Thread: D4 My13 cruise control + auto headlights question

I travel around 120ks per day in my MY11 D4 and use my cruise control for most of that distance. There are a few hills invloved. When I top a hill it can run up to 3-4km over the set speed before it pulls back from 'engine braking'. The amount of over run seems to be dependant on how quickly the gradient changes. For the more gentle changes the CC copes quite well. I can't say that the gearbox has ever changed down in this process so I will monitor the CC operation with great interest.

As for the auto headlights I have never (to my knowledge) had them come on in daylight. In fact it seems to me that they need to have a fair level of reduced light before they operate. I don't think the sesitivity can be adjusted but no doubt others on this forum are better placed to advise on that one. Maybe the sensor in yours isn't well?

I find the cruise control very ordinary on the D4 compared to other previous vehicles fitted with factory cruise. The loaner I had before I made the decision to buy a D4 was the same. My D4 goes over speed considerably, and does not slow down when going down hills.....but I suppose I am being slack, or maybe spoilt by my Touaregs cruise control which will drop gears, and always remain spot on.

Auto lights....my D4 goes on with a hint of darkness, and stays on for some time, even in full sun. As soon as the wipers start going fast enough the lights come on....I think that's a good feature. I can't adjust them, but I can adjust the sensitivity of the auto wipers....a trick I learnt on my Touareg.

Brett....

Yeah I don't think the cruise control is as good as other new ones I've used also... my G6E Turbo (Falcon) has a lot more power but it'll sensibly accelerate gently to cruise speed when resuming.. whereas the Disco powers to it a bit fast than needed imho...

And yes it doesn't seem to hold it as well going down hills etc either...

The CC on my MY12 works really well IMO. When going up a hill it allows at 2kph drop rather than grunt up it at the set speed. Similarly it allows the speed to run out to +2kmh going down hill. If anything I'd like to see more variation but on reflection I think they have it about right in order to stop complains at people being booked by cameras at the bottom of a hill.

My auto headlights are pretty sensitive sometimes coming on as I go under an under pass and they come off again more reluctantly than they went on. I think that is part of the territory with that feature. I think it's p

With regard to auto wipers, I thought, perhaps incorrectly, that when the wipers were set to auto the intermittant part was bypassed and that you cannot control the sensitivity.

J

Compared to the way the cruise control operated on my old D2 I have no complaints about the D4 at all. The old D2 was useless - surge forward, backoff, surge forward, back off ad nausium. The D4 cruise control at least works without displaying bi polar syndrome. Don't know whether it over run on hills I'm just happy it works at all.

With regards to auto wipers, yes you can control the sensitivity but there is no intermittent operation as such. Instead of adjusting a timer which controlled the wiper frequency what your are adjusting now is the sensitivity to rain drop deposition on the windscreen - more rain drops, more wipes. The faster rain drops accumulate the faster the wipers operate.

So you get variable wiper timing at the same wiper sensitivity setting depending upon the rain intensity. The object being to keep the windscreen clear, not to just activate the wipers because a timer said so.

Originally Posted by JamesH

With regard to auto wipers, I thought, perhaps incorrectly, that when the wipers were set to auto the intermittant part was bypassed and that you cannot control the sensitivity.

J

James,

When your wipers auto start and don't move enough for your liking, using the intermittent controller on my D4 makes them come on later or sooner depending on which way you rotate the dial. When full on very small amounts of rain set them off, and full off takes a lot more rain to set it off. I have it set midway which works well for me. I don't like having them full on as the smallest spray sets them off, and then blurs the screen.

This is how it works on my D4 and same on my Touareg.

Brett.....

Originally Posted by RovingRod

Second - Auto headlights left on auto turn themselves on when in bright sunlight, can sensitivity be adjusted by the dealer?

Any thoughts?
Thanks

Do you have a dashmat? There is a small circular cutout on mine, which allows the light sensor (next to the centre speaker grill) to pop through. Maybe your dash mat needs this mod.

I was unhappy about the over run on my D4 (MY10) as it ran more than 10kmh over on steeper hills (about 4km over on the Westgate bridge in Melbourne).

I then discovered that this reduces enormously if you have transmission in S mode when cruise is on (yet the S mode doesn't affect the gear changing points under acceleration when the cruise is on). Try this - I was surprised. It's the same with braking to a stop in S (where you can feel the change downs) compared to in drive (where you cant).

Auto headlight irregularities I can live with - but I hate the auto wipers that seem to have a mind of their own (nothing worse than a random wipe on a completely dry screen - or it going flat out for a few strokes when there is only a light shower). I'd rather intermittent in manual mode