I haven't noticed any comments on the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control. I wonder how satisfactory it is and if it can be used without the braking feature. I read an article about some other vehicle brand recently that said it applied the brakes too much and it could not be used without that feature.

 

Love it on 2 lane roads, but you do have to be careful as the brakes are much more sensitive when DRCC is engaged and your set speed is being 'slowed' due to a vehicle within range in front of you; hit the brakes too hard and you'll feel the difference. However, that is probably one of the features that will help prevent a rear-end collision some day.
As for the interstate, I just use the standard radar. With the DRCC I have found myself not being as aware of speed and realize I came upon a vehicle and now I'm going 10 mph too slow!

 

If you are coming up on a car that is going somewhat slower than you, the braking is almost unnoticeable. If it is going a lot slower, say like a semi doing 20mph less, it will slow you noticeably.
If someone moves into your lane at less than 2 car lengths, it really nails the brakes. It's really annoying.
The other issue is the distance it keeps you back from the car ahead of you. If there is much traffic at all, you are at least 3 seconds behind the car, so people will pull in front of you a lot and the car ends up hitting the brakes to back off then someone else pulls into the space and it becomes an endless cycle.
And as stated above, it is easy to end up behind someone going slower and not even notice it. Happened several times on a trip to San Diego and back..

 

I love it overall, both on regular roads and freeways.

as far as the distance that it keeps you back - that is adjustable. There are three settings for distance. It seems that when you turn it on you default each time to the maximum distance (level three, or 3 bars showing). But if you press the button repeatedly, it cycles to level 2, and then level 1. For me, I find level 2 works best overall.

I do agree that sometimes the breaking can be harsh. Especially if a car from another lane suddenly swerves and moves in front of you. In that case, I find it best to break manually rather than wait and have the DRCC break harshly in those cases.
but overall, I LOVE this feature!

 

I find that after the car slows down it is too slow to accelerate when the car in front of you accelerates thus opening up the gap too much. Of course you can override it with the pedal. Also it's peripheral vision is a tad too wide, at least to the right hand side causing rapid breaking when a car is turning off the road to the right even though there is a clear path forward. In general I like it and give it a 8 of 10.
Another quirk that bugs me is it doesn't stay armed and ready when the "key" has been cycled. It turns off and has to be turned on again and the space adjustment reset again. It's a little thing just as annoying as the AC converting to recirculating. Probably a lawyer thing....

 

Thank you very much. I appreciate your thorough replies.

 

I don't have that feature on my ES, but my son has it on his new Dodge Durango... he doesn't care for it... he disabled it.

 

I have DRCC on both my ES and use it locally and on the highway, you can set the distance between the you and the car ahead of you and I view it as a great safety instrument. I would not buy another car without it.

 

I have PCS/DCC and basically agree with the comments above. Like Jollick, I think it is a great safety feature. I use it on highways and main residential roads.

 

I dont have PCS/DCC on my '14 ES350 but my son got a '17 Subaru Legacy where its now standard equipment. I was impressed by how well that system works even in DC beltway traffic. One step closer to driver-less cars I suppose.

 

Did not know you could use regular or dynamic cruise. How does that work?

 

Thanks for this. I tried it today and it worked. I had a feeling it was adjustable but was trying to do it through the dash screen and couldn't find the setting.

 

Press and hold button at the end of the cruise control stalk. You'll see the green symbol in the instrument cluster change.