Looking at ordering new XK with adaptive cruise. The problems: I've never owned any car with that feature and the dealer doesn't have any around - not even used ones. He says few are ordered that way (fair enough).

So, I"m a bit puzzled on how to proceed. Hoping for insight on issues like these.

* Could I drive any manufacturers car with adaptive cruise to see how the XK's would behave? Are they all pretty much the same?

* Is there anything quirky about the XK's implementation of it?

* Do people generally like it once they have it? I use std cruise frequently but often wish for distance adjustment. But, I've read about odd situations with curves and motorcycles and such. Are these problems mostly "on paper" or are they a nuisance day-to-day?

* Can service disable just the adaptive part if I don't like it?

Hoping for helpful insights. Thanks.

 

Wow! Lots of questions. I can't help you with all of them. Hopefully someone on here has more experience than myself. However, I have an '03 xkr that has adaptive cruise and I like it. I had to look a long time to find one with it. Mine works very well. That said, I live in Nebraska and finding a curvy road is almost impossible. I'm not sure about the newer adaptive cruise but the one I have will apply the brakes if necessary to slow you down, but it will not bring the car to a stop. The follow distance is adjustable. I have not found a way to disable it to make it act like a standard cruise. I would not trade it for a standard cruise. I love it. Good luck, hope you find one you can try.

 

Don't know about helpful insights, but...

I occassionally forget about the "adaptive" aspect of the cruise control and will cross left-to-right from a clear-ahead lane 3, behind a vehicle in lane 2, in an effort to access lane 1 in order to exit. The vehicle in lane 2 will be close enough to brake me dramatically as I pass behind. It's alarming. It's my fault.

If behind a turning car I will sometimes misjudge whether to tap the brake to temporarily cancel the adaptive cruise. If the car ahead does not turn quickly enough the Jag will brake dramaticallly if the car has not completely turned. This can be the case if it has completed 7/8 of its turn. It's alarming. It's my fault, I'm aware of this tendency.

If a car in smooth flowing traffic cuts in front of me the Jag will brake dramatically. It's alarming. It's not my fault.

The "adaptive" system uses deceleration and, obviously, can use braking. It might wear the brake pads more than you would with normal cruise control in varying speed traffic. It's more appropriate for interstate highway type continuously flowing traffic with few slowing or stopping situations.

It may be slower to brake than you.

I think Mercedes adaptive cruise is actually used to stop but I think the Jag handbook emphatically states otherwise for my 07 XK. Things may have changed. Can't say for others.

I've a policy of only using it in smoothly flowing traffic and being more alert in lane changes and the behavior of the driver ahead.

I only use the max. distance setting and sometimes have the impression that the distance twixt me and the car ahead is not consistent, circa a specific speed, at different times. The three distance settings are supposed to vary with speed. At 40 MPH setting 3 distance will be different than at 60 MPH. It's supposedly a relative thing.

Some motoring journalists dislike, some like.

I thought it was standard on the XK of the last couple of years. If not, you may find it overpriced for its supposed advantages. But then, I'm tight.

Quirky about implementation? In mine it's either switched on or off on the right steering wheel spoke. I would like to have an option switch for "adaptive" or standard cruise control. I'd probably use standard most of the time.

If adaptive disabled, is there regular cruise control in a new XK? I thought adaptive supplanted standard cruise control. Perhaps I should reread the handbook. I may have option of which I was unaware. It happens.

Friarshuck appears to be a more competent adaptive cruise controller than I (or is it "me"?).

 

Thanks GreyXK. I'll infer that apart from these sorts of abrupt braking situations you find it works well.

No, it is not standard. It is part of a package which also includes Active Front Lighting (turns your headlights in corners) - fyi.

You are right. If it is installed in the car it's always on whenever you enable cruise (or so says the manual). I will probably ask the techs if they can "snip a wire" to disable just the adaptive part if I grow to hate it.

 

Yessir, in '07 I think that was termed the "technical package" in mine. I was under the impression that new XK are so fully furnished that such separate packages (tech, sound, handling, interior) have been eliminated and there are few extra cost options. Live and learn.

