Lane Assist

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SpokeyDokey

67, & my GP says I will officially be old at 70!
Moderator
Had a long test drive yesterday in a VW uP! Gti (which we have now ordered) and I was caught out by this feature having never driven a car with it before.

It can easily be turned off via a dash button.

I wondered what was happening when the steering wheel started to nudge my hands - very disconcerting!

Once I'd figured out what was happening I calmed down.

Any long term users of this system and what do you think of it?

BTW the uP! Gti is an absolute hoot to drive and with a stonking deal on our trade-in it was a no-brainer purchase albeit with a 3 month lead time.
 
I drove a VW Up from the car club that had Lane Unassist. It kept veering from side to side with no steering input. Really scary and hard work to drive.
 

dodgy

Guest
I had it on a Skoda Octavia that I bought new in 2013, it also had ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control). The Lane assist was not to be relied upon, it wouldn't cope if the radius of a bend tightened just slightly whilst driving around it. If you can't rely on it, what's the point. The ACC, however, was absolutely fantastic and since then I will only buy cars with it fitted.

By the way, has this been discussed here, yet? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53830947
 
Location
Essex
My old Merc had it and I never really had an issue with it, though the wheel used to thrum quite noticeably when it engaged. My Tourneo also has it, along with a tonne of other self defence mechanisms - all it's missing really are chaff and flares...

Mrs Spesh has an Up! Gti and I love driving it. It's the proper spiritual successor to the MkI Golf Gti, and with the clever sound actuator thingumajig, the engine roar (yes, roar) inside the cabin is ace! It *is* the actual sound of the engine (i.e. not a recording of a Lambo or something) but it's amplified and pumped back inside the car. It sounds like a naff idea, but it's so much fun!!
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Mrs D has it in her car and she found it very disconcerting. She switched it off (necessitating messing about with a stupid touchscreen) on the basis that if she couldn't drive consistently in the same lane then she probably shouldn't be allowed on the road in the first place.

3 cylinder engines can sound pleasantly rorty and growly, as do 5 pots. 4 pot motors are for motorbikes and kitchen appliances :laugh:

If it encourages motorists to use their indicators, Shirley that has to be a good thing.
It would be a good thing if the average driver didn't simply treat indicators as a substitute for good observation.
 
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DaveReading

Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
Location
Reading, obvs
Mrs D has it in her car and she found it very disconcerting. She switched it off (necessitating messing about with a stupid touchscreen) on the basis that if she couldn't drive consistently in the same lane then she probably shouldn't be allowed on the road in the first place.

If only that were true in general ...
 
OP
OP
SpokeyDokey

SpokeyDokey

67, & my GP says I will officially be old at 70!
Moderator
My old Merc had it and I never really had an issue with it, though the wheel used to thrum quite noticeably when it engaged. My Tourneo also has it, along with a tonne of other self defence mechanisms - all it's missing really are chaff and flares...

Mrs Spesh has an Up! Gti and I love driving it. It's the proper spiritual successor to the MkI Golf Gti, and with the clever sound actuator thingumajig, the engine roar (yes, roar) inside the cabin is ace! It *is* the actual sound of the engine (i.e. not a recording of a Lambo or something) but it's amplified and pumped back inside the car. It sounds like a naff idea, but it's so much fun!!

Yes, it does sound nice with the synthetic sound system.

Our High up! was our little lifestyle downshift purchase 8 years ago - we keep our car ages these days as we do so little mileage.

We were looking at the T-Cross as a replacement but Lovely Wife decided it was 'too old and staid' so the up! Gti it is - made us smile and reminded us of our Mk 3 Golf Gti back in the mid-90's.

It's a proper rorty sporty little number and that's from someone who has had some very powerful and fast cars over the years.

Nicely specified too - we only added on white paint with black roof and dual zone climate control to get it just right for us.
 

SGG on a bike

Senior Member
Location
Lowestoft
We have it in our Golf along with myriad other "driver aids". Fortunately, I rarely drive it, but I do find it intrusive along with the crash detection warnings etc. The Adaptive cruise control is interesting, if not unnerving at first and the stop/start thing with the car restarting when the car in front moves is a little eerie. It is a good car though and seems to be well screwed together so far. Personally, I prefer driving my 14 year old truck which only has ABS as a driving aid and doesn't feel like it's semi automated. Neither sounds great, but I have other vehicles that fulfil that pleasure nicely.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Lane departure warning turned off our evoque in the first five mins :smile:
Probably best to deactivate it before it breaks and drops off on a Rangie :laugh:

Related to this, I have BLIS on my Volvo. All well and good, but in order to conceal yourself in my blind spot another driver has to pass through the other 355 degrees of vision to be able to reach it, so I already know they're there anyway. All sorts of flashing lights and indignant bleeping noises, so that got switched off as well, thankfully by pressing a button.

These things simply allow drivers to be even less diligent and attentive than they were before. Bin all these systems, and fit each car with a foot long spike poking out the steering wheel - that'll suddenly have people talking care with their driving.
 
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figbat

Slippery scientist
Our previous XC60 and new XC40 have both Lane Departure Warning and Lane Assist. The former one just gives the wheel a little vibrate if you happen to wander over the lane markings without indicating. The latter physically nudges the wheel back into the lane, again only if not indicating. I have it set up so that the Lane Departure is still active but the Lane Assist is off. I hate the feeling that is akin to someone reaching over and grabbing the wheel.
 
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