We took a long thanksgiving drive (5hrs) through a variety of traffic conditions from open highway to bumper to bumper. Here are my impressions:
Both systems work very well on long open stretches of highway, in those instances they do make the drive less of a chore. The only issue is that the LKAS can annoy with its frequent "keep your hands on the wheel" reminders, not only do you have to keep your hands on the wheel, it takes the smallest nudge for it to know they are in fact there. In addition sometimes you are surprised when it resists your input since it wants you exactly in the middle of the lane, of course, don't forget your blinker before starting a lane change or it gets "quite upset" :)
CMBS also works well on the open highway as long as the speed differential is not very big, once you start to get to 20 mph difference with traffic, the strong braking action is a little disconcerting, the same is true in city driving. The biggest issue, of course, is when people cut in front of you or you want to pass yourself since the system wants to maintain its assigned "buffer" distance. To pass is quite easy since the system "suspends' while accelerating, once you release the accelerator its resets itself to the previous state. Don't let go of the accelerator while passing or the system will wake up while your trying to pass (oops). In heavy traffic CMBS is great for maintaining your place in line without losing your temper :) Just keep it at the shortest following distance to keep nitwits from squeezing in ahead of you and causing the system to slam the brake unnecessarily. Again the trick of good CMBS etiquette is to keep the speed differential with the rest of the traffic at no more than 15mph.
In summary the systems work as advertised but a little practice is necessary to use them effectively. If you are a speed limit abiding citizen you can probably use them on a continuous basis, just set the posted speed and go. For the more leaden foot (like me) its good for the open highway and instances of boring, heavy traffic where you just want to maintain your place in the slow moving queue.
A note of caution: YOU STILL HAVE TO DRIVE
Both systems work very well on long open stretches of highway, in those instances they do make the drive less of a chore. The only issue is that the LKAS can annoy with its frequent "keep your hands on the wheel" reminders, not only do you have to keep your hands on the wheel, it takes the smallest nudge for it to know they are in fact there. In addition sometimes you are surprised when it resists your input since it wants you exactly in the middle of the lane, of course, don't forget your blinker before starting a lane change or it gets "quite upset" :)
CMBS also works well on the open highway as long as the speed differential is not very big, once you start to get to 20 mph difference with traffic, the strong braking action is a little disconcerting, the same is true in city driving. The biggest issue, of course, is when people cut in front of you or you want to pass yourself since the system wants to maintain its assigned "buffer" distance. To pass is quite easy since the system "suspends' while accelerating, once you release the accelerator its resets itself to the previous state. Don't let go of the accelerator while passing or the system will wake up while your trying to pass (oops). In heavy traffic CMBS is great for maintaining your place in line without losing your temper :) Just keep it at the shortest following distance to keep nitwits from squeezing in ahead of you and causing the system to slam the brake unnecessarily. Again the trick of good CMBS etiquette is to keep the speed differential with the rest of the traffic at no more than 15mph.
In summary the systems work as advertised but a little practice is necessary to use them effectively. If you are a speed limit abiding citizen you can probably use them on a continuous basis, just set the posted speed and go. For the more leaden foot (like me) its good for the open highway and instances of boring, heavy traffic where you just want to maintain your place in the slow moving queue.
A note of caution: YOU STILL HAVE TO DRIVE