Is Cruise Control Bad?

"Racescort666" (Racescort666) 04/22/2014 at 15:30 • Filed to: rants, curise control

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Dear Opponauts,

Is cruise control really that awful? !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! seem to think it's akin to Communism but personally, I would be disappointed if my car didn't have cruise control. Maybe some people haven't really had a need for cruise control. If you are one of those people, I offer you a youtube video to watch:

At an hour and 7 minutes, you don't have to watch the whole thing, just skip around a bit, but watch at least 1 minute of continuous video somewhere in the middle. Maybe I'm one of those weirdos that finds myself taking roadtrips like this frequently but this is a 1h:7m:28s summary of why I would rather have cruise control and a properly working adaptive cruise control.

Cheers,

Racescort666

505Turbeaux > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:32

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I use it when I am settling into a trip that is longer than 30 minutes...and I would be pissed if I had one that didnt work!

ttyymmnn > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:33

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There is nothing wrong with cruise control. Far, far worse are the drivers who are completely incapable of keeping a constant speed. When I was learning to drive, my father constantly hammered me on keeping a constant speed. And while I am plenty capable of doing that without CC, I'd much rather have it, particularly on long drives. I have even used my cruise on surface streets with 35 mph speed limits. It keeps me safe from speed traps.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:33

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For me, it's an option I'd like but never use. A little question that's been nagging at me since I was a little kid: How do you drive stick with cruise control?

CAR_IS_MI > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:34

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I use cruise control on the highway all the time, Its the only thing I attribute to being able to get 18+ MPG in a lifted Jeep with 35" tires.

It also allows me to watch and see how much people vary their speed. In all honesty, if you can safely use cruise control on the highway, do it, for no reason other than MPGs. It will save you some $, and, as an added bonus, if it catches on, less fuel consumption = lower fuel prices ...

Your boy, BJR > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:34

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If cruise control is wrong then I don't want to be right. The only time I don't use cruise control is stop-go traffic and twisties. Everything else? cruise control.

Nibbles > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 04/22/2014 at 15:36

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Easily. The clutch pedal has a switch on it just like the brake pedal; if you depress either one it defeats the cruise control. If you manhandle it out of gear, then yes it will rev up wildly and fiery death will occur

dinobot666 > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:36

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I use it on really long road trips when the roads are long and straight. 8 to 10 hours of holding your right foot in one place continuously can cause a bit of cramping.

offroadkarter > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:37

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some people believe that any options on a car are decadent bullshit and a base model car is the best because it has less shit to break

Those people can go to hell

ttyymmnn > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 04/22/2014 at 15:37

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Put in 5th and engage the cruise. I drive an '01 Golf with a 5 speed and CC. I use it all the time. In fact, you can use CC in any gear, and I do, though usually only in 4th or 5th.

Jcarr > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:37

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I commute about 35 miles round trip every day and people who don't use cruise control are one of my top annoyances. I don't understand it, it's less work, saves fuel, and helps with an orderly flow of traffic.

I can't tell you how many times I'll move into the left lane to pass someone in a car I know has cruise, only to get along side them and have them speed up. Then slow down.

Just set your cruise. You can always tap the brakes to slow down, and pretty much all systems now will settle back to your cruise speed if you need to get on the accelerator momentarily to pass someone.

Nibbles > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:38

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I labored long and hard to repair the vacuum-controlled cruise control on my 900. Once it was fixed I gave it a test run and never used it again

For me it's a take it or leave it deal, like air conditioning. If it's there, and I have a need for it, I'll use it. Otherwise it's just another idle accessory that I've happily lived without before and could happily live without again

Jcarr > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 04/22/2014 at 15:38

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Same as an automatic, just won't change gears.

Your boy, BJR > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 04/22/2014 at 15:38

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Once you're in cruising gear, set it ^_^

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 04/22/2014 at 15:39

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I own 3 cars with a manual, 2 of them from 1986 and 1 from 2014, all 3 have cruise control, and all 3 I use. Because 20 miles of my 30 mile commute is on the interstate. Put it in highest gear and put it on like you would an auto.

cabarne4 > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 04/22/2014 at 15:39

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Same as an auto. Get whatever speed you want, set it. Putting in the clutch will cancel it though.

jariten1781 > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:40

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I like cruise control with cable operated throttles. The gas pedal moves like magic. I remember being utterly amazed the first time I drove one of those. (yes, I'm easily amazed.)

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > ttyymmnn 04/22/2014 at 15:40

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I have even used my cruise on surface streets with 35 mph speed limits. It keeps me safe from speed traps.

I thought I was the only one that did this.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:41

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You're a fucking asshole if your car is equipped with cruise-control and you don't use it. Because no matter how awesome you think you are, I can guarantee that you don't keep a consistent speed while on the highway. Drive fast, drive slow, I don't care; just drive at a consistent speed, and cruise control does that for you.

