[mcdec]

I have been browsing this great forum for awhile but this is my first post. I have just ordered a 325xi with all the bells and whistles and it actually cost me $45k! (and its 1200 over invoice).

i am surprised that Active Cruise has not been discussed here at all. I ordered it simply because my current lexus rx 330 has it and i find it be one of the best investments in luxury cars. Long drives are more enjoyable and actually safer . No need to play around with your cruise controls. Car actually slows down sooner at a safer distance and research has shown that this is better than delayed human response. It is an experience hard to described unless you actually experience it! So if any of you is ordering, give it a try, you wont regret it.

[Mauricio]

I was actually thinking about active cruise control this morning while in traffic. My first thoughts were that it's a waste of money and that's because I never even used regular cruise control before this car. Over that last few weeks, I've become a fan of cruise control but the only annoying thing is the constant fiddling with the control stalk because cars come in and out of the fast lane, so I'm constantly changing speeds. I do like the 5 miles at a time feature by pushing to when it clicks, but I can imagine that the active cruise control must be amazing. I heard something on tv the other day about a Mercedes model that will actually even come to a full stop if an obstacle is in the way. Does BMW do the same? My concern with leaving the CC on is that you pay less attention to the road and it's easy to come up on someone if you don't have a computer judging distances for you.

I haven't heard much talk about this option on this site and I assume it's because not a lot of people ordered it because of the cost. It's over $2k if I remember correctly. I'm tempted to test drive a car with it from my dealer just to experience what it's all about.

[Squawks]

BMW's E90 active cruise control is not for stop-go traffic.

I read, however, that their more expensive models, i.e. the 7 and 6 (maybe even the 5 later) will have stop-go traffic cruise control. Meaning that if you're in the middle of dead traffic with annoying stop-go, the car will automatically keep up with the sludging traffic and stop for you. No need to put foot on throttle or brakes.

I'll be taking delivery of my new E90 next week sometime and it has Active Cruise. I know it was a huge chunk of money for that particular option but I do like cruise control. The only reason I don't use it is due to having to make constant adjustments due to slow traffic in the fast lanes. I'm hoping this will help a bit. I'll let you know if I think it was worth it after I use it a while.

[David328M-Sport]

The ACC is, no doubt, great for those of us who do a lot of highway driving. As mcdec correctly stated: "Long drives are more enjoyable and actually safer." I agree.

I think once you experience those special BMW extras like ACC & active steering etc and you become accostomed to it/them, you could never be without them. If you don't have them, you cannot miss them.

Welcome aboard mcdec.

[mattkaenel]

wil the ACC work with a manual???

[LEDZEP]

Originally Posted by CMD

I'll be taking delivery of my new E90 next week sometime and it has Active Cruise. I know it was a huge chunk of money for that particular option but I do like cruise control. The only reason I don't use it is due to having to make constant adjustments due to slow traffic in the fast lanes. I'm hoping this will help a bit. I'll let you know if I think it was worth it after I use it a while.

It was too rich for my blood, but it would be great to have. Please give us a review when you get it!

[mcdec]

The ACC is not designed for heavy traffic but more for highway driving. both the lexus' and the e90s are not for stop and go. Mercedes is actually coming out with a stop and go ACC i believe for their new S class only.

You can actually do more sight seeing with the ACC while driving(although you are not supposed to). I also barely used the the CC in my previous cars because of the need to constantly fidget with it. With the ACC, it is the opposite. I now use it around 90% of the time on highways and 30-50% on smaller roads!

Yes, it is expensive but as david said, once you get accustomed to it, there's no going back. I also believe that Comfort access is another great feature but remote start will be wonderful. No more need for heated or ventilated seats!

[Xens]

Active Cruise Control looks like a really nice feature, but I personally won't use it much because I never really used the cruise control in any of my cars. I've driven very long trips but my legs just weren't tired much.

[lxapilot118]

Originally Posted by Squawks

BMW's E90 active cruise control is not for stop-go traffic.

I read, however, that their more expensive models, i.e. the 7 and 6 (maybe even the 5 later) will have stop-go traffic cruise control. Meaning that if you're in the middle of dead traffic with annoying stop-go, the car will automatically keep up with the sludging traffic and stop for you. No need to put foot on throttle or brakes.

According to the tech. manual, it will slow down to I think it was 20mph...not stop and go, but close.

[glamprecht]

ACC works fine on Manual car. It gives a warning beep when you need to shift down or up. Pretty clever. It also managers RPM so that you can shift smoothly without touching the accelerator. The developers writing the software did some playing with it themselves this time (dogfooding)

Some point that everybody seems to be missing is that because it is a radar unit and in addition to measuring the distance, it measures doppler shift. This means that the instantaneous angular speed is always known. This means ACC can "see" a car breaking long before it is in any way detectable by a human.

[ppejack]

My dealer told me that he drove from San Jose to Lake Tahoe a few years ago in a 7 series with ACC and he never touched the gas or brakes once. Cool. I ordered ACC in my soon-to-be-picked up 335I. I'll let you know what I think of ACC. I've actually never driven with it, and don't know anyone that has (except for that dealer). Leap of faith on my part, I guess.

[rit]

I ordered ACC because I thought it sounded really cool. Besides, who wants that blank area between the speedo and the tach? I'm just kidding ... sort of.

I haven't used CC much in the past because it's so much work on everything but a wide open road, but I am looking forward to ACC. I hadn't even thought about using it in traffic. That sounds awesome.

There are so many things about my new car that I am really excited about. ACC is one of them, but there's so much more. I read somewhere that the car recognizes something like 70 voice commands. 70! I don't think there are more than about 12 things my old Camry can DO, let alone understand.

I can't wait to pick up that car. Unfortunately, it's going to be a Monday. I'm going to have to take a couple extra days off just to go play.

[rit]

You know what would be really cool? If you could set a range of speeds, say 60 to 75 in a 70 MPH zone, and have the car go uphill slower and downhill faster. That's what truckers do to conserve fuel. It also drives me crazy on my old car when it downshifts and throttles to make it up every hill.