Confused HHA+parking brake

[h5djr]

To be honest I don't think that Hold Assist replaces putting on the hand brake.
When you are in a stop start queue, you really have just keep the car stationary for a couple of seconds - and Hold Assist does this for you. I don't think in all honesty anyone would put the handbrake on and off like that.
However Dave is correct in that when stationary for longer you do tend to rely on HA where you would have otherwise used the handbrake.

The best 'driver assistance' in a stop/start queue is Adaptive Cruise Control. This stops you when the vehicle in front stops and holds you still until it moves. If the stop is very short then when the vehicle in front moves then so does yours. If the stop is a bit longer then you have to tap the throttle or lift the ACC lever. Works great on the M25! Works best with s-tronic in D as there is no clutch or gear-changing involved.

 

[GSB]

The best 'driver assistance' in a stop/start queue is Adaptive Cruise Control. This stops you when the vehicle in front stops and holds you still until it moves. If the stop is very short then when the vehicle in front moves then so does yours. If the stop is a bit longer then you have to tap the throttle or lift the ACC lever. Works great on the M25! Works best with s-tronic in D as there is no clutch or gear-changing involved.

That particular function doesn't work with manuals at all. ACC on manuals only works over 20mph. Anything less and we have to juggling pedals.

 

[Matt Titanium]

Out of interest what does HHA do that the EPB does not?

In essence it gives you a fully automatic parking brake that you never need to touch. Keeps hydraulic pressure on when you come to a halt whether the car is pointing uphill, downhill or on the flat. A green P symbol appears when the brakes are being held on. The motorized EPB is then applied automatically when you turn off the ignition which is the function that I wouldn't want to be without in a manual.
I can't detect any delay in either HHA or the EPB disengaging.
The STronic has a park selection which locks the wheels so the car wouldn't roll away if you forgot to apply the EPB plus I prefer the creep when taking my foot off the brake in an auto, so I probably wouldn't bother.
I first discovered HHA test driving a Golf and loved the function, but of course it was standard equipment on a mid range VW costing less than 2/3 the price of an S3.

 

[h5djr]

That particular function doesn't work with manuals at all. ACC on manuals only works over 20mph. Anything less and we have to juggling pedals.

I always thought the ACC worked much better with s-tronic. I have never driven a manual with it so I have no idea how it works.

I also found my previous A3 with s-tronic would 'creep' whenever I wanted it to, but only with the HHA switched off. My current A3 has the Park Assist Plus option but I've not used so far. I'm sure the creep on the s-tronic will prove useful when I do decide to try it.

 

[Chris43]

I have ACC on my manual golf. I've specc'ed it as an option on the A3 I have on order.

Once the car is moving its really good, you can dip the clutch and change gear up and down and the ACC remains engaged and looks after the RPM and speed, compared to conventional cruise control that once you touch a pedal it just disengages.

To be fair in stop start traffic, with a manual box ACC is not much use as hitting the brake pedals causes it to de activate. You need to hit the 'resume' button to re engage it. To me that's a minor consequence, the cars ability to look after the speed and remain a safe distance to the car in front through mile after mile of 50mph average speed more than makes up for it.

 

[h5djr]

One thing I noticed at the weekend with the ACC on my s-tronic A3 is that if I'm driving on a motorway with ACC engaged and set at 70mph. If I come up behind another car doing 60mph the ACC will slow me down to the same speed. But if I pull out and press the throttle pedal and increase my speed to say 80mph to pass the slower car, when I slow down again to 70mph the ACC lights come on again and it takes control. Unlike pressing the brake pedal press the throttle does not seem to disengage the ACC.

 

[Matt Titanium]

I have ACC on my manual golf. I've specc'ed it as an option on the A3 I have on order.

Once the car is moving its really good, you can dip the clutch and change gear up and down and the ACC remains engaged and looks after the RPM and speed, compared to conventional cruise control that once you touch a pedal it just disengages.

