> Jeremy Clarkson was reviewing a new Jaguar and talking about
> the Adaptive Speed Control which monitors the distance from
> the car ahead and matches the speed to maintain that
> distance. He said you can even adjust the distance from a
> gentile 6 car lengths to the "Full Audi" upon which he
> demonstrated a very aggressive tailgate.
We rented a Volvo with a very similar feature, while vacationing in Scotland
last year. I really liked it, wish it was available
here in the US. As well as controlling the throttle, it can also apply the
brakes as necessary, and the following distance adapts
to speed. You can also set the maximum speed when there is nothing in front of
you. So with the speed control on, if you come up
behind a stopped car, the Volvo would just gracefully pull to a stop behind it,
then follow when the light turned green.
Lots of other neat features as well, including a red mark in the speedometer to
indicate the speed limit in town, and little warning
lights in the A-posts to indicate there was something in your blind spot. The
backup alarm worked well too, and would pick up those
little short posts that are so hard to see, even if they weren't directly
behind the car.
-- Randall
** triumphs@autox.team.net **
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