Cruise Control and MPG

saveallmymoney

I've had cars with cruise control pretty consistently for the last 20 years, any effect on MPG has been a slight positive and as people have already mentioned its great for keeping a constant speed in roadworks / lower speed limits where your speed might creep up.

I find driving my wife's car without cruise very tiring on long journeys.

DUTR

getmore4less wrote: »

Even madder in the circumstances like approaching a roundabout.

You don't have adaptive CC, in the not too distant future, cars will drive themselves to an urban destination up to 40mph .

Ultrasonic

My Octavia has cruise control but I don't use it. Primarily because it is safer not to but also because I get slightly better fuel economy with my right foot. The latter is essentially because I can look ahead and anticipate what I may want to do with the accelerator but CC can't.

AdrianC

Ultrasonic wrote: »

My Octavia has cruise control but I don't use it. Primarily because it is safer not to but also because I get slightly better fuel economy with my right foot. The latter is essentially because I can look ahead and anticipate what I may want to do with the accelerator but CC can't.

I'm glad it's not just me. I find using trying to use cruise on anything but a dead-quiet m'way or trunk DC very stressful. The speed it's set at is never _quite_ right for the traffic and road conditions, so I'm constantly adjusting it to the point that I might as well not have it on. I've not tried adaptive, but - frankly - most drivers need to be MORE engaged with their surroundings, not less.

BeenThroughItAll

Ultrasonic wrote: »

...because it is safer not to...

Really? On what basis can you say that with certainty?


I'd estimate that of the 120K plus I've done in the last four years or so, a good 80K will have been with CC engaged, and I can honestly say that at no point have I ever worried about the safety of using it.


I would think anyone who doesn't feel CC is safe is trying to use it in an inappropriate way.

AdrianC

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

I'd estimate that of the 120K plus I've done in the last four years or so, a good 80K will have been with CC engaged, and I can honestly say that at no point have I ever worried about the safety of using it.

I would think anyone who doesn't feel CC is safe is trying to use it in an inappropriate way.

Quite the opposite - if you're using CC for two thirds of your mileage, I'd say that you're prioritising your CC use ahead of the situation around your car.

Strider590

To put it simply, if your in the correct gear it'll use slightly less fuel with CC on.
The tendency however is to turn on CC and have it in too high a gear.
Labouring an engine often uses far more fuel than thrashing the t*ts off it.

Doing 50mph in my Vectra in 5th, uses 10% more fuel than the same drive in 4th, even through it's revving higher in 4th gear. So if I set CC on in the wrong gear for the road, it'd most likely use more fuel.

mcpitman

AdrianC wrote: »

Quite the opposite - if you're using CC for two thirds of your mileage, I'd say that you're prioritising your CC use ahead of the situation around your car.

I use CC for about 80% of my daily mileage. I don;t priorise the use of this over the situation.

The situation is 70mph CC set on a 70mph road. Once set, my CC can be feathered +/- 2mph to maintain safe distances and smooth road use (as opposed to belting up behind someone and breaking overly hard).

The only time I wouldn't use CC is when tired, but I don't drive when tired so that solves that issue.

BeenThroughItAll

AdrianC wrote: »

Quite the opposite - if you're using CC for two thirds of your mileage, I'd say that you're prioritising your CC use ahead of the situation around your car.

So when I travel four hundred miles in a day, of which 350 will be on motorways and dual carriageways, are you suggesting I shouldn't use CC?


What on earth is it for then?


I don't need to 'prioritise' use of CC. I join the motorway, hit 'set' and that's it. I occasionally have to slow down and then hit 'resume', but I would hardly call that giving priority over anything else I'm required to do, like paying attention to the road conditions, other drivers, traffic, etc.

AdrianC

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

So when I travel four hundred miles in a day, of which 350 will be on motorways and dual carriageways, are you suggesting I shouldn't use CC?

It depends on the traffic conditions.

What on earth is it for then?

Specsheet kudos, mostly...

I don't need to 'prioritise' use of CC. I join the motorway, hit 'set' and that's it. I occasionally have to slow down and then hit 'resume', but I would hardly call that giving priority over anything else I'm required to do, like paying attention to the road conditions, other drivers, traffic, etc.

But you don't think any of those things affect the speed you might choose? You don't think that, if you're approaching traffic in front, you'd gently let your speed bleed down to the same as theirs? If the gap in front is increasing, you'd gently increase your speed to keep the gap more constant? If you might need to change lanes soon, you'd not adjust your speed so that you fit more seamlessly into a gap?

Or you'd just sit blindly cruise-controlling along at a set speed and if it doesn't quite fit the traffic flow around you, then hey-ho, that's their problem?