade. have to control the market some how.

 

[Zeus]

Saving it for a future model year in a different region ? That personally doesn't make sense to me