[capngrouch]

I have found a JGC in a color I can live with and it has everything I want except for the active cruise control / advanced technology package. Is this really worth holding out for and does it work as described? The blind spot warning would be nice to have, I almost hit someone who was in blind spot last week.

 

[Brewster]

Yes- I think very worthwhile especially if you commute in 'heavy traffic' with varying speeds. I'm not 100% sure but I think it can actually bring vehicle to 'complete stop', if necessary.

 

[RichH]

If you're in heavy traffic with varying speeds, why would you be using cruise control?

 

[Brewster]

The 'adaptive cruise' does it all ! You get behind somebody say going '65' you set it- traffic slows to 45- so do you--- traffic speeds back up to 65-- so do you.

You also set a 'maximum speed' via the regular cruise + and - buttons, say 72 mph- so the car in front can speed up from the previous set speed of 65 to 72- and so do you. Also if the car in front should exit or pass- your GC will automatically speed up to the maximum set point of 72 until it comes up on another vehicle- which you can pass or let it match that vehicles speed. Like I said- it can actually bring you down to '0'- but you have to accelerate yourself and reset if that should be the case. (Someone else chime in any of this is incorrect).

 

[RichH]

DOH! I had no idea such technology was available! However, I don't think I could trust it to work all the time.

 

[kcfirebolt]

Adaptive Cruise Control is one of the best things about this vehicle for me. Yes it sucks the diesel, but it makes long drives so much less tiring, even over regular cruise control.

I hit a deer in KY in early July (boy, this Jeep can take a hit). Knocked out the ACC (which knocks out the reg cruise too by the way). Drove the rest of the way to NC manually, then drove from WNC back to Flint, MI. My mileage shot up to 31 (almost 32mpg) vs. a steady 28 with ACC (@ 78mph). But I was so damn tired, I didn't care.

We dropped the 3.0 off at the repair shop and took my bride's 3.6 to NJ to tow the bike to NJ for a race weekend. Really missed the ACC and blind spot markers on that trip.

With ACC, I can drive 800 miles at a crack and not feel too worn out from it. Tired, but not broken. Well enough to hop in and do it again the next day.

The ACC unit is $1300, and they were back ordered at the time. The repair shop was able to hook up my old one, and it seems to work fine (the plastic where the wiring harness plugs in was what broke, not the radar unit itself) . The part is in, so I'm going to go in soon and have the new one installed. It is such a new car, I don't want to take a chance of the old unit failing down the road.

By the way, it will bring the car to a complete stop, but it only holds it for a few of seconds (3 to 5) before is shuts off and effectively says, "Hey, you need to drive now!" I kind of wish it would hold it longer to give traffic a chance to get going again. The bad thing about traffic is that the ACC leaves a friendly gap to the car in front, and this gap invites everyone to slide in right in front of you, potentially leaving you at a standstill.

 

[blake bennett]

I too was interested in the acc, but then I thought about it. My favorite thing about cruise control is I know who the jack asses on the road are(lots of people) I go by them at my steady speed, of course they then speed up, pass me, slow down and in no time(still at my steady 5 over setting) I'm passing them again. Cruise control does a great job of keeping you steady on to your destination. Why would you want the idiots out there in front of you to be able to unwittingly control your speed! The last thing I want is to be getting slowed down all the time because grandma in front of me has unknowingly slowed to fifty five of the freeway. Blind spot detection is much more useful, but I think it will lull you into a feeling of letting the car tell you your safe, and not bothering to actually take a look in your blind spot, which if we all remember our drivers ed, is a bad idea. Yes it's good when it works but that 1 time it doesn't and you are blindly(pardon the pun)relying on it WILL get you into trouble. It all sounds great in theory but in my opinion not necessary, and just something else electronic to break and let you down, down the road. We could all benefit from paying more attention to what we are doing while we are driving, not less

 

[kcfirebolt]

"Why would you want the idiots out there in front of you to be able to unwittingly control your speed!"

Because they're controlling my speed anyway. Over the course of 800 miles, I'm happy to let the computer handle it while everyone figures out what they're doing. Once the lane clears, the car smoothly resumes speed, saving me time, mental energy, and the aggravation of thinking of other people as idiots.

I also suspect that the ACC maintains an equal or even slightly higher average speed over very long distances vs. regular cruise control.

YMMV

 

[Netboy]

ACC for me is one of the best features of this vehicle. One feature that this system does that was not mentioned here is FCWM (Forward Collision Warning with Mitigation). The ACC radar unit and the camera in the front mirror continuously assess the forward surrounding conditions, and if it senses an imminent collision will first jerk the breaks, flash warning signs on the EVIC and loudly beep the speakers, then apply breaks to assist the driver in avoiding an accident. Such a system should (in my view) be a requirement in every modern vehicle. It will reduce frontal collisions dramatically.