cruise control

colin13

hi guys,,have qahqai,and has cruise control on it,I used it driving on motorway to blackpool,but ive started to use it at 30mph around town,,is this fuel efficient or am I doing wrong and using it around town

maninthestreet

Nothing wrong with using it around town - I do the same with my Astra. It's got a trip computer that shows instantaneous fuel comsumption - I get over 70mpg with cruise control at 30mph.

jaydeeuk1

I remember that top gear episode with the audi a8 diesel where clarkson got more mpg on the motorway with the cruise off - something like 10% extra.

Rolandtheroadie

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

I remember that top gear episode with the audi a8 diesel where clarkson got more mpg on the motorway with the cruise off - something like 10% extra.

I'd take anything I saw on topgear with a pinch of salt. Did they do it over the same stretch of road? Once cruise once normal?
It's like the whats quickest across London. bicycle, car, boat or public transport. True winner? motorbike (it went slow so it could film Hammond).

Rallydriver

You can get better mpg without cruise control, but you have to be very very very controlled with the throttle and on a long journey it requires alot of extra concentration which becomes tiring after a while.
For the average driver, cruise control will be better for mpg.

I find cruise control most useful through long 40 or 50mph roadwork restrictions on the motorway, but in busy or urban traffic I prefer to leave it off for safety reasons.

Inactive

For cruise control to be really effective, you need fairly empty roads, something that is sadly lacking here in the UK.

Money_Grabber13579

I can get better mpg without cruise control, especially where there are lots of hills. Which is most places! Cause you end up slowing off going up the hill slightly and speed up going down it again. Hence you don't use the extra fuel keeping you at the same speed all the time!

Hintza

My car accelerates quite hard when I press resume which is a bit of a downside.


I was however playing around with it on A roads at the weekend and found that it can be quite relaxing if you know the road and speed of corners and then set it accordingly. However you need to maintain quite a big gap as other road users will tend to slow down more at the corners where you will inevitably close the gap right down, if you are going to sweep through them.

Mark_Hewitt

It's surprising how much you actually can use it. Like the OP I often use it when on long distance single carriageway roads and you have to drive through a village at 30mph, I just set it on the cruise then I don't have to worry about checking my speed.

In fact I use it on every occasion where I want to maintain a constant speed for any length of time.

AdrianHi

I use it early in the morning around town to maintain 30mph. I'm well practised at it and prepared to step on the brake swiftly if needed, don't want to get all dozey and forget it's on around town!

hewhoisnotintheknow

Hintza wrote: »

My car accelerates quite hard when I press resume which is a bit of a downside.

speed up slowly, manually