BMW Activeguard Pro v Volvo Pilot Assist
Discussion
Not tried the BMW version but I did a few thousand motorway miles in a V90 and I struggle to understand peoples enthusiasm for the Volvo system.
I found it tugged at the wheel making it feeling like it was fighting me.
It would not restart from stationary without prompting when traffic moved off similar to the VW version.
On busy motorways with cars always moving into the gap ahead of you it felt like I was going backwards.
On quiet motorways I don't always bother to indicate back into L1 when I'm only doing it for the cars benefit so don't need tugging from the wheel to tell me.
Through roadwork sections I found it often picked up badly erased white lines where narrow lanes had been installed temporarily and it would fight me to place itself straddling the real lines.
Experienced too many instances on NSL roads where it would spy a 20mph sign on a side road and suddenly knock me back to 20 right in front of a stream of traffic to trust it there also.
It seemed like a great system in the making but way short of where it needed to be in order to be usable or safe.
I tried and tried with it but found it much more relaxing to switch to standard cruise.
Just my findings, not saying I'm right.
I found it tugged at the wheel making it feeling like it was fighting me.
It would not restart from stationary without prompting when traffic moved off similar to the VW version.
On busy motorways with cars always moving into the gap ahead of you it felt like I was going backwards.
On quiet motorways I don't always bother to indicate back into L1 when I'm only doing it for the cars benefit so don't need tugging from the wheel to tell me.
Through roadwork sections I found it often picked up badly erased white lines where narrow lanes had been installed temporarily and it would fight me to place itself straddling the real lines.
Experienced too many instances on NSL roads where it would spy a 20mph sign on a side road and suddenly knock me back to 20 right in front of a stream of traffic to trust it there also.
It seemed like a great system in the making but way short of where it needed to be in order to be usable or safe.
I tried and tried with it but found it much more relaxing to switch to standard cruise.
Just my findings, not saying I'm right.
Activeguard is the BMW collision avoidance package whereas Pilot Assist is the Volvo driving assistance tech. The BMW equivalent is Active Driving Assistant.
Earlier BMW systems were very light touch, their actions almost imperceptible and people questioned the value, but from experience if you want the assistance, the latest BMW systems are very good e.g. latest X5 and 3 Series. They knock spots off the now ageing Volvo system.
Here’s a grading comparing a handful of the latest systems I was involved with https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-as...
Earlier BMW systems were very light touch, their actions almost imperceptible and people questioned the value, but from experience if you want the assistance, the latest BMW systems are very good e.g. latest X5 and 3 Series. They knock spots off the now ageing Volvo system.
Here’s a grading comparing a handful of the latest systems I was involved with https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-as...
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