Dreamworks

So after months off, I've been getting back on the road to meet customers for work. I've been renting cars from DCA, going between Hertz and National, to avoid other people in addition to putting miles on my own car. Most of my drives are around 3-4 hours away. For this week's trip, I reserved a Luxury car as it wasn't that much more than a standard car and I wanted to be comfortable. When I got there, all he had was a BMW 330i. Sounded good to me!

Dear reader, it was not as good as I hoped. I found it pretty tight and the sunroof removes even more headroom. But what made me the most sad was that it had only standard cruise control. For long drives, I am looking for a vehicle that has adaptive cruise control, which is the kind that speeds up to your set speed and slows when it detects cars in front of you.

Does anyone know what cars in the fleet have it? I'm a little disappointed that this BMW looks luxury but it clearly didn't have the full package. Thanks all!

xienon

Pretty much none of the luxury cars have adaptive cruise as they're always optional extras. I've never rented a Infiniti, Cadillac, Lincoln, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, or Land/Range Rover that had adaptive cruise. The only luxury category car I've had ACC in was a Volvo S60 inscription.

The list of ACC enabled cars that I can remember off the top of my head are:
- Toyota of any trim as it comes standard
- Mazda 3, 6, CX-30 (at least in the trims National buys)
- Top trim Nissans (SL's, Platinum)
- Hyundai Santa Fe

The Toyota system isn't full speed (disengages at around 20 mph). The Mazda/Volvo systems are full speed and the Nissan system works at slow speeds but you have to re-engage every time it stops.

mgxplyr

Add Ford Fusion to the list

Dreamworks

Appreciate the help. Seems odd that the Mazdas will have ACC but not the luxury models. So you think I should just try my luck for these in the Exec selection instead of selecting a type?

tanglin

I rented an Accord which had it (not through National though, Hertz).

kxc262

The Volvo XC90 will have it as well.

xienon

Yeah, you're better off going through the aisles and just looking at the steering wheel to see if there's a button to set the distance. National almost always orders the base model for all luxury cars other than Volvos.

MarkCron

Nissan Armada has it. Took me 1/3 of the way into a 30hr drive to get used to it, and figure out how to "over-rule" it.

Pathfinder813

One thing to note, there's the adaptive cruise control, and then there's one step up with near autonomous cruise control, almost like self-driving in Teslas.

The new Ford Explorer Limited also had an auto-drive cruise control because it comes standard in the Limited edition.

Most of the Volvos I've driven have near self-drive capability with their cruise control - set it in cruise, it maintains distance and will keep the vehicle centered in the lane so that you don't have to steer.

None of the other European luxury brands have it. None of the BMWs I've driven have any "smart" cruise control (that includes the 7-series, X7, 5-series, new 3 series, and X3). Same goes for Audi, Mercedes Benz, Land Rover/Range Rover, Jaguar, and Maserati. I think the "smart" cruise control is an option for all of these brands and doesn't come standard and National/Enterprise does not spring for that option.

I also don't think the Jeeps have it either but I may be wrong.

xienon

ACC is becoming more and more popular as a standard feature. 2021 Q50 comes with it standard. Everyone has to compete with Toyota/Lexus

As far as ACC with lane centering, that's still pretty rare. I've only had it on 2 cars out of 100+ rentals the last 3 years
Nissan Rogue SL with "Propilot" option, look for button with blue circle on steering wheel
Ford Edge Titanium in Canada with every option checked. Never seen a US car in that spec.

m907

The German brands are pretentious and they nickel and dime for every feature, because their buyers - corporate middle-management goons and government bureaucrats - will pay it. It's about having a status symbol.

kennycrudup

Ditto. Never liked CC, and doubly hate the "smart" ones- I prefer to drive the damn car.