Rudy

I pretty much assumed that BMW would never allow that close of a following distance with ACC. If it's close enough so that noone sneaks in, then it would most likely be too close to be truly safe. I based my decision on whether I should order ACC upon that assuption. Maybe I was wrong or maybe the minimum distance is different in Germany than the US?

Oh, and by the way, I was exaggerating just a bit about being "on the bumper" of the guy in front of me. My point was that if I stayed at a 100% safe following distance all the time, everyone would be jumping in front of me while I'd be constantly slowing down to adjust to a new safe following distance. Sometimes the only way to keep up with traffic is to follow a bit closer than what would be "textbook safe" distances. I don't consider my driving style as reckless and I don't drive beyond the limits of the car or beyond the limits of my abilities.

CRRobert

I'll put my two cents in on it.

I had a great oportunity to try it out while driving from the Performance Center in SC to Denver, CO.

In the really open areas, like Kansas, etc. it worked really well. It would slow as I approached a vechicle and then when I switched lanes would resume. It can actually brake the car very strongly. Happened a couple of times when coming up on a truck even though it was further away, but the computer was probably taking into account the trucks speed. I was also able to flick the stalk and increase the limit by 5 mph or decrease by 5 mph, and could also increase in MPH increments. Pretty cool with the HUD and when the V1 went off, could flick it down a couple of times to get under the speed limit without touching the brakes.

Most of the time was on two bars if medium traffic, and three or four when light traffic.

Sorry to tell you this Iceman, but even with one bar, at 70 mph, here in the US, there is still enough room for someone to slip in, and did happen on a couple of occasions already. In heavy traffic, I normally don't use it.

Basically I like it though, because the only times that I like to use the CC are in the more open situations anyway, so it worked out great for me.

As far as if it is worth it, well, I would have that as one of the last options, I think others are more worth it. Now I have not used it in bad visibility conditions yet, and that may change my mind.

Jimbo

It would be on my list as the last option to buy.

soc_fans

Me too!

PeterF

One of the most fascinating things to me about the ACC is the fact that I can keep as short a distance to the car in front of me as I want to, all the way to the bumper (not that I do that, but it is possible): if the ACC slows you down at too great a distance, you can simply keep your foot slightly on the gas pedal, without disabling the ACC. This way, you can keep your own distance in some cases as necessary. As soon as you take the foot off the gas pedal, the ACC will slow down the car to attain the preset distance again, so you have to be aware of that; but it works very well that way.

Rudy

That feature is on the standard cruise cars too -- it's not a function of the ACC system. Thanks for the input CR -- I have to agree that it's the first thing I could live without (which happens to be why I'm living without it )

JDN

Agreed, CR and Rudy. I really enjoy the precision of the cruise control. On long cruises I get caught in a convoy every now and then. The precision adjustments to cruise speed help me to relax and wait my turn.

Iceman

The smallest possible distance keeps you 1 second of reaction time behind the car you are following. That is still enough for some idiots to sneak in, but you want to be far away from those idiots anyway, right?

Jimbo

If you do get it, it works well and make driving much more pleasurable on the highway.

kt8509

As for precision and accuracy of the speedometer, i've noticed while using my (external) GPS/Nav, the speedometer is between 1-4 MPH off. I've noticed this with my '97 E39 540i and '02 E46 M3 and actually 1-4 is acceptable considering the M3 was 3-8 off.