Hi I am a newcomer to the forum and have been leeching much useful information from you guys...

I am in the process of ordering a 545 in Boston but the dealer said the only in stock car they have doesn't have ACC. Is a retrofit possible?


PS. BTW how many of you don't have ACC and miss it? If you have it do you think it's worth it?

Thanks
e

 

ACC was a long way down the list for me, but only because of the price here in the UK - ?1350. Ouch

 

I have it and love it.
It's also safety relevant.
When you're driving in fog or heavy snow, the ACC sensor can see better than your eye can.
I don't wanna miss it and would buy it again.
But there are other options that come first (IMHO), like AS, L7, comfort seats, HUD.
And: YES, worth it.

 

Yes it's definitely not top priority but seems that as a safety relevant feature it'll be nice to have in the E60... Iceman/ Do you think I can retrofit it afterwards?

e

 

I think a retrofit will be far too much trouble.
But the place where the ACC sensor goes is there on all bumpers, so I don't think a new bumper is needed, the lever can be easily switched, but I don't know about software. It's definately a lot of labour,
So I would say: possible and expensive.
I would ask the dealer how much he would charge for a retrofit, then he will check the availibility too. Remember, it's not just you wanting the car, it's also him wanting your business. And asking him won't hurt.

One thing:
Once you have ACC, you can NEVER use it as a regular CC, without the ACC sensor. The sensor can't be deactivated!
When you switch it on it's allways on half the speedo in yards (in Germany it's meters, I think in the US it's yards). Example: driving 100 mph, the ACC sensor keeps a distance of 50 yards. Then you have one step above and two shorter ones. The bigger distance is about two seconds more. Then you can select the two shorter ones also.
I haven't found a situation yet, where I disliked using it. When the car brakes down it is really cool , you feel like driving with an auto pilot switched on, all you need to do is watch the traffic and hold the steering wheel
And when you don't want to cruise, you drive it manually. Even with the ACC set you can go even faster... manually...
Today the system fooled me a little bit, while driving on the Autobahn it gave me an alert to brake down... but there was no car in front of me - but a real big bug right in the center of my sensor Didn't cause any problems, though...

 

Regular cruise control is enough for me.

 

Active cruise control is worth every penny - it's amazing!

 

Call me old fashioned but I'm thinking that at this time, I'd rather be in charge of the decisions relating to speed.

One thing to keep in mind -- if you get ACC, you can't use the cruise in the "old fashioned" way. I've seen a few people post that sometimes this can be frustrating.

I'll probably get it on my next car and by then, I hope they'll have a switch to allow normal cruise mode if the driver feels that's the best choice under the current circumstances.

(Iceman, fog, etc. is rarely a problem around here. I wouldn't base my buying decision on just that one scenario.)

 

I find it makes highway driving much more relaxing and smoother.

It's def. a cool option. You can adjust how soon it reacts to a car in front of you. Also, it's easy to adjust your speed up or down w/o touching the gas pedal.

So I guess that mean you are still in control of the vehicle (as long as you're not asleep). j/k

 

A switch indeed would be perfect - but when I want to drive sporty I don't use ACC/CC. So I'm really not missing the regular CC so far, but it would be nice to have the option of switching off the ACC sensor.

And even with the sensor, I'm still making the decision on the speed I cruise.

Sometimes we have heavy fog. When you drive on the Autobahn and you experience fog conditions you are very happy to have it. So, for some regions it is a selling argument, for some it's not.