Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Varche on 07 August 2025, 20:09:35
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I am thinking of changing our car for something newer.
I like adaptive cruise control - great for the miles of open motorways here. Not a great fan of all these “ interlocks” like pull up , open the door to lean out and throw a dead fox off the road and the electric handbrake comes on.
Are the gifts that come post July 24 in the form of ADAS and ISA a pain?
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You can save £20,000 a year tax free with an ISA. Not sure about an ADAS :-\
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ISA Intelligent Speed Assist
ADAS I think is Advanced driving assistant system?
Must be someone on here who has driven a car with this stuff?
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ADAS I think is Advanced driving assistant system?
Must be someone on here who has driven a car with this stuff?
Yes, I have some nanny functions, and if I’m honest I don’t like or appreciate the interference from the vehicle.
Lane Discipline Assistant - Designed to keep you in lane but ONLY WHEN two lines are visible on the road. One centre line and one kerb line, or left and right lines on a dual carriageway or motorway. The problem with this system is that it sometimes (quite often actually) misinterprets a shiny strip of tarmac, such as a tarmac burn repair, and will pull the vehicle to where it thinks it should be. It’s downright dangerous. >:(
Lane Change Assistant - It does the same as above if you don’t indicate to overtake and this is fine, but it can do it when passing parked cars when you cross a solid white line, which is not fine.
Automatic Braking System / Collision Detection- Designed for those occasions when we miss an upcoming collision, whether it be another car or a pedestrian. The problem with this system is that it sees shadows of larger road signs/ kerbside trees etc as an obstacle that shouldn’t be there, and the system slams on the brakes. Not ideal if you have the car behind sat on your rear bumper.
Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t happen all of the time but I would always switch mine off as soon as the car was started. :y
Adaptive Cruise is good, it keeps a set distance from the vehicle in front, as the vehicle in front will rarely keep to a set speed, unless they’re on cruise as well. ::) It’s about the only nanny function that I use. This is just my personal experience and may not be representative of how other vehicles react.
I’ve not experienced Intelligent Speed Assistance but I have a feeling that we wouldn’t get on. ;D
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You can save £20,000 a year tax free with an ISA. Not sure about an ADAS :-\
Until Rach from Complaints next budget. ::)
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You can save £20,000 a year tax free with an ISA. Not sure about an ADAS :-\
Until Rach from Complaints next budget. ::)
Yes, you're probably right. Lord Opti will be mortified.
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Got adaptive cruise control on both of our vehicles I use it SWMBO doesn't, the Toyota has the lane control and various other automated controls all of which are switched on don't have any negative comments about them.
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I get a lot of hire cars, and all of them have various nanny shite that I have to spend 10 minutes finding how to disable them, and then another couple of minutes every time I start the car disabling the shit.
Some are just annoying - stop-start being one.
Others are downright dangerous, but can usually be disabled - lane assist type technologies.
Others are downright dangerous and cannot be disabled usually - emergency braking type technologies, and it seems VAG group cars seem to be particularly sensitive to imagining it's seen something close and slamming on the anchors.
As to the the various forms of distance adaptive cruise under the various marketing wank names manufacturers give it (I'm guessing MB will call it something like dist-tronic, BMW will call it something like dist-hold, VAG will make up some meaningless acronym), I'm generally against those sort of driver aids. In fact, I rarely use normal cruise control, though I do use speed limiter type functions through workworks etc being the (failed) reformed character I am.
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Others are downright dangerous and cannot be disabled usually - emergency braking type technologies, and it seems VAG group cars seem to be particularly sensitive to imagining it's seen something close and slamming on the anchors.
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Tesla are also well documented for issues of ‘Phantom Braking’ as they call it. This again refers to the vehicle sensors seeing shadows and mistaking them for obstacles and slamming on the brakes. :y
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All this tech is maybe good for some people and good once the person learns to trust it and relay. :y
What happens when it fails and there's no warming? :-\
Once read about a Beemer when the throttle got stuck, couldn't turn off the engine or switch off or alter settings, nothing worked
He called the police who helped clear the motorway the poor guy was bricking it as the car just kept accelerating, not sure how it concluded bu reckon underpants were full. :-[
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All this tech is maybe good for some people and good once the person learns to trust it and relay. :y
What happens when it fails and there's no warming? :-\
Once read about a Beemer when the throttle got stuck, couldn't turn off the engine or switch off or alter settings, nothing worked
He called the police who helped clear the motorway the poor guy was bricking it as the car just kept accelerating, not sure how it concluded bu reckon underpants were full. :-[
Was a Jag E.Pace driver. He's since been charged with all sorts of things.
