But my cruise control absolutely will not go into a regular non adaptive mode no matter what combination of anything I press, hold,
press and hold, press then hold, hold then press, etc.
That's interesting. I'll confirm how mine behaves next time I drive, since I don't use CC much locally, but I'm 95% certain that the adaptive/radar cruise is independent of regular cruise in mine.
I'm guessing that, like with LKA/LFA, Kia was adding & updating features with enough frequency that it created some inconsistency in what to combine and what to call them. I remember shopping for Stingers and being confused by which models/trims had active steering (LFA, formerly Active LKA), and until the other day had never used the lane correction one (LKA, car icon) and am still not really clear on what enabling it alongside LFA does.
The left side car between lines just beeps if you drift off.
The steering wheel will actually steer the car like self driving. I had no idea it did that. I thought it just bumped you back to center if you drifted.
I believe the beep is Lane Departure
Warning, and if you don't correct it yourself, next will be Lane Keep
Assist jerking the wheel back (Warning & Assist being the words Kia uses to distinguish alerts vs. active intervention).
If you've never used LFA (active steering, wheel icon), I'd encourage giving it a try for a few days. On winding country roads it just kind of guides the car and is very relaxing, but it's also funny the first time you forget it's on and hit traffic or an intersection, go to creep forward from a stop, and see/feel the car turn the wheel to keep you centered even at 1/2 mph.