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I drive my ACC equipped Audi (both of them in fact) with ACC "on" -- ALL of the time. When I pull out of my palatial estate, I pull the ACC lever and/or touch the end of the stalk AS I am leaving my driveway. Now, there are times when I deliberately override the system (such as when I come to a stop sign and there is no car in front of me meaning ACC will NOT stop the car), but I set my parm to "dynamic" and my ACC reactiveness also to dynamic, although AUTO might be OK, except that the car does not accelerate, typically, at the same speed as most other drivers tend to do.
I turn on my traffic jam assist perhaps once per day (on the drive home.)
Lane keeping -- especially on the Q8 compared to the S4 -- works great, but it really only allows hands-free for a few seconds before it tells you to take over. Driving with lane keeping ON while your hands are on the wheel is possible, but sometimes I find it annoying so I keep ACC "on" 99.999% of the time and Lane Keeping "on" about 15% of the time (I'm guessing).
Also, I drive with the audi drive select set to individual with the engine/transmission set to dynamic. This means I always drive in "S" mode which does increase the RPMs (noticeable at idle) and delays upshifts, and, since my ACC is always on, the transmission still upshifts to 8th gear at speed.
If you care: engine/transmission set to dynamic; suspension set to dynamic; steering set to comfort (the electric power steering really feels "off" when set to dynamic for my tastes and it does not increase road feel.) Ours is a P+ with DAP, YR-1 which I think does -- when coupled with the ADS settings noted -- improve the turn-in and acceleration without sacrificing comfort (how they do this with 22" wheels is a freaking miracle.) Overall, we have a sporty luxury SUV/CUV -- I would love to see what Audi will do with an SQ8.
I don't see any problem w/cruise control out-of-the-gate as long as you don't travel at the same speed for a long time; e.g. in traffic. If you use it on a freeway for a long time, make sure you vary the speed significantly. The break-in period is 1000 miles and discussed on page 98 of the manual.
Here’s a snap shot of page 98, it does not mention anything about cruise. People use their own procedures, I think I used adaptive cruise a couple times during break in and all was fine. Some people like to avoid it since it can keep the engine at a steady RPM for a long period of time.
I drive my ACC equipped Audi (both of them in fact) with ACC "on" -- ALL of the time. When I pull out of my palatial estate, I pull the ACC lever and/or touch the end of the stalk AS I am leaving my driveway. Now, there are times when I deliberately override the system (such as when I come to a stop sign and there is no car in front of me meaning ACC will NOT stop the car), but I set my parm to "dynamic" and my ACC reactiveness also to dynamic, although AUTO might be OK, except that the car does not accelerate, typically, at the same speed as most other drivers tend to do.
I turn on my traffic jam assist perhaps once per day (on the drive home.)
Lane keeping -- especially on the Q8 compared to the S4 -- works great, but it really only allows hands-free for a few seconds before it tells you to take over. Driving with lane keeping ON while your hands are on the wheel is possible, but sometimes I find it annoying so I keep ACC "on" 99.999% of the time and Lane Keeping "on" about 15% of the time (I'm guessing).
Also, I drive with the audi drive select set to individual with the engine/transmission set to dynamic. This means I always drive in "S" mode which does increase the RPMs (noticeable at idle) and delays upshifts, and, since my ACC is always on, the transmission still upshifts to 8th gear at speed.
If you care: engine/transmission set to dynamic; suspension set to dynamic; steering set to comfort (the electric power steering really feels "off" when set to dynamic for my tastes and it does not increase road feel.) Ours is a P+ with DAP, YR-1 which I think does -- when coupled with the ADS settings noted -- improve the turn-in and acceleration without sacrificing comfort (how they do this with 22" wheels is a freaking miracle.) Overall, we have a sporty luxury SUV/CUV -- I would love to see what Audi will do with an SQ8.
I just switched my steering from Dynamic to Balanced (in Individual mode), I agree the Dynamic steering setting feels too artificial. I’m liking the Balanced a lot better. I keep the drive setting in Balanced though so I can just select Sport once the oil is up to temperature. Do you drive in Sport 100% even without the engine at full operating temp?
Also driving with ACC on during break-in rarely, if ever, means the car is at one speed very long. I guess if you lived in a VERY rural area this could be an issue, but even in our small city (Cincinnati) the traffic speed forces the ACC to speed up and slow down exactly as you would if you were controlling the accelerator and brake. Break-in happens appropriately with ACC from day one in my experience. ACC is a freakin' miracle.
Is Traffic Jam Assist separate from Driver Assistance? If so, I haven't found it yet.
Traffic Jam Assist comes on at speeds south of 40MPH -- to make this happen, you need to have ACC and Lane Keeping "ON" -- you just push the button on the end of turn signal stalk and TJA is turned on. When you are in heavy traffic and you have both systems on AND are at speeds up to 39MPH the TJA comes on -- you can feel when it happens, of course, but there is a visual indication that you are in TJA mode -- you see the little green car in the dash (or on the HUD or both) and you also see several cars stacked up (also in green), then you take your foot off the pedals and hands off the wheel and the damn thing just takes over for you. When Level 3 is made US legal I believe the Q8 has all of the needed "stuff" to make this TJA not shut off after 15 seconds, it will stay on indefinitely until conditions permit speeds OVER 39MPH. It is very handy even at level 2, but you have to touch the wheel a bit to keep it alive (it keeps asking you to take over if you try to go hands-free longer than 15 seconds.)
I was told the Q8, A8, A7, and A6 are hobbled (in the US) but that it's just software that needs to be turned on or downloaded once our laws catch up with the Germans.
Traffic Jam Assist comes on at speeds south of 40MPH -- to make this happen, you need to have ACC and Lane Keeping "ON" -- you just push the button on the end of turn signal stalk and TJA is turned on. When you are in heavy traffic and you have both systems on AND are at speeds up to 39MPH the TJA comes on -- you can feel when it happens, of course, but there is a visual indication that you are in TJA mode -- you see the little green car in the dash (or on the HUD or both) and you also see several cars stacked up (also in green), then you take your foot off the pedals and hands off the wheel and the damn thing just takes over for you. When Level 3 is made US legal I believe the Q8 has all of the needed "stuff" to make this TJA not shut off after 15 seconds, it will stay on indefinitely until conditions permit speeds OVER 39MPH. It is very handy even at level 2, but you have to touch the wheel a bit to keep it alive (it keeps asking you to take over if you try to go hands-free longer than 15 seconds.)
I was told the Q8, A8, A7, and A6 are hobbled (in the US) but that it's just software that needs to be turned on or downloaded once our laws catch up with the Germans.
TJA and ACC are really very similar from a driver's perspective, but my understanding is that TJA also uses the camera behind the rear-view mirror to monitor cars in other lanes to better predict when cars might cut in front of you. It's only marginally effective as far as I can tell because it tends to slam on the brakes more often that I would.
TJA and ACC are really very similar from a driver's perspective, but my understanding is that TJA also uses the camera behind the rear-view mirror to monitor cars in other lanes to better predict when cars might cut in front of you. It's only marginally effective as far as I can tell because it tends to slam on the brakes more often that I would.
It is my understanding that TJA tracks the vehicle in front of you (not just distance but direction), whereas ACC tracks the lane markers. I believe I read this and also see it because when TJA is active (the green lane markers on the dash screen turn off).
Audi makes this far more confusing than it should be, by coming up with special names for everything and also by advertising features that aren't available to the US market.
01-01-2019, 08:38 AM