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Others are downright dangerous and cannot be disabled usually - emergency braking type technologies, and it seems VAG group cars seem to be particularly sensitive to imagining it's seen something close and slamming on the anchors.
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Tesla are also well documented for issues of ‘Phantom Braking’ as they call it. This again refers to the vehicle sensors seeing shadows and mistaking them for obstacles and slamming on the brakes. :y
The Merc system does it occasionally but it stops braking the instant that the 'obstruction' has moved... It won't actually stop the car but might equate to a hefty stab of the pedal. That said, it warms you that it's about to do it on the Speedo so you can correct before it reacts. The biggest issue is when the system maintains a gap and someone dives into it... then it really pulls you up.
Fortunately because it's only the front radar, it only sees things in its immediate field. The full system uses lidar sensors on both ends and on the rear quarters for proximity stuff and can be prone to interference and therefore confusion.
Lane keeping is actually quite tiring to use as it weights up the steering so you end up fighting it constantly if the conditions aren't perfect.
To the original question, why newer? Plenty of decent older cars with less interference. Newer tech isn't necessarily a good thing as the electronics and software aren't always as dependable as you might think.
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I get a lot of hire cars, and all of them have various nanny shite that I have to spend 10 minutes finding how to disable them, and then another couple of minutes every time I start the car disabling the shit.
Some are just annoying - stop-start being one.
Others are downright dangerous, but can usually be disabled - lane assist type technologies.
Others are downright dangerous and cannot be disabled usually - emergency braking type technologies, and it seems VAG group cars seem to be particularly sensitive to imagining it's seen something close and slamming on the anchors.
As to the the various forms of distance adaptive cruise under the various marketing wank names manufacturers give it (I'm guessing MB will call it something like dist-tronic, BMW will call it something like dist-hold, VAG will make up some meaningless acronym), I'm generally against those sort of driver aids. In fact, I rarely use normal cruise control, though I do use speed limiter type functions through workworks etc being the (failed) reformed character I am.
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Got to agree about stop start , fortunately the Toyota hasn't got it but our old neighbour who we bought our Subaru Forester from bought a Merc hatchback to replace it I used it a couple of times and switched it off didn't like it at all, she actually told us several times that she wished she had kept the Subaru. Out of interest do any hybrids have stop start ?
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All this tech is maybe good for some people and good once the person learns to trust it and relay. :y
What happens when it fails and there's no warming? :-\
Once read about a Beemer when the throttle got stuck, couldn't turn off the engine or switch off or alter settings, nothing worked
He called the police who helped clear the motorway the poor guy was bricking it as the car just kept accelerating, not sure how it concluded bu reckon underpants were full. :-[
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Was Keanu Reeves driving it .😄
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“To the original question, why newer? Plenty of decent older cars with less interference. Newer tech isn't necessarily a good thing as the electronics and software aren't always as dependable as you might think“
Just fancy a newer car with better headlights. Plus might be free of big bill maintenance for a few years. Still got some big Europe journeys left in me though doubt I will ever drive to Britain again.
I am thinking now that something pre July 24 might be the answer.
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Others are downright dangerous and cannot be disabled usually - emergency braking type technologies, and it seems VAG group cars seem to be particularly sensitive to imagining it's seen something close and slamming on the anchors.
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Tesla are also well documented for issues of ‘Phantom Braking’ as they call it. This again refers to the vehicle sensors seeing shadows and mistaking them for obstacles and slamming on the brakes. :y
And one day - and I'm sure its already happened - somebody is going to pile into the back of the traffic in front, due to some stupid car at the front slamming full emergency anchors on. If not the car immediately behind, maybe a few cars back as it all bunches up in such scenarios.
If people can't be trusted to drive, make them relearn or give up. Not add imperfect shite to the car that causes a new set of safety issues.
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Just fancy a newer car with better headlights.
With my 1980s hat on, isn't it better to fit some 90/130W bulbs and some spots ;D
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Just fancy a newer car with better headlights.
