zes

I love everything about my 300h except that it does not have a radar cruise control. This is particularly galling because these are now showing up in all sorts of el cheapo cars. Do you guys think I can get one installed in my car? Anybody done it already ? My wife will kill me if I suggest trading it in for a cruise control:-)

mcomer

As with adding Navigation post production it would seem to be
very costly in both time and money to add radar cruise. The combo
of camera in the windshield and millimeter radar transmitter in the
grill down to a different IP to display the green "speedo with arrow
plus car profile" are only the visible elements. The hardware and
software changes internally can't be simple either.

Looking forward - the current ES Dynamic Cruise is (only) high speed
and effective above 32 MPH. The 2016 RX has all speed cruise that
will control all the way down to 0... Appease your bride and yourself
and wait to get the 2018 (guessing) ES when it includes all speed.

mspearl95

i believe the nx is available with all speed as well.

i would definitely just wait until your wife is ok with trading it in. the radar cc systems will continue to improve every year, so by the time you are ready, they will most likely be even better than they are now. My 2013 has it, and it works pretty well, but the response time for getting back up to speed after braking really needs to be improved. Slow and clunky. Even still, I love it for highway cruising.

jollick

The 2013 to 2015 ES Dynamic radar cruise control works above 30 mph and automatically kicks out and beeps if it slows down below 25 mph. This is from the owners manual and I experience it all the time with both of my ES models. I wish it had the down to 0 and auto restart but what I have is still good. When it does kick out, the car feels like it is at a slow crawl. It takes a lot of stress out of my daily commute and to me it is a valuable safety feature.

zes

Thank you all.
Here is the plan: Daughter(s) will get drivers licences in 2018. Wife's Nissan will go to them. My 300h will go to the wife. I will lobby for a new ES (or LS if I strike it rich by then!) with a radar cruise control!

Kijug

Zes...ha! My daughter went to college and took my Acura TL-S...so I "had" to get a new car...2014 ES UL. =) That's how you do it!

bc6152

Good planning Zes and Kijug. Another trick I've been using for years is tell them the car (or other item) is much more money than it is, then get it on sale. Really at it's regular price. She'll think you got a bargain. Heh, heh.

zes

Thank you for telling me the tricks! Now if only my kids can get the grades to get scholarships so I have money left over to get a new car :-)

mcomer

mspearl95 - use the Sport setting of your Drive Mode. It will noticeably
improve the throttle response of the active cruise control. This will
be almost unbelievably tighter if you have been attempting to glide
through life with the Active ECO setting on all the time.

coolsaber

Why bother? Your not missing much except bragging rights. I say this wholeheartedly as autonomous driving is something thats a must have, semi autonomous is ehh. The tech is not mature from Lexus, with a ton of operating conditions, the DRCC does not work under, and it still needs to iron out the behavior of the system when commanding the powertrain. If you wait till 2020 or sooner with a Tesla or Volvo, you can step into what is actually what the majority of drivers want; complete hands off driving.

TL : DR enjoy what you have, and avoid the semi autonomous gimmick. Its like buying into the Apple Watch. Good concept, still far off from being useful

mspearl95

I agree that it isn't perfect yet, but I find it overall quite useful, compared to standard cruise control. Tho I didn't get the option with the expectation that it would be completely hands off driving.