Things I have discovered about the car.

[ninja_geezer]

WLTP looks to have killed most of that pal. I believe that’s the reason cars now default back to their “most economical” settings and don’t hold things like drive mode, start stop off when the car is turned off. So either coding (which I also believe WLTP is why VAG has made it more difficult to modify) when it’s possible, or get pressing those buttons. “Cabin crew seats please, ready for take off”

yes i think it was agnes who said its like getting ready for take off.not a problem if you are doing one journey i guess but i use my cars as my main daily ,just the small issue of i am a mobile engineer and it can get a lot of stop start use so to speak.i am sure like all of us we will have to get used to all these nanny aids ,at least its not electric .....

 

[AndyCupra93]

Personally I think stop start is an excellent feature to reduce pollution in built up areas while stuck in standstill traffic. It’s the sort of technology that should have been commonplace on vehicles 20 years ago...

 

[ninja_geezer]

Personally I think stop start is an excellent feature to reduce pollution in built up areas while stuck in standstill traffic. It’s the sort of technology that should have been commonplace on vehicles 20 years ago...

only in certain scenario's ,like a techy said to me a few years ago ok for single journeys but the amount of strain on starter motors ,battery's ect is immense in theory it could start my car 50 /60 times a day that's ridiculous...

 

[AndyCupra93]

only in certain scenario's ,like a techy said to me a few years ago ok for single journeys but the amount of strain on starter motors ,battery's ect is immense in theory it could start my car 50 /60 times a day that's ridiculous...

These things will have been tested for tens, even hundreds of thousands of cycles - the whole wearing thing is scaremongering (probably founded on some truth regarding long out-of-date technology).

So yes it will produce *more* wear, but in much the same way highly revving your lovely 310 HP engine produces more - its perfectly up to the job!

 

[ninja_geezer]

These things will have been tested for tens, even hundreds of thousands of cycles - the whole wearing thing is scaremongering (probably founded on some truth regarding long out-of-date technology).

So yes it will produce *more* wear, but in much the same way highly revving your lovely 310 HP engine produces more - its perfectly up to the job!

yes things have indeed moved on andy but as i come from an engineering background i hate stop start with a passion !!! the sooner i can kill it the better for me at least.

 

[Agnes.Surrey]

It would be a lot easier just to get used to these features, as they’re here to stay and will at some point not even be switchable in future vehicles...

I don't plan to get any brand new car in future, unless it's outgoing model that's behind times. So, don't see the reason to getting used to things, that annoy me.

It would be much easier if there were buttons and you could quickly switch on/off start/stop. I had it in 5 previous cars and used it when it was practical, but it was easily reached button in the middle dash. Also, none of these start/stop were as aggresive as in new VAGs. They only kicked in when I braked and was stationary, not when slowing down.

I will have to survive another 22 months with preparing for take off and then get used car without this hassle.

 

[ninja_geezer]

I don't plan to get any brand new car in future, unless it's outgoing model that's behind times. So, don't see the reason to getting used to things, that annoy me.

It would be much easier if there were buttons and you could quickly switch on/off start/stop. I had it in 5 previous cars and used it when it was practical, but it was easily reached button on the middle dash. Also, none of these start/stop were as aggresive as in new VAGs. They only kicked in when I braked and was stationary, not when slowing down.

I will have to survive another 22 months with preparing for take off and then get used car without this hassle.

so true

 

[Agnes.Surrey]

These things will have been tested for tens, even hundreds of thousands of cycles - the whole wearing thing is scaremongering (probably founded on some truth regarding long out-of-date technology).

So yes it will produce *more* wear, but in much the same way highly revving your lovely 310 HP engine produces more - its perfectly up to the job!

In SLK55 which I had in past, and start/stop worked pretty well, there were issues with additional start/stop batteries after 3 years. Number of people had them replaced at cost.

 

[CupraPoopra]

For what it's worth, after 6 days of Formentor ownership I haven't found the aids to be off putting.

I've found Start Stop okay if you are light on the brake pedal, so feathering it instead of just coming to a complete halt. Equally, the lane assist isn't anywhere near as intrusive as the outgoing Peugeot 3008, infact, I cant really tell if it's doing anything most of the time, only the occasional slight movement in the steering wheel. The 3008's lane keeping assist was very intrusive, so maybe it's relative to what car you are stepping out of.

