Are you a creeper?

[ewoodrick]

- If creep will move the car forward if on a slight incline?
Yes
- With creep on and a steep incline will the car roll backward (assuming vehicle hold is not on)?
I think so
- When decelerating on a flat road with neither pedal pressed and creep ON will the car come to a complete stop eventually?
Nope
- When decelerating on a flat road with neither pedal pressed and creep OFF will the car come to a complete stop eventually?
Maybe

Creep emulates the dynamics of an automatic transmission. My Leaf had it, but it was a lot more aggressive than the Tesla. My new Leaf has one-pedal driving and while my wife likes it, I don't.

Just getting in the car and pulling out of the garage makes me turn off one-pedal driving. In an automatic or EV with creep, when pulling out of a space, you lift your foot off the brake to get moving. To control slow speed, your foot is on the brake. With one-pedal driving, you move your foot from the brake to the accelerator and push. If you happen to misjudge or slip a little, you go through the wall. That's how so many cars run into buildings.

Odds are that your car creeps right now. So you are probably worrying about something that you are already used to.

 

[henleyregatta]

I can see how it can be annoying to keep applying acceleration in traffic. I've been behind a tesla that kept braking and stopping 2 car lengths away from the car in front in standstill traffic and it's really annoying.

Almost certainly using Autopilot (either TACC alone or TACC+AutoSteer). I do the same. Makes traffic jams so much less stressful. Stop worrying about whether you're going to hit the car in front, have more attention available to monitor rear-view / sides as necessary.

Getting upset about a small gap between cars sounds like so much unnecessary mental anguish...

 

[henleyregatta]

With creep mode off you can engage AP when stationary.

You can also engage it (fully) with Creep mode ON too...

 

[henleyregatta]

I feel like I have better control of the car at low speed with creep off. The car stays put in vehicle hold until I use the accelerator, and drifts in a predictable fashion until I brake.

Try it for a while both ways and see what makes you happy. I don't think there's a wrong answer.

I have a theory....

People coming from Automatics (e.g. most US purchasers) prefer Creep=OFF because that's new behaviour to them that makes the car feel a bit different & special. People coming from Manuals (most Euro drivers?) prefer Creep=ON for exactly the same reason - new behaviour making the car feel different/special.

I confess I'm a little wary of trying Creep=OFF now because I understand how the car will behave in traffic and I'm wary of an over-eager right foot compensating for lack of creep flinging me into the car in front....

 

[henleyregatta]

I was thinking other way round, why would u keep it ON? Autopilot is there for Slow traffic. With OFF, ur feet spend very few time on the break than ON.

But with proper use of auto-hold, I only use foot on brake to come to a halt anyway.... once (H) shows, my foot moves back above the accelerator just like yours would... except I know the car's not going to roll away with the brakes applied.

 

[LukeT]

I have a theory....

People coming from Automatics (e.g. most US purchasers) prefer Creep=OFF because that's new behaviour to them that makes the car feel a bit different & special. People coming from Manuals (most Euro drivers?) prefer Creep=ON for exactly the same reason - new behaviour making the car feel different/special.

I confess I'm a little wary of trying Creep=OFF now because I understand how the car will behave in traffic and I'm wary of an over-eager right foot compensating for lack of creep flinging me into the car in front....

Interesting thought. I have owned manuals almost exclusively but driven a fair lot of miles in autos. I need to try creep=OFF for a bit to see how that feels.

But with proper use of auto-hold, I only use foot on brake to come to a halt anyway.... once (H) shows, my foot moves back above the accelerator just like yours would... except I know the car's not going to roll away with the brakes applied.

This is what I do too. I really like it. perhaps its a bit like "creep=SOMETIMES".

 

[Saghost]

I have a theory....

People coming from Automatics (e.g. most US purchasers) prefer Creep=OFF because that's new behaviour to them that makes the car feel a bit different & special. People coming from Manuals (most Euro drivers?) prefer Creep=ON for exactly the same reason - new behaviour making the car feel different/special.

I confess I'm a little wary of trying Creep=OFF now because I understand how the car will behave in traffic and I'm wary of an over-eager right foot compensating for lack of creep flinging me into the car in front....

If I tell you that after trying creep off a couple times I drove with creep on for the first year, then switched to creep off for the last couple years, how does that affect your theory?

 

[LukeT]

If I tell you that after trying creep off a couple times I drove with creep on for the first year, then switched to creep off for the last couple years, how does that affect your theory?

It makes me think I should change the setting every week.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

I'd have to try all the settings when I get it. I used to hate hold brake, but recently warmed to using it.

I can see how it can be annoying to keep applying acceleration in traffic. I've been behind a tesla that kept braking and stopping 2 car lengths away from the car in front in standstill traffic and it's really annoying.

So possibly will use hold brake in combination with creep. As it's hard to have it moving really slow and steady in slow traffic.

I almost always use TACC, so never have that problem.