Normal cruise is the same, caught me out when I first used it. My previous Fords have always knocked cruise out when depressing the clutch, Audi doesn't.

 

[Chris43]

One thing I noticed at the weekend with the ACC on my s-tronic A3 is that if I'm driving on a motorway with ACC engaged and set at 70mph. If I come up behind another car doing 60mph the ACC will slow me down to the same speed. But if I pull out and press the throttle pedal and increase my speed to say 80mph to pass the slower car, when I slow down again to 70mph the ACC lights come on again and it takes control. Unlike pressing the brake pedal press the throttle does not seem to disengage the ACC.

Yes, mine works the same.

I think, but don't quote me ... Using your 70 to 60mph decal scenario again, if you signal right to pull out and over overtake the slower car the activation of the indicator cancels the car's decal to 60.

 

[AndrewB]

I always thought the ACC worked much better with s-tronic. I have never driven a manual with it so I have no idea how it works.

Really well.

I've got one of each. S-tronic with ACC, and a manual with ACC.

Yes, it's even better with S-tronic because it'll slow to a complete stop. But still worth having in a manual if you do a lot of Motorway miles. I guess technically ACC on the manual doesn't release the throttle soon enough when pressing the clutch for a gearshift, which robs some smoothness - but I'm splitting hairs as mostly you'd use it in-gear.

For ultimate laziness: S-tronic + Hold Assist + ACC is hard to beat. Not that that's necessarily justification for S-tronic - it's just a bonus.

Hold Assist I find equally useful on manual and S-tronic, and a no-brainer at £75 ish. Banishes the irritations of the electronic handbrake. I know of several (manual) A3 drivers who have parked up and let their cars roll into a fence... Wouldn't have happened with Hold Assist because it applies the handbrake automatically when you remove your seatbelt. Or you can turn it off permanently by just pressing a button in the unlikely event you don't take to it. £75...

Finally, getting slightly OT on ACC for this thread, but while I'm on it... Frankly amazed that:

• It can distinguish between lanes on a Motorway, even when there's a bend... Picture it: Motorway bending to the right, the cars in the lane ahead are actually to the right of the centreline... It takes that into account. Calibrated to the steering angle somehow?
• Can override the throttle with seamless transition. No lumpiness when applying or releasing throttle.
• Configurable parameters. Control the distance (time) but also the "aggressiveness" of the throttle strategy via Drive Select settings. That's extra design effort to implement, and also presumably more effort to get type-approval: more variables, more to go wrong, more to type-approve.
• Robust even in urban environments. Surprisingly resilient to anomalies such as cars suddenly appearing at side-junctions, or cars pulling off into filter lanes. (in the latter, sometimes it helps to make a small steering input to persuade it you've spotted the turning car, otherwise it can brake somewhat needlessly).
• Takes account of your signalled intentions. As @Chris43 says, if approaching a car in your lane it seems to be take note if you indicate and make a steering input to move lanes. If you tune into the distance/time calcs then you get a natural feel for when to do that, to avoid it decelerating.
• Can see a really long way ahead. Doubly impressive when you consider the "visual" (radar?!) angle between lanes for cars 300m ahead is really quite small; plus combine it with the bend / steering angle issue as mentioned above... Can't recall the max operating speed, but has anybody tried it at its upper limits on an Autobahn etc?
• Still lets you rev-match. On a manual obviously.

I wonder if anybody could increase the "ready to set off" time to more than 2s?

 

[h5djr]

Increasing the time that the car will move off automatically from 2s would be a great advantage. I wonder if it can be done using VCDS?

 

[batch]

You are yes lol

I can cope with brake lights as there's more to look at, at traffic lights than the person in fronts brake lights.

Like young fillies?!

 

[Tom.H]

Like young fillies?!

Possibly if the opportunity arises, however I am married so it's completely unintentional

 

[batch]

Possibly if the opportunity arises, however I am married so it's completely unintentional

You've stolen my line!