What kind of dumb motherfucker hates on cruise control? Dear people who hate on cruise control: you're dumb motherfuckers.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Your boy, BJR 04/22/2014 at 15:42

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I'll fully admit to using cruise control in 30-40 mph zones. It's almost more brilliant in a long, uninterrupted 30-55 mph zone than it is on the highway.

ttyymmnn > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 04/22/2014 at 15:43

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You're in good company.

MIATAAAA > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:44

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I just drove my Z3 from Houston to Philadelphia in under two days.

Cruise control was my best friend.

ddavidn > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 04/22/2014 at 15:46

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Put it in top gear, engage CC. I have only used it once on my car (5spd) to ensure that it works. It scares me with a stick, for some reason. However, you shouldn't need to shift if you're just holding a speed on relatively flat ground. I don't know what happens if you try to go up a hill. Probably lots of wasted fuel.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 04/22/2014 at 15:47

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I do it too, even down to 25 mph in my old truck which allowed me to set starting at 15. guarantees no silly tickets doing 30 in a 25 school zone or something. Current DD has a set limit of 30 tho...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:48

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you don't have to watch the whole thing

Ha! I've done that drive many times...

Cruise is a must on long trips, but it's also important to pay attention, stay out of the passing lane, if possible, and to adjust your speed to be courteous to other drivers. I do everything I can to not impede the progress of my fellow drivers, and expect the same courtesy in return (I know, it's a lot to ask).

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 04/22/2014 at 15:48

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And at 25 in school zones!

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:49

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I use my cruise control constantly. It's great everywhere, I use it as often as possible. My current DD is adaptive CC in a sense that it will actually slow the car not just "coast" when i ask it to drop a mph or 2.

I even went through hell to install one on a 1988 Chevy Blazer S10. (it was donated from a 92 GMC Jimmy) By went through hell I mean....those jackasses changed the wire color OF EVERY GODDAMN WIRE between 88 and 92 why? because apparently THEY CAN. Red wire goes to the brown wire, brown wire goes to the yellow wire, yellow wire goes to the orange wire, and on and on and on.

huge upgrade though after the steering column put some smoke out of it and I got a new blinker arm.

100% worth it (I was doing 10-11 hour drives pretty frequently between home and school at the time).

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:51

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31:10 - please exit passing lane

HammerheadFistpunch > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 15:54

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I use cruise all the time, like ALL the time (keeps me from getting tickets...mostly) and I keep a note in my glovebox for highway trips that reads:

"use cruiser or follow me"

For the 5th time I pass the same stupid expedition with a cargo box.

Nibbles > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney 04/22/2014 at 15:55

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All three of my cars are equipped with cruise control, and it rarely gets used. Why? Because of the invariably indecisive fucks I end up behind, and the simple fact that you can never drive a set speed for any given time anywhere in Denver metro. It's much easier, and less painful, to set a distance between me and the next vehicle and keep that static.

davedave1111 > ttyymmnn 04/22/2014 at 15:59

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"When I was learning to drive, my father constantly hammered me on keeping a constant speed. "

That's an odd one to me. Where I come from they teach the opposite - except in tight traffic, of course, where keeping a steady speed is important. But if you're on an empty highway like in the video above, there are good reasons to vary your speed. It's more fuel efficient, for one thing, to use an engine at WOT, so you should speed up to your maximum, then coast until slowed down to your minimum. And personally I tend to vary my highway speed mostly based on a) genuine hazards and b) things policemen with speed guns can hide behind.

Racescort666 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 04/22/2014 at 16:05

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Yeah, in the 4-5 minutes I watched I was practically screaming at him to use proper lane discipline but I think it just further illustrates my point of adaptive cruise control. You get someone camped out in the left lane that's actually passing people but going slower than you want to, you can just sit there until there's a big enough gap to pass on the right, an unfortunate but sometimes necessary evil.

ttyymmnn > davedave1111 04/22/2014 at 16:05

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Not sure what "WOT" means. But it would seem to me that keeping your speed constant, and your RPMs, it would be more efficient. Even with the coasting, I would think you'd use more fuel accelerating back up to highway speed.

Racescort666 > dinobot666 04/22/2014 at 16:07

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One of the times I was towing the Racescort to a race, the truck we had barely had enough power to maintain 70 on the interstate and I literally (yes, literally) had it floored for over an hour. It was on the same kind of rolly hills as the video.

