Golf Mk8 - Driver Assistance Features

**Handydave** · 31-08-2020,08:49 PM

Just over a week into driving our Golf Mk8 eTSI DSG. I’ve noticed the following Driver Assistance Features which either aren’t explained in the manual or are pretty hard to find.

The earlier items probably only apply to eTSI DSG models, but the rest probably apply to all.

How to know if the engine is in ‘two-cylinder mode’ or is ‘coasting’? When it’s in two-cylinder mode an ‘eco’ label appears above the right-hand display on the virtual cockpit. When it’s coasting, the stop-start symbol (an A with a clockwise arrow) also appears – and, of course, the rev counter drops to zero. Also, if you select ‘consumption’ (not average consumption) for the centre of one of the virtual cockpit displays, it will read ‘two-cylinder mode’ or ‘coasting’ as appropriate. I would say it’s in one or other of these modes around 30 to 40% of the time if you drive gently.
The stop-start works much more smoothly than the Mk7 – I think because it’s the alternator / generator that’s doing the re-start rather than the starter motor.
You can set the Predictive Cruise Control to respond to speed limits or to the route ahead or both. However, I’ve turned both off for the reasons explained below.
In relation to speed limits, if you’ve set the speed to, say, 50mph it will slow to 30mph by the time you reach the speed limit sign at a rate determined by the profile (see next item). So far so good. But when you come out of the 30mph limit into the de-restricted zone it sets the speed to 60mph rather than the speed you’d originally set – and 60 might be too fast for a country road.
In relation to route, it will reduce speed automatically at a rate determined by the profile (see next item) but I’ve found that sometimes there is mild phantom braking when the navigation sees a ‘bear left’ type of situation even though this doesn’t require a reduction in speed.
HOWEVER, even with both switched off, I notice there is mild braking (or maybe just recuperation using the alternator / generator) when approaching a junction or roundabout. This is actually very helpful, although it doesn’t bring the car to a full stop – you still need to brake. It seems to work whether or not the ACC or navigation is enabled.
You can set a profile in the Active Cruise Control settings: Eco / Comfort / Normal / Sport. As far as I can tell, this doesn’t affect the accelerator or steering response or the coasting or two-cylinder mode. What it does do is control how responsively the cruise control will bring you back up to the set speed after an automatic speed reduction for any reason.
When stopped in traffic the engine will stop automatically. When the car in front pulls off, the engine will start again ready for the driver to accelerate. This happens even if Active Cruise Control is not engaged.
When navigating to a destination, the nav screen displays the expected arrival time on the top right. If you touch it, it will toggle to time remaining.
The steering assist feature is very clever. The camera can identify a kerb / solid white line / dotted white line and these are displayed accordingly in the assistance screen (and also on the head-up display). Lane Assist (or, as the manual describes it, the Lane Keeping System) is a passive system which nudges the steering if the driver wanders out of lane. It operates above 60km/h (around 37mph) and is always switched on by default at start-up. If intervention is required, this symbol turns amber. In addition to the steering nudge, the system can oprionally be set to vibrate the steering wheel. Some cars (eg Style) are optionally fitted with Travel Assist. You will know if this is the case because the bottom right symbol on the left hand steering wheel control looks like this:

Travel assist is an active system. When you press the button the car is automatically steered within the lane markings. In addition, the adaptive cruise control is set. When travel assist is engaged, the symbol on the instrument display is a combination of the Lane Assist and ACC symbols. Travel Assist seems to operate at any speed (once the button is pressed). I find it works well, especially on motorways or well marked rural roads.
To mute the radio / media, tap the on/off ‘button’ at the bottom left of the infotainment screen.

Have I understood these features properly?
Have you discovered any other features?

**iMZee** · 02-09-2020,04:44 PM

I thought that was inside my head point 5. Really quite useful, also the start/stop function of the car is incredibly smooth. I've got the 1.5 150 manual and its the smoothest stop/start system i've been in. Far better than other systems such as the one in the octavia vrs 2016, volvo s90, a180d, 118d and a few others ive been in.

**airforced** · 24-01-2021,07:03 PM

Originally Posted by iMZee

I thought that was inside my head point 5. Really quite useful, also the start/stop function of the car is incredibly smooth. I've got the 1.5 150 manual and its the smoothest stop/start system i've been in. Far better than other systems such as the one in the octavia vrs 2016, volvo s90, a180d, 118d and a few others ive been in.

I would agree with that. Coming from an S90, which was very smooth, and which I had no complaints about the VW is even better still. My previous E Class stop/start was very rustic, ie not sophisticated at all, in comparison. Still getting to grips with the software driven Mk8 though. Not sure that I like it being so software reliant. Time will tell.

**SophieC** · 25-01-2021,11:48 AM

Well explained, thank you. I have the same Golf 8 (eTSI and DSG) - I find the sign assist handy for speed limits, but the no overtaking sign shows backwards, the red car is on the left of the black car on the sign. Is this common, it is set to Euopean standard and not UK perhaps?