Stop start and braking

[silversurfer2020]

I was referring of course to most VW Polos cars as usually specced. I think few drivers will be paying out £620 for adaptive cruise control. Neither will most drivers want to pay out £690 for lane assist, £450 for park assist or even £260 for a rear view camera.

[monkeyhanger]

I was referring of course to most VW Polos cars as usually specced. I think few drivers will be paying out £620 for adaptive cruise control. Neither will most drivers want to pay out £690 for lane assist, £450 for park assist or even £260 for a rear view camera.

Out of that little list, ACC will be the most popular, followed by the rear view camera. The ACC combines practicality and safety features. It's standard on the GTI+ and possibly was on the SEL or Match but doesn't seem to be now. The insurance companies look on ACC favourably for models with it as standard, with its ability to jump on the brakes for people not paying attention to the car in front that's braked. Had 4 VWs with it, all as standard fit. Never had to rely on it myself and I only use cruise when going through average speed camera zones.

[Andy Beats]

I was referring of course to most VW Polos cars as usually specced. I think few drivers will be paying out £620 for adaptive cruise control. Neither will most drivers want to pay out £690 for lane assist, £450 for park assist or even £260 for a rear view camera.

Rear view camera surely the most popular there, and maybe (just) about worth the money.
Can't see people paying for other ones much at all, especially given the costs.
£690 for lane assist made me laugh out loud.
Be interested to see what other countries are charged for these options, as the armrest in my car was half the price when purchased from an Austrian dealer rather than a UK one.
No suggestion it was being discounted, the guy said that's just the price it is on the VW list in Austria.

[Dazeredo]

I was referring of course to most VW Polos cars as usually specced. I think few drivers will be paying out £620 for adaptive cruise control. Neither will most drivers want to pay out £690 for lane assist, £450 for park assist or even £260 for a rear view camera.

Park assist is good if you want the rear and front parking sensors, the price between park assist (with 6 front and 6 rear sensors) is only a bit more that the standard front and rear sensors (four front, 4 rear) package. If I had know that park assist had extra sensors I'd bought it.

On topic, ACC is only good with an auto gear box. My mom has a manual smart forfour with Cruise control and it's almost useless unless the street is totally flat and without traffic, otherwise a gear change is needed and the cruise control turns off.

PS: I've rear camera and standard front and rear sensors, I need to do a lot of maneuvers in a tight space to take the car out of the garage and that helps a lot.

[vc-10]

The Polo has Front Assist, which uses the same radar as ACC, fitted as standard. You have to pay the extra £620 for a slightly different ABS module and a couple of buttons on the steering wheel... which is totally insane. It's £400 on the Fabia, which likewise has Front Assist as standard. Meanwhile in Germany, it's €248.58, which currently works out as about £225. I think the German cars have regular cruise as standard though, but still.

What's even more crazy is that the previous generation Polo had ACC as an option for £400, and that car didn't have the Front Assist system as standard. I also feel it's kind of mean to not fit cruise. I'd be surprised if it cost any more to fit than the speed limiter on the SE and up, as it's just different buttons on the steering wheel but without the extra buttons on stalk.

Having said all that- I love ACC. My car is manual and ACC is brilliant. If you have to change down, it doesn't disengage.

[Dazeredo]

That's good, having cruise control disengaging with a gear change is really annoying.
But talking with different prices for the same thing, some "same" extras in VW bigger models are a lot more expensive... Brand decisions sometimes are really strange.

[vc-10]

Oh absolutely. Totally nuts.

The loss of being able to add options is weird too. Audi and Seat don't really do options any more, whilst VW and Skoda do. Worked out fine for me with the Ibiza, but there are things that I wouldn't have added if it was à la carte, and I'd have liked heated seats. I kind of get this for Seat, who they are trying to push into a more mass-market position, but for Audi it makes less sense. Although to be fair, BMW and Mercedes are doing the same thing in the UK market.

[SRGTD]

Oh absolutely. Totally nuts.

