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Does cruise control use more fuel?

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  • Lum
    Lum Posts: 6,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    !!!!!! wrote: »
    It may or may not use more fuel but the morons who set their cruise control and end up crawling past you on the motorway at 1/2 MPH faster than you really wind me up.

    Given the current push to roll out average speed cameras across the entire motorway network (let's hope the ToryDems cancel this project) you are going to see a lot more of this.

    It will be like lorries with slightly different speed limiters "elephant racing" only everyone will be at it, and car speedos vary a lot more than lorry ones.

    Personally I set mine and then use the speed readout on my GPS to fine tune it to exactly 70.

    I also find it uses less fuel, but then I tend to get cramps in my right leg from holding at a constant speed, so tend to vary it more. I don't use the resume button though, just accelerate up on my own then set it again.
  • Hammyman
    Hammyman Posts: 9,913 Forumite
    Cruise control DOES use more fuel. The goal for fuel economy is CONSTANT SPEED. CC can't do this that well other than on relatively flat roads.

    For example, when you come to the brow of a hill, the CC will keep the power on for a bit as you descend whereas to maintain the same speed, you'd lift off. Say there was a dip and a hill after, CC wouldn't kick in until you'd already started climbing the hill and you'd have lost valuable speed in that time which the CC then tries to recover back to the set speed, thus using more fuel than maintaining a speed up a hill - ACCELERATING UP HILLS IS AGAINST ALL ECONOMICAL DRIVING COURSE RULES for those who don't know.

    I can beat CC in a truck by 10%, in my car about 5%.
  • BenL
    BenL Posts: 3,189 Forumite
    My understanding is the same as Hammyman, the cruise control panics when going up hill and you start to lose speed so it chucks loads of fuel into the engine to try to keep to the set figure.

    If driving manually you might be happy to lose a few mph going up a hill if your momentum was lost a little.

    Ben
    I beep for Robins - Beep Beep
    & Choo Choo for trains!!
  • cyclonebri1
    cyclonebri1 Posts: 12,827 Forumite
    Lum wrote: »
    Given the current push to roll out average speed cameras across the entire motorway network (let's hope the ToryDems cancel this project) you are going to see a lot more of this.

    It will be like lorries with slightly different speed limiters "elephant racing" only everyone will be at it, and car speedos vary a lot more than lorry ones.

    Personally I set mine and then use the speed readout on my GPS to fine tune it to exactly 70.

    I also find it uses less fuel, but then I tend to get cramps in my right leg from holding at a constant speed, so tend to vary it more. I don't use the resume button though, just accelerate up on my own then set it again.


    I thought the idea of cruise control was that you didn't use your right leg, only for braking. Set the speed and hang you leg out of the window so to speak :cool:
    I like the thanks button, but ,please, an I agree button.

    Will the grammar and spelling police respect I do make grammatical errors, and have carp spelling, no need to remind me.;)

    Always expect the unexpected:eek:and then you won't be dissapointed
  • Strider590
    Strider590 Posts: 11,874 Forumite
    CC uses LESS FUEL, because your at one constant speed, not accelerating and slowing down repeatedly!

    !!!!!! wrote: »
    It may or may not use more fuel but the morons who set their cruise control and end up crawling past you on the motorway at 1/2 MPH faster than you really wind me up.

    What winds me up is the !!!!! that can't keep a constant speed, I set my CC to 70mph and you can guarantee ill have to change lanes several times just because some idiot wants to do 65, 75, 65, 75, 65, 75, 65, 75, etc etc etc for 50 f*cking miles.
    “I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an a** of yourself.”

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  • Had cruise control in my last car and, to be honest, I reckon I only used it about three or four times and only then in the middle of the night when the roads were deserted! Don't really see the point of having it in this country as the roads are so busy you are continually changing speed to avoid other drivers anyway, so unless you are driving when the roads are very quiet I think it's a waste of time. Having said that, I have driven a lot in the US on very long stretches of deserted roads, now in that situation it was a boon!
  • Hammyman
    Hammyman Posts: 9,913 Forumite
    Strider590 wrote: »
    CC uses LESS FUEL, because your at one constant speed, not accelerating and slowing down repeatedly!

    Err, cruise control accelerates and slows down repeatedly.

    I have no problem driving at a constant speed. Perhaps you need to get your own driving looked at if you can't.
  • Hammyman
    Hammyman Posts: 9,913 Forumite
    Had cruise control in my last car and, to be honest, I reckon I only used it about three or four times and only then in the middle of the night when the roads were deserted!

    I use it all the time. I went from mine to Bolton then Northwich and return, a 300 mile round trip, setting off at 9am and getting back at 6pm. I used CC for most of the trip.

    You tend to find those who say there's little opportunity have poor driving standards, particularly the ability to anticipate something, and have a driving style where they drive up to a situation before deciding to do something about it - motorway lane changing being an obvious example.
  • Hammyman wrote: »
    Cruise control DOES use more fuel. The goal for fuel economy is CONSTANT SPEED. CC can't do this that well other than on relatively flat roads.

    For example, when you come to the brow of a hill, the CC will keep the power on for a bit as you descend whereas to maintain the same speed, you'd lift off. Say there was a dip and a hill after, CC wouldn't kick in until you'd already started climbing the hill and you'd have lost valuable speed in that time which the CC then tries to recover back to the set speed, thus using more fuel than maintaining a speed up a hill - ACCELERATING UP HILLS IS AGAINST ALL ECONOMICAL DRIVING COURSE RULES for those who don't know.

    I can beat CC in a truck by 10%, in my car about 5%.


    Perhaps you need to get your car looked at - no car I have driven with cruise control does this. In a modern car I would expect the cruise control to stay on the selected speed in all conditions.


    I would suspect that cruise control would be more efficient for some people - I've noticed that quite a lot of people have difficulty maintaining a constant speed choosing instead to speed up and slow down constantly.
  • Hammyman wrote: »
    I use it all the time. I went from mine to Bolton then Northwich and return, a 300 mile round trip, setting off at 9am and getting back at 6pm. I used CC for most of the trip.

    You tend to find those who say there's little opportunity have poor driving standards, particularly the ability to anticipate something, and have a driving style where they drive up to a situation before deciding to do something about it - motorway lane changing being an obvious example.

    Its a personal opinion based on my driving experience, no need to be insulting. As I said I have been in a position where I found it very useful, but as far as I am concerned to use it in any situation where there is a lot of other traffic about defeats the purpose.
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