sac02

It great in traffic.

It's also great for the times when you want to cruise "approximately" some speed. Like if you want to go 80mph but you are also OK going 75mph if that's what traffic is doing - set the cruise at 80 and if the guy in front of you is going 78, no problem you'll just hang out behind him without having to do anything like bump your cruise speed up and down to try and match speeds. If he's going 76, no problem you just hang out behind him without any effort. If he's going 74, no problem just hang out for a sec, then change lanes and the car will take you back up to speed without effort.

Think about the first time you took a road trip in a car with cruise control versus your previous cars without it - remember how much easier and how much more mentally refreshed you felt after a few hours in the seat, despite the fact your were still paying 100% attention to the act of driving? Adding adaptive cruise is another step in that direction, it relieves some of the mental processing power and leaves you with more capacity at the end.

Brando123b

The hunt continues…

As a side effect of being so hard to find - my daily email from Cars.com is extremely satisfying. The dealers are dropping prices pretty significantly. I saw one with a $9k drop.

orca15

I'll expand a bit on the ACC - the basic ACC works better than any other car I've had, coming to a complete stop and holding the brakes until the car in front moves. Sometimes it seems like you need to tap the gas after that, sometimes it takes off on it's own. Mine has traffic jam assist, not sure if they all do. The icon changes from one car with green side lines to two cars when it slows down, and it starts being more careful about lane keeping. So in a traffic jam, it is nearly zero workload.

All that said, I want to contrast with Porsche Innodrive (PID) which I have found un-useful. There is a button under the ACC stalk that you tap to change from ACC to PID. PID also considers the speed limit, so it will slow down when you change from a 55 zone to a 45 zone. The problem is, if you are going 60 in 55, it slows to 45 in 45, not 45 plus the 5 you had as buffer. The manual says there is a way to keep your buffer; I have never had it work.

I am one who loves to use all the technology but have just turned off PID. I use it rarely, just as a way to not miss a speed trap on new rural highways. That works well, but the constant resetting (unless you love driving exactly the speed limit) makes it a pain for extended use.

TL; DR - ACC awesome. PID - not so much.

cometguy

Yes, Innodrive (and all "self-lane-keeping" software in cars, including Teslas) is bad and dangerous, at least at highway speeds. LKA is something that I hadn't thought about in slow, stop-and-go traffic; I'll have to try that ...

ACC is pretty good in Porsches. Generally, if you come to a stop for a couple of seconds (only), it'll start up again on its own, but longer than a couple of seconds and you'll have to tap gently on the accelerator pedal to get it going again. I never use ACC for local driving or short trips, but for long cross-country trips, ACC is wonderful and really reduces fatigue to be able to drive more hours (as sac02 notes above).

As for the comment above by Nickshu about Panamera being a fabulous cross-country driver, I absolutely agree -- the best I've ever owned. I drive at least one cross-country trip each year of 6k-7k miles to visit family and friends over about 3 weeks time, and the only thing I wish that Porsche would do is produce a "Cross Turismo" version of the Panamera E-Hybrid, because there are too many times when I get to scenic areas in the Rockies and elsewhere that I want to go down a dirt road, but having the low-slung Panamera makes me think otherwise due to the low ground clearance. Heck, I scrape bottom way too many times with driveway dips and speed bumps on paved roads, as it is -- and I have the air suspension (you can only get the highest ground clearance of about 6-6.5 inches up to 18 mph, after which it dumps down again); the Panamera just isn't practical for me from that standpoint. I hate SUVs, so I'm kinda stuck in my choices -- in terms of wanting a PHEV.

Panuny

@orca15: Maybe it will only maintain your buffer if you aren't exceeding the speed limit?

Epeviston

Totally agree with ACC comments. It was one of my must haves when I bought my 2015 Turbo. It works great. My son drove my car almost all the way across the country simply by setting 80mph and relaxing. Takes some getting used to…as in trusting it. But it does what it’s supposed to. my 125 mile commute from PA into NJ is now much easier due to ACC. I love it.

im a little disappointed in the inodrive comments about the speed limits. An 18 Turbo with Inodrive was going to be my next car in a few years.

-E

orca15

Haha that would be "never"

Seriously, it is in the manual this way (though poorly written) and others have said that a tap "up" on the stalk when it shows the impending speed change maintains the buffer but I have either not found the right trick or it doesn't work - mine ALWAYS slows/speeds up to the exact speed limit. First world problem, but if there are many changes on a road you are constantly tapping SET+ SET+ SET+ to find that sweet spot where the cops will ignore the bright red Porsche.

Panuny

Mine wlll be bright cherry red, so I will need to find that spot as well. Thanks for the info.

JohanvdWalt

I managed to find one wit ACC and would not buy one without, I use it on 90% of my drives.
Its great on the open road and even more in heavy stop and go traffic.
It remove most of the stress and allow you to (within reason) observe your surroundings.

Keep looking till you find one, I do not have it on my wife's Cayenne S Diesel and miss it every time I drive the car, I want to look into retro fitting it in the Cayenne!