Back on creep... My profile is set not to use creep mode, but my wife prefers creep mode, so her profile is set for it.
Having different profiles for different drivers is such a neat and powerful capability.

 

[henleyregatta]

If I tell you that after trying creep off a couple times I drove with creep on for the first year, then switched to creep off for the last couple years, how does that affect your theory?

It tells me that a proper statistical analysis would mark you out with a big "Anomaly" marker, and the associated chart would just have a bigger error-bar associated with it

Or as an alternative explanation, if you like: You've become a full EV convert and have entirely ditched the remnants of your ICE driving heritage....

 

[dan223]

Since I drive a manual most of the time hardly ever autos, for my test drive I felt more natural to turn it off. The sales advisor says he prefers it on as it makes it easier for parking. Each to there own really.

 

[Mark_T]

I have a theory....

People coming from Automatics (e.g. most US purchasers) prefer Creep=OFF because that's new behaviour to them that makes the car feel a bit different & special. People coming from Manuals (most Euro drivers?) prefer Creep=ON for exactly the same reason - new behaviour making the car feel different/special.

I drove both auto & manual before the Tesla so there goes that theory

I prefer creep on simply because I prefer to be feathering the brake when performing low speed parking manoeuvres, rather than the throttle.

Any unexpected bump like a tyre nudging a curb only causes me to press further down on the brake, which is better than that same bump causing a little more pressure on the accelerator...

 

[5170304]

When we first got our S I had the creep off but I couldn't get used to parking on a bit of an incline. If your parking space is a bit uphill with a curb/bush/wall in front of it you have to apply the accelerator to go up the incline and then stab the brake at exactly the right moment to stop far enough forward but not so far that you hit the curb. I did the roll forward then backward thing a few to many times and turned creep mode on. Meanwhile my wife prefers creep mode off.

Having different profiles for different drivers is such a neat and powerful capability.

 

[Jaguar]

I am a creeper for the sole reason that I have to back into a space every day that brings my back bumper to within 10 inches of a wall. Creep mode allows the car to back up by itself while my foot is poised over the brake pedal. If it weren't for that, I'd prefer going creepless.

 

[TestPilot]

You can always nudge it forward a little without disengaging AP if you're feeling self conscious, but my view is that people just need to deal with it. Isn't like it's getting them there any slower.

That said, if the trafic is crossing a junction it's nice to be able to move forward a bit so your not sat right on it!

 

[groovidad]

I can probably test all of these for you if nobody jumps in first. I can answer this one now though - the car will not come to a complete stop when you take your foot off the accelerator even with creep off.

We have creep off and the regenerative braking will slow the car to around 3mph. It doesn't seem to stop the car entirely.

Keep practicing. I’ve gotten the 3 to stop within a half a car length at traffic lights, no brakes.

 

[LukeT]

It's interesting that close parking manoeuvres are a defining point here and how we're all fighting the pedals a bit for precise position just like in an ICE car. If they weren't coming from ICE and how that constrains the control of a car (needing to move essentially from freewheeling/stationery to moving at a certain minimum speed via engaging a clutch, auto or not), then would we just be looking at the options of creep or no creep?

Perhaps we'd be taking position rather than power as our input/output. ie something more akin to how a modern tracked vehicle moves on hydraulics where a light touch just takes you forward at a constant inch or 2 a second.

But why have the driver do that with all this tech when they can't see the nose of the car? Tesla cameras and motor control could then take care of just finishing the move to "6 inches from the wall" or whatever.

I think a next development of autopark/summon could be this less glamorous but more useful subset of the function. Summon is kind of this already but the application of it is different and it hangs up on the limits of remote control and poor signal etc. And of course regulations. To do it when you're in the car on one screen touch would be efficient and reduce these other problems. Seems to me that while trying to solve one relatively difficult "problem", which is really the desire for a party piece, they haven't noticed they have a complete solution to another problem which is more a day-to-day reality.

 

[MrBadger]

I am surprised that with all the tech, there appears to be nothing that prevents you from hitting something during a slow speed manoeuvre such as parking - and lets not go there with lack of reverse collision detection. As @LukeT says, summon tech being applied to assist in a manual manoeuvre is such a common use case. This is the point when fanboys chime in with 'use autopark to park itself' or saying that its a high powered car and the user needs to learn how to handle it

 

[Xenius]

Creep is a crutch meant to help those coming from fossil cars that had creep as a byproduct of a stupid engine that was always burning even when not needed.

Turn it off, and you'll be happier.

Creep off since 2016.

 

[Mark_T]

Creep is a crutch meant to help those coming from fossil cars that had creep as a byproduct of a stupid engine that was always burning even when not needed.

Turn it off, and you'll be happier.

Creep off since 2016.

Good for you, but just to be clear, if there was no creep available I wouldn't have bought the car, and it has nothing to do with how my previous cars worked.

The only way I could see me ever being happy without creep is if the slow parking manoeuvres were all fully automated as suggested above.

Absent that, I am always going to want my foot over the brake, not the accelerator when making adjustments measured in inches...