Adaptive Cruise Control - 2015 Ford Mustang GT Long-Term Road Test

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Adaptive Cruise Control - 2015 Ford Mustang GT Long-Term Road Test

The adaptive cruise control in our long-term 2015 Ford Mustang GT is an excellent example of how all such systems can and should work.

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fordson1

I don't know that i would refer to this as a safety feature...and thankfully I don't live anywhere (somewhere with hellish traffic) that I would consider this twelve-hundred dollar standalone option a must-have.

allthingshonda

So Ford programmed the ACC to behave like the average American driver. Sounds so simple but so few seem to get it. Good job Ford.

stuntman_mike

^ +1. I was pricing out a new Mustang on Ford's website and automatically skipped the ACC option. This report is enough to make me reconsider that.

bassracerx

wow .4 seconds is ~yards that is scary! reaction time matters so much at that speeed for sudden stops!

boff

I am astounded that people would use cruise control (adaptive or otherwise) in traffic that is so heavy that someone might cut in on you. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think there is a relationship between being in full care and control of your vehicle and being fully aware of your surroundings. For me, cruise control is reserved for lightly travelled highways in good weather conditions.

kirkhilles1

If we're "on the road" to fully self driving cars, we need to start with a smarter adaptive cruise control. You shouldn't have to specific car lengths away. It should be a formula based on speed and traffic. The system should be able to used all the way down to 0 mph on the highway (basically your entire trip on the highway even if bumper to bumper traffic) and should "adapt". If you're in bumper to bumper traffic, it should keep a close distance from the car in front of you... UNLESS harder braking is required (like when the car in front of you likes to accelerate, brake hard, accelerate, brake hard) in which case distance should be increased. As your speed increases, the distance should increase as well. You shouldn't have to be mess with the settings while auto-cruising. That defeats the whole purpose.

adamb1

I agree that Ford does ACC well. It's one of my favorite features in my Fusion.

boff

I'll never forget Aaron Robinson's epic takedown of ACC (Distronic) in a C/D Mercedes-Benz S600 review (although I'm sure the systems have improved enormously since then): "Distronic performs marvelously on a lightly traveled highway but takes on the personality of an amphetamine-addicted cabby in denser traffic. The S600's silicon cerebellum is rabidly protective of its personal space, so the throttle and brake pedals are in constant tango as they work to keep others at the perimeter of the zone. The incessant braking earns you laser-beam looks from fellow drivers while your passengers scramble for the barf bags. To be perfect, the S600 needs a supercomputer powerful enough to predict traffic's ebbs and flows and intelligent enough to know when to bend its own rules for the sake of comfort. Oh, wait a minute. It already has one--behind the wheel."

fordson1

kirkhilles1 said:

If we're "on the road" to fully self driving cars, we need to start with a smarter adaptive cruise control. You shouldn't have to specific car lengths away. It should be a formula based on speed and traffic. The system should be able to used all the way down to 0 mph on the highway (basically your entire trip on the highway even if bumper to bumper traffic) and should "adapt". If you're in bumper to bumper traffic, it should keep a close distance from the car in front of you... UNLESS harder braking is required (like when the car in front of you likes to accelerate, brake hard, accelerate, brake hard) in which case distance should be increased. As your speed increases, the distance should increase as well. You shouldn't have to be mess with the settings while auto-cruising. That defeats the whole purpose.

Not going to work down to 0 mph in a car with a 6MT. With the really long sixth gear in the GT, you're not realistically going below around 45 mph with this adaptive cruise control...so there is a really limited range of situations, especially in SoCal, in which this expensive must-have option is going to work.

Couple that with the questionable wisdom of using it in heavier traffic anyway, as boff points out, and this post is a real reach.

christople

There doesn't seem to be as much love for this mustang as the old one. Maybe their tastes moved on... I would think this one besides the exhaust note is better in every way to the last gen model.

fxsb2015

I have a 2015 GT MT with ACC and use it all the time in Houston Traffic. Stays engaged down to 18 mph before kicking out. The distance control is great when following that utility truck dropping stones on the road. And yes it does adjust distance based upon speed. Great safety feature when a car decides to cut across three lanes in front of you and that large truck beside you blocks your vision. Another feature, when my V1 picks up radar in traffic, the traffic slowing down then speeding up when the police passed is a cool feature. Do wish it would stay engaged when up or down shifting. Works much better than BMW's ACC that I have experienced. Downside is brake pad wear maybe a problem. Too early to comment.

wildblueyonder

2015 GT Convertible here--I drive in the circus called the SF Bay Area (silicon valley especially). The ACC was the very best option I've ever chosen for any car, and I use it every drive. I'm trying to get some hackers to make it work to 0mph and stop the car completely like the Mercedes does.

svfiat

I have a 2.3 eco boost Mustang. I use the ACC all the time and it has saved me a couple times when vehicles jump out into traffic from behind barriers and larger vehicles. Only problem I've encountered is it doesn't seem to like heavy rain conditions, had the system give error messages about the sensor being blocked. But it returned to functional about 5 miles down the road and the weather hadn't changed. I guess I'll have to talk to FORD about it.
Other than that I wouldn't drive with out it.

explorerx4

You shouldn't use cruise control in the rain. Any tire slip will speed up the car, which may be the opposite of what you want.