IS3CM

Does anyone have the radar cruise on their ISX50?? I do a lot of interstate driving so its an option that I'm really interested in but I wanted to see if anyone has it and how you guys like it..

Thanks

Lets Drive

iTrader: (3)

I have it on my 350, and find it useful, but only in very specific situations. It does operate very well, and you can set the specified distance to a bit futher than you may think, but you still have to be attentive when it comes to a few things (or at least that I've readily noticed thus far).

As the car maintains a specified gap between your IS and the vehicle ahead, if for example, another vehicle decides to cut you off, or swerve into this gap (as most impatient drivers will do), your car will either throw up the warnings, letting you know the situation is moving into the hazard range- time to take over, or it will apply a pretty good amount of brake pressure, to desperately slow the car to that travel distance, often a bit quicker than people behind you are accustomed to (who keep in mind, honestly don't realize you're using radar cruise control). You may find yourself parenting the radar cruise for these reasons, which at times can defeat the purpose. For open stretches with light traffic, I have found it an absolute pleasure to use, as it mainly reduces the driving effort to steering and paying attention to whats ahead, and really just offers a nice feel to accent your other options. If there are more than a few cars behind or to the side of you (may want to stay in a slower lane with less passing), or a limit in the amount of lanes you may occupy, then I tend to just use better judgement and drive with it off.

All in all, I'm more than glad that I opted to include it, not just for the cruise, but mainly the pre-collision system, which was the actual reason I purchased it. I think you'll find it valuable if you currently use cruise control often, otherwise you may find yourself able to live without it. If possible, try it on a test drive (good luck finding an equipped car though, as I've only seen one other), otherwise your current cruise control habits will largely dictate how effective it will be to your driving experience.

SolaraToIS

I'm not getting this feature on my 350 but damn nice write-up on how it works.
Thank you Shinobi-X

menech

nice detailed write-up!

I never use the cruise control, but I was pretty interested in the "pre-collision system" unfortunately couldn't find much information on it and the dealer didn't have much so I opt'ed out of it.

IS3CM

Hey thanks, that really helps out a lot.. I do use the cruise quite a bit.. As far as the pre collision, in your experences does it only send up a warning when the cruise is engaged or just anytime the car feels like its in harm? like if your driving along and someone cuts you off or starts to come in your lane or something like that?? I want to try it out at a dealer but your right, none of the cars have that option. Thanks again

kensteele

i would like to have this more for the pre-collision. i never use cruise control, that's pretty unsafe at 90 and above.

Lets Drive

iTrader: (3)

Short answer:
I've never gotten a warning thrown up, unless cruise was on- and even then, not unless I was cut off bad the few times that it happened during my learning process. The pre-collision is very discreet, as I'm assuming your concern is if you will have some annoying buzzers/lights constantly going off...nope, not at all.

Long answer:
The pre-collision/radar cruise work independently. By that, I mean the pre-collision is always on, and you pretty much won't know it, as its not intrusive at all if you're driving responsibly. Its only going to kick into action if you approach the car (or object) in front of you at a speed faster than the car calculates or predicts, as it can't tell road conditions, than you will be able to stop. So if you're in traffic, and approaching the car ahead at 10-15 mph, it won't do anything noticeable, but there have been times where I've felt increased brake pressure on some stops (though I haven't really bothered to narrow it down to the pre-collision or just my getting the feel for the cars front brake bias). As I said above, 9.5 times out of 10, you won't even know you have it, which is great- its just that "gaurdian angel" feel.

When you turn on radar cruise though, you've now taken a more passive approach to driving, so there is a bit more caution/warning involved courtesy of Toyota/Lexus. It first lets you know the radar is primed and ready, then once you activate cruise as normal, it maintains the furthest distance by default. You then have 3 distance options you may cycle through at any time via steering wheel control, though I don't recall the actual distance in feet at the moment. Since I can't get to my manual, I'll just say 3 car lenghts being the longest, then 2 and finally 1 respectively, to explain it easier. At 3 car lengths, you will experience the most kickback and 'aggressive' action from the radar cruise, as that is a pretty large gap to maintain, as opposed to 1 car length, where the car is not as finicky about the smaller amount of space it must manage. Just imagine that at 3 car lengths, every car that tries to get into that area, now sees a response in your car braking for 3 car lengths worth of space as a result, faster or slower depending on their speed. For this reason, I've found it most comfortable to just set "1car length" worth of distance, or 2-3 behind a slower moving vehicle, which aggressive people won't try to tail. Again, its best used in light traffic, but is pretty interesting to witness in action.