Racescort666 > HammerheadFistpunch 04/22/2014 at 16:09

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I have my own timelapse from Denver to Breckenridge (testing out my new GoPro) and I passed the same explorer 3-4 times. It was weird too because they'd blast by me up hill at like 80 then I'd go by them going 5 under, strange.

jariten1781 > ddavidn 04/22/2014 at 16:12

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If you're going up a hill that's steep enough to pull you out of the power band you just down shift then hit resume.

davedave1111 > ttyymmnn 04/22/2014 at 16:12

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Wide open throttle. And no, that's just the way (most car) engines work. You're (terrain excluded) always better off accelerating as fast as possible to your desired speed because it minimises pumping losses, and because engines are generally most efficient at higher loads anyway. When you translate that into steady-speed cruising, it's more efficient to accelerate as fast as possible with the engine using fuel optimally, then coast down, than to keep the throttle partway open all the time.

ttyymmnn > davedave1111 04/22/2014 at 16:13

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I'm no engineer, but that seems completely counterintuitive.

jariten1781 > ttyymmnn 04/22/2014 at 16:19

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It's a hypermiling technique where you use 'Wide Open Throttle' only. The idea is you get smoother flow with the throttle butterfly fully open than the turbulent flow of partial throttle. Some bench tests have shown it to have an incredibly minor increase in efficiency. If you're in a 60 zone the technique says go WOT to say 67 then get fully off the throttle (thereby shutting off the injectors) and coast down to say 55. I've never seen anyone actually doing it, I highly doubt it would make any real world difference in efficiency, and it would drive me nuts if I was around someone doing it.

ddavidn > jariten1781 04/22/2014 at 16:21

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Interesting.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 16:24

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I don't want cruise control that adapts to drivers with poor manners - I want the drivers with poor manners to adapt! Pipe dream, I know.

I'd argue passing on the right should be done, not at cruise control speed, but at full throttle, for safety and for making the person camped in the passing lane well aware that you're displeased with their abuse of the highway.

ttyymmnn > jariten1781 04/22/2014 at 16:26

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Thanks for the explanation. Like you, I would never want to ride with somebody who drives in this fashion. I have a friend who constantly blips the accelerator, which makes my head keep going back into the headrest. Drives me bonkers.

dinobot666 > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 16:29

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I did the same thing hauling a trailer behind a Toyota Hilux with a 4 cylinder engine all the way from Minnesota to Florida a few years ago. The 22RE offered no complaints either!

Racescort666 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 04/22/2014 at 16:30

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I feel like I have to do that when I travel west on I-94 leaving Detroit around 3-4pm. For some reason tons of people camp out in the left lane unable to maintain speed, meanwhile, all of the truckers are in the right lane going a solid 65. So here I go, screaming past at 90+ just so I don't have to be the asshole of the conga line only to be the asshole of the conga line.

davedave1111 > ttyymmnn 04/22/2014 at 16:37

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Many things are :)

A bit of googling suggests some people call the technique 'pulse and glide'.

http://www.metrompg.com/posts/pulse-an…

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 04/22/2014 at 16:42

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Not the only one.

CAR_IS_MI > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 04/22/2014 at 16:58

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Thank you for calling it by its name: Passing Lane. +3 Internets.

Jayhawk Jake > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 17:00

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People don't like cruise control?

Why?

I drove a car without it 165 miles on the interstate across Kansas. It fucking sucked.

I use cruise control all the time now. I have long stretches with no lights or traffic everywhere I go, why not use it? It shuts off with a quick press of a button/clutch/brake.

The guy that argues he likes driving, cruising is hardly driving.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn 04/22/2014 at 17:01

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Or 6th...

ttyymmnn > Jayhawk Jake 04/22/2014 at 17:04

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I wish my Golf had a 6th gear. With the new 75 mph speed limits in Texas, I'd love to shed a few RPMs on long trips.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 04/22/2014 at 17:07

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I do this too.

Cable > Racescort666 04/22/2014 at 17:10

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Had to drive a rented Mazda 3 for six hours in Arizona that didn't have cruise control...on a straight road...with nobody on it...worst six hour drive of my life. Honestly didn't know they still made cars without it.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > CAR_IS_MI 04/22/2014 at 17:14

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Only 20 more for my secret decoder ring!

Racescort666 > Cable 04/22/2014 at 17:22

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Supposedly cruise will be part of the "tech package" (whatever that means) for the Alfa Romeo 4C. Not a deal breaker to not have cruise but it will irritate the crap out of me not having it. The thing that really bothers me about not having cruise on modern cars is that so many of them are throttle by wire so it's not even like there is extra hardware that needs to be added.

CAR_IS_MI > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 04/22/2014 at 17:32

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Im saving my internets for x-ray specs...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > CAR_IS_MI 04/22/2014 at 17:36

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Luck-ey...

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Nibbles 04/22/2014 at 17:49

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wow.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn 04/22/2014 at 21:05

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It's weird how used to the number of gears you tend to get. I drove an Abarth, which is a 5 speed I went hunting for 6th twice on the 15 minute test drive.

5th is probably my least used gear, by the time I get up to speed I typically go 4th to 6th or even 3rd to 6th. Toddle along at 30 doing 2000 rpm...