On mine, the combination of the in-built speed limit database plus the sign-reading camera were entirely reliable (so I did - rely on it) until Wales introduced the 20mph limits.
Since then everything seems to have flipped on its head such that, e.g. if the car tells me there is a 30mph limit, I know it will be anything _other_ than a 30 limit.
I had hired a BMW for a week and went to Wales last October, its camera handled the 20mph signs ok.
I had a hire car in Jersey once that had one of those.
I stopped on a steep uphill, and put it on. The car rolled back a little, then the car put it on harder.
When I got a gap I pulled away. The car kept the handbrake on just long enough that I stalled the engine, then let it off just as I dipped the clutch. I hit the footbrake pretty hard!
Andy
It assumes a number in a red circle represents the limit in mph. I think there was something in the car's setup menu whereby I could change it to use kph if I wanted.
as did my Enyaq in Scotland in April,
If the car is set to use MPH, MPG, then of course it will assume that a number in a red circle is MPH. Why should it assume anything else? Unless you imagine that it will also examine the number plate on the truck and deduce that it's not a British reg, and so it must be KPH. Is that the line of thinking?
I was merely being pedantic in suggesting the speed limit is usually displayed as 56 mph (not 60) on HGVs to fit in with 90 km/h on the 'continent'.
No. I was merely stating that the option exists from memory. I haven't changed the setup from when I first did it over 8 years ago. I haven't driven on the continent, but I guess it would make sense to change the limiter from MPH to KPH if I was going there.
As I said, I was referring to *continental* HGVs.
They certainly don't have '60' written on the back inside a red circle.
20 mph in Wales :)
Most Sat Navs these days have speed limit info for the roads. It may/will get it wrong for temporary or long term roadworks unless the sat nav has real time traffic updates. My car's inbuilt sat nav is quite good at identifying the speed limit and changes the display information as you pass the roadside signs as the speed limit changes. It also identifies many changes of speed limit due to roadworks, mainly on major roads and longer term roadworks.
On a recent holiday to Wales a friends car sat nav correctly displayed the all the 20 mph limits on a map that hadn't been updated since the car was purchased and long before the 20mph was imposed. The car didn't have any signpost recognition facilities.
Ah, hill start assist. One of the first things I turned of, and left off after visiting friend just after acquiring my car. They lived on a steep hill and the "assist" was a hindrance when reverse roadside parking in car width gaps.
I find it works very well with a dual-clutch automatic, I wouldn't want a car without hold assist now ...
Isn't there a subtle difference? The former group own the the road and can do anything they want.
The 4x4 drivers have no perception on the size of their vehicle and drive like a*****s taking up 80% of both sides of the road, especially in rural areas with two way traffic.
May I refer you to Bob Newhart's School for bus drivers
I've broken many a flask trying to leap onto a departing trolleybus. Our school did not do lunches so flask and sandwiches in the satchel strapped onto the back. A very fit teenager who had no problem in the '60s running and catching up with a standard diesel bus that was just departing, grabbing the pole on the open platform. Try the same with a trolleybus and I'd be left grasping thin air. Should I have managed to get a foot onto the platform when that happened then on the road I ended up with the satchel breaking my fall, and my fall breaking my flask.
I used to hold on to an accelerating trolley bus with one hand whilst on my bike, I would always have to let go, because I would start to wobble over a critical speed.
The most recent in-car satnav update for my car came shortly after the switch to 20mph limits, but it still doesn't incorporate those changes into its mapping.
The sign-reading camera doesn't help, because most of the new signs have been attacked with paint.
That said, even on roads where there have been no changes (40mph, 50mph etc. etc.) the displayed figure is usually wrong - or wrong often enough to be distrusted.
Oh we still have 30mph limits.
On a short journey I do frequently, the limit goes from 20 to 30 to 40 to 60 to 40 and back down to 20. This is a 3 mile route, through nowhere, on small back roads.
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