I'll also add that people in the car who don't know its engaged, will wonder what the hell you are doing, lol.

To more relate to your question now though, the warnings will come on depending on your speed vs distance, and will illuminate the dash and sound to let you know that its time to take over. I'll also add that it does this faily early, just to give you enough time to keep things on the safe side. Outside of this though, if you're using good judgement, the warnings will rarely come on, so I don't want to give the impression that you're always on high alert, but it does require some discretion, while you quickly get used to what works and what doesn't. I think the engineers struck a great balance with the system, but its not for everyone.

Hope this helps anyone else who finds this information valuable.

I don't even think you can use active cruise at 90mph, and I don't think I'll find out anytime soon unless I have a buddy take the lead to test.

Payam

I don't have radar guided cruise, but my cruise works at 90.

SolaraToIS

There are now highways in Texas and Oklahoma posted for 80mph so cruising at
90 is fairly common.

Lexustom

Here in California many of our highways are posted at 65 mph or even 70 mph. Thus we too have most people cruising at 80 to 90 mph!

We who have radar cruise have these three choices for distance behind the car in front of us.
1. long, approx. 164 feet.
2. medium, appox. 132 feet.
3. short, approx. 100 feet.

The few times I've used my radar cruise I have been completely blown away at its sophistication. To be able to drive 150 miles and never touch the accelerator, brake or the actual cruise control (as in coast or resume) is amazing to this old guy. I have even let it warn me of impending doom and (although I was very ready to take control) not touched a thing. It did haul the car down briskly because a car cut on front of me, and then it automatically resumed when said car pulled once again into another lane.

I am so grateful that I ordered this system. To be able to take a trip with radar cruise vs. the same trip with standard cruise I'd opt for the radar cruise any day! The Pre Collision System (PCS) is a safety bonus that I trust I'll never ever need but feel very good that I have it.

All in all I heartily recommend spending the $ and going for it!!

Lets Drive

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for saving me time on looking up the actual distances. Over here in MD, the highest speed I've seen is 65mph, but most spots are 55mph.

TimboIS

Those distances are based on traveling at a certain speed (60MPH I think). The distance is actually set by time, so you stay a certain interval behind the previous vehicle. So at higher speeds the 3 distances will be greater.

Another part of the PCS is the seat belt tensioners. Go to an empty parking lot. Drive at a reasonably low speed (10-15MPH), panic brake, the tensionsers will engage, pulling back into the seat. Without PCS you only have seatbelt locking. It's pretty scary the first time they engage (but cool).

Lexustom

[QUOTE=TimboIS]Those distances are based on traveling at a certain speed (60MPH I think). The distance is actually set by time, so you stay a certain interval behind the previous vehicle. So at higher speeds the 3 distances will be greater.

Interesting. I shoulda read the WHOLE page in the manual. It says "50mph" and yes the distance increases/decreases in accordance with vehicle speed. Cool. Thanks for clarifying.

And now for the parking lot seatbelt tensioner test!! Bye.

Mike_TX

I don't have the radar cruise in my IS, but used it some in an Infiniti M45 and it confirmed my feelings that I don't like it.

As stated above, it is fine on straight highway with sparse traffic. But people will cut in front of you from time to time, and the abrupt braking can be disconcerting. Also, if you approach another car that is moving slower, and your cruise cuts your speed, then you pull into the other lane to go around, the car will accelerate back to the set speed fairly abruptly, too. Not as smoothly as I would do it myself.

I guess I just like being in control rather than letting some computer determine how fast I want to brake or speed up. Regular cruise control, for holding speed, is a fabulous invention and I use it constantly. But I don't like handing over the other transactions to it.

Radar ("intelligent") cruise also has some other oddities. It can read an approaching car on a sweeping curve as being a car in front of you and make the car brake. I've even heard of a case or two of trees in the median of a highway causing the car to brake. Roads curving to the right can make oncoming cars (and trees) appear to the cruise to be in front of you, and it reacts accordingly.

It's good in concept, but I personally don't like it.

kensteele

^^^ ouch.

If the speed limit is 80, I'm probably doing 100. Without cruise control.