With my 1980s hat on, isn't it better to fit some 90/130W bulbs and some spots ;D
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The lights on Swmbos Toyota are fantastic never had any car before with such good lights & the screenwashers are amazing puts the Range Rover to shame with its pathetic amount of spray, had a long run out in it the other day and the average mileage equated to 136 MPG , fantastic little runabout.
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New car lights always seem better because the reflectors haven't had time to degrade.
And just because headlights on other cars seem brighter, they might not actually be any good for driving with... It's as much about being seen as being able to see. It's also quite clever marketing wank as it makes people think their perfectly good lights are inadequate when compared to something that looks super bright on a newer car. Think Peugeot headlights in the late '90s when they switched to clear lenses.
Xenon lights have been readily available from 1996.
Led lights look shiny but they're not very effective in my experience unless you measure light performance by how much it dazzles oncoming traffic :-X
I would suggest anything with active curve xenons over LED. Change the bulbs for quality non chinesium ones sourced from somewhere reliable.
Consider also that if you're often carrying a load on long journeys then self levelling suspension is a must. This not only improves headlight performance by keeping the car level, it also makes the suspension last longer. The Golf platform is particularly bad in this regard as the estate variations have the same suspension as the 3 door cars so any weight will see the headlights reflecting off the sky.
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The headlights on my low spec grandland are not a patch on the wife's higher spec model. Hers are LED and light the road up like daylight.
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Change the bulbs for quality non chinesium ones sourced from somewhere reliable.
Xenon bulbs also degrade with age. As do LED and filament, but to a lesser extent.
So Rangie, if your 20yr one RRS has original bulbs, consider changing :y
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When we chose bi xenon Golfestate, I thought great. The reality is even just two up,nothing in boot, the lights are rubbish. Born out by Mk7; golf forum. Our late hundred year old Vitara with £7 bulb upgrades was far superior. The sharp bend low speed fog light on is a nice feature.
I have got to say DCC suspension is on our shopping list. We had it on our mk7 golf we bought during our extended stay in uk last year. Best of both worlds. Sport mode for pressing on and eco for all the wretched road surfaces
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Change the bulbs for quality non chinesium ones sourced from somewhere reliable.
Xenon bulbs also degrade with age. As do LED and filament, but to a lesser extent.
So Rangie, if your 20yr one RRS has original bulbs, consider changing :y
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Absolutely no problem with the Range Rover lights they're fine , just the screenwashers are crap.
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When we chose bi xenon Golfestate, I thought great. The reality is even just two up,nothing in boot, the lights are rubbish. Born out by Mk7; golf forum. Our late hundred year old Vitara with £7 bulb upgrades was far superior. The sharp bend low speed fog light on is a nice feature.
I have got to say DCC suspension is on our shopping list. We had it on our mk7 golf we bought during our extended stay in uk last year. Best of both worlds. Sport mode for pressing on and eco for all the wretched road surfaces
DCC is not self levelling. Also, if Golf bi xenons are rubbish, the answer is much clearer. Don't buy a Golf. Notwithstanding there are much better cars out there.
For example, the Vectra C facelift headlights were rubbish because of their design. The bulb position relative to the bumper meant the shadow from the bumper blocked out the road surface ahead of the car. Not even the £1,000 AFL xenon option could overcome it.
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I really dislike all this 'nanny knows best' boll*ocks.
Anything I can switch off I do switch off.
Lane assist is dangerous and drags the cars all over the place. Front collision warning often picks up phantom objects and slams on the brakes for no reason.
Yet another reason to buy an old classic. :y
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Also, I never use cruise control, especially the adaptive version as fitted to the milk float.
Matrix LED's are excellent though.
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Lane assist is dangerous and drags the cars all over the place. Front collision warning often picks up phantom objects and slams on the brakes for no reason.
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Well you’ll like this then, the ADAS data that we think is unnecessary/dangerous/shite, is the data that’s being collected towards fully autonomous vehicles. It doesn’t always work as intended WITH a driver being in control, so just think of the accidents there’ll be WITHOUT driver input. ::)
Incidentally, I’ve had several cars with full Park Pilot and I never use it. Don’t get me wrong, it will actually do a decent enough parallel and bay park but, it’s a faff and much quicker doing it yourself.
Also, it has its flaws. When bay parking, it uses its sensors to adjust and correct its position, but what it doesn’t see is those kerbed concreted diamond shapes that the likes of Tesco put between the two rows of bays. Park Pilot will more than happily climb up them. ::) ;D
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Matrix LED's are excellent though.