 

Hi Mac,
My 07 is one without the technical package so I didn't get the adaptive cruise or headlights. My car got the "other packages" (only two others) the luxury package and upgraded radio with Sirus package. Oh and I got the 20" XkR Wheel Package. Like Grey said these cars are loaded with just about everything and that doesn't leave much on the option list.

 

I'll start by saying that after a short period of "getting-to-know-you," I like the adaptive cruise on my '08. Especially in light and/or well-disciplined traffic.

That said, you should search the forum for issues relating to that feature. It seems to be a fairly common complaint and usually includes an error message related to "radar antenna blocked" or some such, and then is unavailable for a period of time. I have experienced that issue myself. The dealer waved some incense and chicken bones in front of it and I haven't had a cruise control problem since.

If I were doing it again, I'd probably skip the adaptive cruise. I do like the feature, just not the potential problems.

 

Hi Mac, I'll weigh in as well. I have it and I think it's great. It works very well, is very smooth, and you hardly know it's happened if you approach a car that's going only slightly faster than you. Having done a lot of long-distance roadtrips in other cars that don't have it - where you have to +1/-1 to match speed if you're in light to moderate highway traffic - this subtly adjusts for you. It doesn't mean you can drive mindlessly, but it solves a common cruising 'problem.' You have distance settings that you can adjust to est. your distance behind the car it needs to match speed with. When you come upon a car and it needs to back off the accelerator to match speed, it indicates that it's done so, and reaffirms your distance setting. It will 'read across the lane' on a curve and react, but then that car is gone in a second and so is the adaptive response. Another thing, which I think is a by-product / additional feature of Adaptive cruise control (but not sure, so don't quote me on it), is the forward alert - which I leave on at all times. You turn it on just as you might the traction control setting, and a little triangle appears with a [!] symbol. The same sensor that judges your distance for adapting the cruise control alerts an audio beep-beep-beep and a visual red car image if, for example, the car in front of you stops suddenly, or if your braking timing appears to risk you hitting the car in front of you. ..an extra measure of caution to prevent you hitting someone in front of you if they stop suddenly.

At the end of the day, IMHO it's a nice to have, is very smooth and works well.

 

Just two days ago I traded my 05 XK with Adaptive Cruise for an 08 XK with no Adaptive Cruise. I really do not think that I will miss having it. I had really mixed experiences over the years of living with it.

First, I think that the feature was responsible for the early wearing out of my front brake rotors and pads. The system applies that brake far more often than you would if it was your control. It will brake when people cut in front of you, even if the distance and their motion would not require touching the brake. It will brake if you come up on a slower car at a good rate of speed. It will brake in sharp radiused corners when the radar beam catches the car in the adjacent lane. Some of those braking actions catch me by surprise and can result in potential dangerous situations, like when you are doing 70 MPH in the inside lane going into a left-bend. The beam senses a car in the adjacent lane and the system hits the brake aggressively, which, may surprise the car behind you.

An other thing I found that I would set the cruise at a safe (from CA police) 72 MPH then wake up to find myself doing only 62 for extended periods as the car adjusted to the slower speeds of an other car in front of me.

Altogether, it was an interesting novelty to have the system but, I am not going to miss it in my newer XK. I would definitely not pay the extra for it.

Albert

 

I've got it and I like it most of the time ('10 XKR). I even have had to catch myself in other cars when the car doesn't automatically slow down when getting too close to the driver ahead of me!
However, I wish I could turn it off and have "standard" cruise sometimes.
I find it very frustrating when the (slow) driver in front of me (finally) gets out of the way - it takes seemingly forever for the car to return to set speed.
Also, even at the closest setting for "follow" there is so much space that people cut in front of me, causing the car to slow down even more.

I had the problem with the sensor fault at first, but there is a Service solution to that issue that has worked perfectly so far.

 

I had the adaptive CC in my 05 XJR and really liked it. Mainly because when I use the CC it tends to be in light traffic and in the past would find myself repeatedly cancelling it every time I came up on another car they always seem to be traveling slower than I do. My 09 XKR didn't come with it (a different rant in order on why the portfolio doesn't have ACC) and I do miss it and find that I seldom use the CC any more due to the need to repeatly cancel. The one thing that I do use is the speed limiter which comes in handy on wide open road to keep my speed to a "reasonable and prudent" rate.