Quick video showing how great the new Stop and Go Cruise Control is in heavy traffic
P.S. My mileage after about 1,500 miles is currently 25.5 mpg!
Nice vid, Hockeye. FWIW, beware of the stop/go function when trailing Motorcycles, however. Sensors remain functional but the narrower profile (surface area) of the motorcycle reduces overall effectiveness. Getting an opportunity to test this is in stop and go traffic is going to be rare. Most motorcyclist these days lane split at the drop of a hat during stop and go traffic. However, recently I was fortunate to get a motorcyclist last weekend who did not lane split in heavy traffic and remained directly behind the vehicle in front of him. Using stop/go, I could see that the CX-9 had difficulty maintaining its typical one vehicle length distance away from the motorcycle directly in front of me.
It executed several stop/go functions with each one having a measurably different final distance behind the motorcycle. Typically, behind wider vehicles the final stop distance is 1 vehicle length. The CX-9 kept executing stops at increasingly closer distances until one time it began accelerating forward while the motorcycle was already stopped less than 1 vehicle length ahead of me. I was forced to take control with manual breaking to prevent colliding with the motorcycle.
That was enough to let me know that I would not be using stop/go with lower profile "vehicles" ahead of me - such as motorcycles. It works flawlessly with other vehicles that fill the lane space ahead. However, it hesitated to slow down multiple times with motorcycles on different occasions in stop and go traffic, confirming for me that it has difficulty with lower profile vehicles. Moral? Keep that right foot closer to the break pedal, just in case.
The Slingshot Effect
Beware, there is also another condition where stop/go has demonstrated an issue. For lack of a better term and because Mazda has not given it a name, I call it the Slingshot Effect. The Slingshot Effect takes place when you are trailing another vehicle using radar cruise control. That vehicle begins to accelerate rapidly away from you, but does so well under the cruise speed you've set as your top cruise speed limit.
Your vehicle begins to accelerate up to your manually established limit. Suddenly, the vehicle you are trailing makes a very close lane change after tailgating the vehicle directly in front of it. The difference in speeds between those two vehicles is significant but not enough to reduce the acceleration of your vehicle now climbing to its manually set limit. This "slingshots" your vehicle forward, as though the vehicle you were trailing pulled you along its path, slinging you directly into the vehicle it just passed while closely tailgating before it made its abrupt lane change. This scenario is not uncommon as someone might be attempting to make a lane change before the gap they see ahead of them closes - this is why they abruptly accelerate and why they end up so close behind (tailgating) the vehicle directly in front of them before their lane change.
For some reason, the sensors don't pick the replacement vehicle very consistently and if the speeds and distances of those two vehicles are just right, the CX-9 continues to accelerate when it should be decelerating behind the slower vehicle now directly ahead of it.
I've noticed this "Slingshot" effect on more than one occasion and have confirmed it in my 2017 and 2018 Signatures. Be very careful when testing/verifying this in your own vehicle. Or, just be aware of this kind of scenario. When using radar cruise with stop/go, I always keep my right foot in position to reply to any circumstance (brake or throttle) immediately.
A word to the wise.