The family took its first day-trip in the new car today. We drove across the country to Nijmegen to pay Jules and Bloem a visit. Linda was at work, so we didn’t get to see her.
There were fewer than 100 km on the clock when we left, but there are now more than 300. Not a bad maiden voyage, in other words.
With all that motorway driving, I got to try out the adaptive cruise control. Normal cruise control sets a constant speed and requires driver intervention when deviation from this speed is required. The adaptive variant, on the other hand, senses the distance between your car and the one in front and, if necessary, slows down. Similarly, when circumstances permit, the car will automatically accelerate towards the preset speed.
I was sceptical about how well this feature would work in practice, but it turns out to be astonishingly intelligent. If someone overtakes you, for example, and then merges back into your lane, but continues to steam ahead, the adaptive cruise control doesn’t suddenly take ‘its foot’ off the accelerator when it senses the sudden appearance of a vehicle at a short distance in front of you. If that car merges back in without continuing to pull ahead, however, the adaptive cruise control immediately adapts to keep your distance from that vehicle.
Thanks to this feature, there were long stretches on the way to Nijmegen and back that I didn’t have to do a single thing except occasionally nudge the steering wheel to the left or right. The car accelerated and slowed at all the right moments. All I needed to do was keep a watchful eye on things with my foot hovering over the brake pedal.
I really enjoy driving this car. I can’t wait to take it on a longer trip.