They should be, they cost around two grand each. :o
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When we were looking to buy our present car, we looked at a private sale. Youngish lad about 25.
Full service history. Well no it hadn’t. No mention of a great long scratch across three panels. The icing on the cake though was, “ can I see the parking in operation?”. Sure.. nice quite road, big space and it Kerbed the wheel badly. Our car has it but neither of us have ever used it. I do like rear view camera and sensors.
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Others are downright dangerous and cannot be disabled usually - emergency braking type technologies, and it seems VAG group cars seem to be particularly sensitive to imagining it's seen something close and slamming on the anchors.
……….
Tesla are also well documented for issues of ‘Phantom Braking’ as they call it. This again refers to the vehicle sensors seeing shadows and mistaking them for obstacles and slamming on the brakes. :y
And one day - and I'm sure its already happened - somebody is going to pile into the back of the traffic in front, due to some stupid car at the front slamming full emergency anchors on. If not the car immediately behind, maybe a few cars back as it all bunches up in such scenarios.
If people can't be trusted to drive, make them relearn or give up. Not add imperfect shite to the car that causes a new set of safety issues.
You mean like this....
https://abc7news.com/post/tesla-sf-bay-bridge-crash-8-car-self-driving-video/12686428/
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Change the bulbs for quality non chinesium ones sourced from somewhere reliable.
Xenon bulbs also degrade with age. As do LED and filament, but to a lesser extent.
So Rangie, if your 20yr one RRS has original bulbs, consider changing :y
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Absolutely no problem with the Range Rover lights they're fine , just the screenwashers are crap.
The screen squirts things? Lack of water coming out, or a big delay in water starting to come out - latter is due to a failed 1 way valve, and JLR do generally use particularly crap ones.
If is is a 1 way valve issue, may I ask what brand of screen wash you use?
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Change the bulbs for quality non chinesium ones sourced from somewhere reliable.
Xenon bulbs also degrade with age. As do LED and filament, but to a lesser extent.
So Rangie, if your 20yr one RRS has original bulbs, consider changing :y
.
Absolutely no problem with the Range Rover lights they're fine , just the screenwashers are crap.
The screen squirts things? Lack of water coming out, or a big delay in water starting to come out - latter is due to a failed 1 way valve, and JLR do generally use particularly crap ones.
If is is a 1 way valve issue, may I ask what brand of screen wash you use?
You should start a new thread for that TB! ;D
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Change the bulbs for quality non chinesium ones sourced from somewhere reliable.
Xenon bulbs also degrade with age. As do LED and filament, but to a lesser extent.
So Rangie, if your 20yr one RRS has original bulbs, consider changing :y
.
Absolutely no problem with the Range Rover lights they're fine , just the screenwashers are crap.
The screen squirts things? Lack of water coming out, or a big delay in water starting to come out - latter is due to a failed 1 way valve, and JLR do generally use particularly crap ones.
If is is a 1 way valve issue, may I ask what brand of screen wash you use?
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No delay at all they operate as required, but for the type of vehicle it is I would want a much stronger & wider spray, the Toyota is on the other hand really powerful & clears the whole screen, I'm going to contact my indi who looks after it to see if there's a better type that can be fitted there surely must be .
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Sounds like they're either partially blocked up or misadjusted. :y
Cross mixing screen washes can cause all sorts of chemical goo to sludge up the lines and tanks. Add in hard water and eventually it reduces the spray pattern to the point you notice.
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You should start a new thread for that TB! ;D
;D
Its a weird one, but I'm starting to see a small pattern of valve failures were people are using Halfords Berry screenwash. This could of course be that its a very, very popular screenwash. Most vids where you see people replacing the valves, there is using a carton of Halfords Berry in view ;D
In my particular car in my ownership, its only ever had Halfords Berry or Halfords Citrus, so I know its not a mixing problem
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You should start a new thread for that TB! ;D
;D
Its a weird one, but I'm starting to see a small pattern of valve failures were people are using Halfords Berry screenwash. This could of course be that its a very, very popular screenwash. Most vids where you see people replacing the valves, there is using a carton of Halfords Berry in view ;D
In my particular car in my ownership, its only ever had Halfords Berry or Halfords Citrus, so I know its not a mixing problem
I've used the same one from my local motor factors for as long as I can remember branded by the RAC never had any problems before .
