Is ACC Really That Useful?

I had an errand in Nara today, so I decided to take the Panamera Turbo. Most of the drive from home to Nara was on the expressway, where ACC (adaptive cruise control) is especially useful on roads like the Hanshin Expressway, with unmarked police cars, speed cameras, and heavy traffic. So here’s a quick look at the ACC system in the Panamera Turbo.

First, the control lever is located below the left side of the steering wheel. (In right-hand-drive models.)

Move the lever as indicated by the markings to switch ACC on or off, adjust the set speed, and so on.

That said, you can’t exactly take your eyes off the road to study the labels while driving, so the controls may seem a little confusing until you get used to them. (Purely in terms of ease of use, I found the BMW loaner I drove recently simpler.)

How to Use the Controls

Here’s a quick overview of how they work…

① Push the lever “away” to switch ACC on

Just be sure not to press the accelerator or brake while doing this.

② Move the lever “away” or “toward you” to adjust the set speed

A green marker appears next to the speed on the central speedometer in the five-gauge cluster. Push the lever away to increase the set speed, or pull it toward you to decrease it. The green marker on the speedometer moves up or down accordingly. You can adjust the speed in 1 km/h increments, or hold the lever to change it in 10 km/h increments.

③ Push the lever “down” to cancel ACC

Pushing the lever down cancels the system, but tapping the brakes is quicker, so I may not use this control very often.

④ Push the lever “up” to resume

Pushing the lever up activates “RESUME” and restores the previously set speed. At first, I kept instinctively moving the lever up or down to adjust the speed, so I often got it wrong until I got used to the controls. (That’s how it worked in the BMW loaner.)

Once you get the hang of these controls, they’re easy to operate while driving. You can also set the following distance. In our car, we set it farther when traveling at higher speeds and closer at lower speeds, such as 60 km/h.

The ACC in the Panamera is impressively smart and reliably detects cars cutting in from the side. If you often take long highway trips, I think it’s a very worthwhile option.

By the way, our average fuel economy for the whole trip was 10.1 km/L—a big improvement over the 4.0 km/L we got in town the other day (laughs).