 

[ninja_geezer]

For what it's worth, after 6 days of Formentor ownership I haven't found the aids to be off putting.

I've found Start Stop okay if you are light on the brake pedal, so feathering it instead of just coming to a complete halt. Equally, the lane assist isn't anywhere near as intrusive as the outgoing Peugeot 3008, infact, I cant really tell if it's doing anything most of the time, only the occasional slight movement in the steering wheel. The 3008's lane keeping assist was very intrusive, so maybe it's relative to what car you are stepping out of.

do you have the issues people are saying with car thinking its a left hand drive ?

 

[CupraPoopra]

do you have the issues people are saying with car thinking its a left hand drive ?

Not that i've noticed.

I've barely covered 200 miles thus far as I've only been doing the boring 30 mile round trip commute to work. Equally, I've had no infotainment issues *touch wood*. Again, it may be relative to what cars people are changing from, the the infotainment so far has been fine and a noticeable improvement over the Peugeot's. That being said, other than changing the temperature, now I've got everything set up, I just use Apple CarPlay, which works well, especially as the screen scales up.

Come to think of it, the only issue I've had so far was CarPlay related and that was on the 2 and a bit hour drive from the dealers where the phone got too hot, so shut itself down to cool, which I've only ever seen on holiday when left out in the sun too long. Not had an issue since, but I've put that down to wireless charging and wireless CarPlay both running for an extended period of time, as the wireless charging mat was also very warm.

 

[ninja_geezer]

good start for you hope it continues. Android all the way for me im a techy lol.

 

[BigJase88]

Stop / Start systems are down right dangerous, the worst one is when you come to a momentary stop on a roundabout and then you go for a small gap and boom the car cuts out, then as your trying to move off it's trying to start and you look to your right and that 40 tonne wagon that was safe to get a shift on has now almost flattened you as stop / start has just tried to kill you.

Starter motors are also not built forever so the amount of strain on one of those will be immense (yes it is designed with many starts in mind but car manufacturers ideas of 'lifetime' is a 3yr 60k mile warranty period) So anything that can reduce the wear then all the better. I have coded mine out via carista (old model when you were allowed to do so) and now i start the car maybe 2 / 3 times a day as opposed to 20/30, surely that's got to be beneficial for component longevity.

 

[ninja_geezer]

Stop / Start systems are down right dangerous, the worst one is when you come to a momentary stop on a roundabout and then you go for a small gap and boom the car cuts out, then as your trying to move off it's trying to start and you look to your right and that 40 tonne wagon that was safe to get a shift on has now almost flattened you as stop / start has just tried to kill you.

Starter motors are also not built forever so the amount of strain on one of those will be immense (yes it is designed with many starts in mind but car manufacturers ideas of 'lifetime' is a 3yr 60k mile warranty period) So anything that can reduce the wear then all the better. I have coded mine out via carista (old model when you were allowed to do so) and now i start the car maybe 2 / 3 times a day as opposed to 20/30, surely that's got to be beneficial for component longevity.

could not have explained it any better myself.

 

[Ricknffc]

Just been reading a whatcar review. Says ' most versions of the Formentor have a predictable brake pedal that allows you to come to a halt smoothly' - didn't know that.

 

[mm8718]

Just been reading a whatcar review. Says ' most versions of the Formentor have a predictable brake pedal that allows you to come to a halt smoothly' - didn't know that.

Dont know about 'halt' but it certainly slows you down to match speed limits, T-Junctions and roundabouts. It is part of the travel assist. In my case, it never reached 'halt' on my Golk MK8 which i believe shares the same software/radar tech.

 

[Dovla_ktm]

just get a proper bit of kit for accurate readings ,normal phone GPS is only 1 or 2 htz not fast enough .the proper kit like a dragy uses 10 htz very accurate.

 

[Brady93]

Dont know about 'halt' but it certainly slows you down to match speed limits, T-Junctions and roundabouts. It is part of the travel assist. In my case, it never reached 'halt' on my Golk MK8 which i believe shares the same software/radar tech

Does it slow down for you? I really hope not!

 

[Ricknffc]

Does it slow down for you? I really hope not!

No I don't think so, you don't get the sense anyway that your pushing the brake pedal but really it's deciding what to do and not the driver. The only the case when you feel like it's controlling you is when the emergency braking kicks in when it detects your going to hit something.

 

[Woody_72]

I think that was the first thing I did when I got Carista, disabled stop/start.