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Yeah, to be honest, I've used the Halfords one for 15+ years, and whilst I've had occasional pump failures or headlight washer failures, it's only recently I'm getting through 1 way valves faster than I get through a pack of wine gums. Valves aside, I'd say the failures weren't out of the ordinary except the Jag headlight washers which do seem to fail far too often on mine.
It could all be coincidence, of course.
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When I've seen some of the RRs offroading and spraying mud over the whole windscreen the wipers/washers cope well with it so they must be uprated, when I'm back from Spain I'll get advice from my indi he's always got the answer 👍
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All this tech is maybe good for some people and good once the person learns to trust it and relay. :y
What happens when it fails and there's no warming? :-\
Once read about a Beemer when the throttle got stuck, couldn't turn off the engine or switch off or alter settings, nothing worked
He called the police who helped clear the motorway the poor guy was bricking it as the car just kept accelerating, not sure how it concluded bu reckon underpants were full. :-[
Was a Jag E.Pace driver. He's since been charged with all sorts of things.
Apparently the driver wanted rid of the car and wanted to discredit Jaguar (no, it wasn’t him that made that hideous advert). ;D
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly4d7ne71ko
In the past, almost every previous car that I’ve owned has been prone to the accelerator sticking to the carpet and taking me to maximum speed against my will. Coincidentally, it always happened on the same stretch of the A40 and the M40, and always backed off to a more sensible speed after these sections. ::) A very strange phenomenon, almost as if I’d become possessed by an inner force. ::) ::)
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In the past, almost every previous car that I’ve owned has been prone to the accelerator sticking to the carpet and taking me to maximum speed against my will. Coincidentally, it always happened on the same stretch of the A40 and the M40, and always backed off to a more sensible speed after these sections. ::) A very strange phenomenon, almost as if I’d become possessed by an inner force. ::) ::)
But your cars now are reformed characters, aren't they?
Obviously, at this point, I'm just keeping my mouth shut. People in glass houses, and all that ;D
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In the past, almost every previous car that I’ve owned has been prone to the accelerator sticking to the carpet and taking me to maximum speed against my will. Coincidentally, it always happened on the same stretch of the A40 and the M40, and always backed off to a more sensible speed after these sections. ::) A very strange phenomenon, almost as if I’d become possessed by an inner force. ::) ::)
But your cars now are reformed characters, aren't they?
Obviously, at this point, I'm just keeping my mouth shut. People in glass houses, and all that ;D
Exactly. :y ;D
I had consierge in all of my bmw's so BMW Control Centre knew where my vehicle was every second of the day, and not once did they message the car to say 'That was impressive' after one of my spirited runs. Just that one simple message sent to the car would have cheered me up. ::) ;D
Any further developments concerning your little indiscretion. :-\
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Points make prizes, Mr YZ.
And to add insult to injury, I paid the fine on a credit card, which for government fines, counts as a cash transaction which I never knew, and nor did the fickers say. So that adds another 5% plus daily interest.
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Points make prizes, Mr YZ.
And to add insult to injury, I paid the fine on a credit card, which for government fines, counts as a cash transaction which I never knew, and nor did the fickers say. So that adds another 5% plus daily interest.
Ah, not good then. ;(
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Points make prizes, Mr YZ.
And to add insult to injury, I paid the fine on a credit card, which for government fines, counts as a cash transaction which I never knew, and nor did the fickers say. So that adds another 5% plus daily interest.
Ah, not good then. ;(
Well, I kept the licence clean until I was 55. Somehow ;D
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Clean licence so far at 70, must watch it now the Yeti has been remapped. Had trouble staying at 70 on the M5 last night in 5th as DPF light came on, just a touch on throttle. 4mile run sorted the DPF out.
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A lot of the tech is driven by the safety standards that you need to meet, speed limiter function is a great example.
Autonomous braking etc gets points on the NCAP assessments so gets added as well (unless you fancy a zero star Renault Zoe or one star Dacia Spring).
I rarely use the adaptive cruise as a lot of my travel is on motorways and dual carriageways and its just crap as you effectively become an equal to the idiot in front who can't keep a constant speed. It gets used occasionally in traffic but that is pretty much it.
I do turn most of the assists off at key on (legislated features have to default back to on at each key cycle) which thankfully is easy after I had a two press steering wheel button short cut implemented