The loss of being able to add options is weird too. Audi and Seat don't really do options any more, whilst VW and Skoda do. Worked out fine for me with the Ibiza, but there are things that I wouldn't have added if it was à la carte, and I'd have liked heated seats. I kind of get this for Seat, who they are trying to push into a more mass-market position, but for Audi it makes less sense. Although to be fair, BMW and Mercedes are doing the same thing in the UK market.

I dare say that if VW move away from the current approach of building a car to a customer’s individual spec to one where all vehicles of a specific trim level are built to a common spec will make the process of ordering parts and components and the actual vehicle build process itself less complex. Removing complexity from the process should improve efficiency, reduce costs and lead times - so maybe no more lengthy wait times for customers after placing an order for a car if the only thing they have to choose is the paint colour.

Agree, it makes less sense to adopt this approach for the more ‘premium’ brands under the VAG umbrella. However, in future I dare say that with some options, the hardware will be built into all vehicles of a specific trim level and if a customer requires a specific function to be activated, this will be achieved remotely via ‘Over the Air’ activation with the customer paying a fee for the activation. This is probably happening already with some manufacturers.

[vc-10]

That's what I've heard was the reasoning for the Seat approach- a few basic trim levels, with an 'upgrade' pack available. It's only happened in the UK though- you can still buy a car totally specced the way you want on the continent. I've heard that it may have something to do with the possibility of a no-deal Brexit- a kind of hedging of bets. Still seems very odd that in Germany that BMW, Audi, Merc etc all have options lists as long as your arm, whilst here there are a few optional 'packs' and that's it.

Regarding stuff already fitted and just activating it- the German Audi configurator states that the new A3 is fitted with ACC hardware, and it can either be ordered from the factory already enabled, or activated later. The Golf here in the UK in base 'Life' trim can also have the interior ambient lighting 'upgraded' through the infotainment to go from 10 colours to 30 colours.

I'm hoping the UK A3s have the ACC easily activated. It's currently only available as part of an expensive pack with a bunch of stuff I'd have little interest in, and it's only available on automatic transmissions. I would seriously consider an A3 if it is available to activate.

[stevereeves]

I disable it each time on start up on current and also on previous Golf as I find it annoying and am not convniced it does a lot of good to starter motors & electrical systems. My uncle has a prev model Polo, 1.2 DSG Match petrol, leaves start / stop to do its thing and has no such issues, not sure if his car is in 'Eco Mode' or not....

[Boxerboy]

I have heard of a few people who put the car into neutral and put hand brake on

Those few people are stupid

No they fuckin' aren't!

Simply having some sympathy for both the vehicle and the driver behind.












ps - I'm simply rising to your level of rudeness to other forum users

[Andy Beats]

I dare say that if VW move away from the current approach of building a car to a customer’s individual spec

TBH I prefer the fixed spec approach.
Plenty of manufacturers work well this way.
Makes it far easier for a used buyer too, you know what will or won't be included.
Anyone who's ever tried buying a used BMW will know that customisation leads to some bewildering car specs and unless the dealer is very specific it can lead to confusion.

[steeve]

IMO sitting with your foot on the brake and dazzling the person behind with uber-bright LED brake lights is stupid.

If your eyes are so light sensitive maybe you should see doctor because there is something wrong with your eyes.

Or you're old............ you may be lucky enough to be old one day.

[Andy Beats]

I don't think it's an age thing.
I think it's more to do with a huge increase in automatic cars on the road, combined with ridiculously bright LED brake lights.

[monkeyhanger]

If the Polo had a full electronic handbrake or was set up with limitless Hill hold, there's no reason why you couldn't come to a stop and take your foot off the brake without yanking the handbrake on.

My A4 works like this - the DSG isn't set to try and pull the car as soon as you let your foot off the brake pedal.

It only looks to engage the clutch in 1st when you prod the accelerator - maybe that's why first takes so long to fully engage in my A4 rather than sitting at bite point like the Polo seems to.