Do you use cruise control on your vehicle?

[Aikouka]

I use it almost all the time because my right ankle is a little mussed up and using it constantly on the accelerator will make my ankle feel all funny and probably hurt.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: Don Vito Corleone
I use it pretty often to keep me honest in terms of my speed.

Me too. I commute 40 miles each way on the highway every day, with no cruise control there's a very high possibility that I would have had my license revoked many moons ago.

Also that's the only way I can coax ~24MPG out of the Subie.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: alimoalem
With regards to that "keep your car in D and the tires will spin the engine" crap, I don't drive any cars new enough to have that technology nor have I heard people say they do it in their MT cars so AFAIK, it's for AT only and our only AT vehicle is a van.

Keep your damn car in gear! Unless you're carbureted, the systems will shut off fuel flow under engine braking (one of my cars is 22 years old and still has the technology that shuts off the injectors under engine braking). Even if you're carbureted, you should still keep the car in gear to maintain better control over the vehicle. And yes, this is with a standard transmission. The only time you should be in neutral while on the road is when you're stopped at a very long light and you want to give your left leg a rest.

ZV

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: senseamp
Yes, I leave mine on all the time, and I use it at even lower speeds to save gas.

CC doesn't save gas per se (in fact, depending on the logic it may even use more gas than a driver who knows what he's doing), but it does keep the driver from having to pay very close attention to keep their speed from drifting, and THAT can save gas.

I use it on cars that have it when driving long-distance. However, some of them have much better logic than others. I hate CCs that drift more than a couple MPH...I can do better than THAT myself, thank you very much.

I disagree. Where you waste a lot of gas is the constant acceleration of stop and go traffic. If you can maintain a constant speed your engine will use less gas.

You can't use CC in stop-and-go traffic.😕

My claim is that I can maintain a steady speed with my right foot about as well as any CC system, if I'm paying close attention. This is corroborated with thousands and thousands of miles of road trips across the country in a number of different vehicles, some with CC, most without. When I have it, you bet I use it...it's much less tiring than the close attention that it takes to maintain a steady speed. But it only saves gas if you are unable to maintain a steady speed without it, and in the case of some CC systems, they are actually worse than my right foot.

Man it sure is nice on long-distance trips, though...gas savings or no.

Originally posted by: alimoalem
Riverhound777, maybe the guys shooting past you on the downhill (who are saving more gas than you 😛) are in neutral and they're not braking on the downhill so they speed up. With regards to that "keep your car in D and the tires will spin the engine" crap, I don't drive any cars new enough to have that technology nor have I heard people say they do it in their MT cars so AFAIK, it's for AT only and our only AT vehicle is a van.

I...certainly hope you're joking.

 

[Vic]

I hate CC to the point that I wish it were outlawed. CC abusers are THE worst drivers on the road. And you can always tell who they are too. They're the ones that never adjust their speed according to changing traffic flow or conditions. They're the ones who can't be bothered to adjust their speed before changing lanes, and who think "passing" in the left lane means overtaking by an inch or more per hour.
Skinny pedal, right foot. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

 

[helpme]

I use it when in my TSX all the time, but my SRT-4 doesn't have it 🙁

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: Vic
They're the ones who can't be bothered to adjust their speed before changing lanes, and who think "passing" in the left lane means overtaking by an inch or more per hour.

Half the time there's no reason to speed up unless your slow speed will slow someone down behind you. Yet again, if someone is going 80 in a 65, why should I care to speed up more when they're breaking the law in such a gross manner. I could understand if you're going 70 and a guy in front of you is passing at 66 when the guy beside him is going 65. If I'm the one that's passing (which I usually go 5 over, so I'd be going 70 anyway), I speed up as to not get in other people's way.

So just because I use the CC doesn't mean I don't look out for being fair to other drivers. I'd say maybe half the drivers I encounter are courteous in this manner, but most will just go at their measly pace.

 

[Riverhound777]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: coldmeat
I use it whenever I remember I have it, and when the highway is empty. I don't like taking my foot off of the pedals.

I think this would apply to me as well. I think CC is more of a comfort option and I can't really get myself into a comfortable position with CC on (unless I get too comfortable) so I only use it once in a while.

Riverhound777, maybe the guys shooting past you on the downhill (who are saving more gas than you 😛) are in neutral and they're not braking on the downhill so they speed up. With regards to that "keep your car in D and the tires will spin the engine" crap, I don't drive any cars new enough to have that technology nor have I heard people say they do it in their MT cars so AFAIK, it's for AT only and our only AT vehicle is a van.

First of all, I don't break going downhill, if engine breaking isn't keeping me at my speed, I will let the car speed up rather than hit the breaks. Second I drive a manual, so piss off 😛

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: Vic
They're the ones who can't be bothered to adjust their speed before changing lanes, and who think "passing" in the left lane means overtaking by an inch or more per hour.

Half the time there's no reason to speed up unless your slow speed will slow someone down behind you. Yet again, if someone is going 80 in a 65, why should I care to speed up more when they're breaking the law in such a gross manner. I could understand if you're going 70 and a guy in front of you is passing at 66 when the guy beside him is going 65. If I'm the one that's passing (which I usually go 5 over, so I'd be going 70 anyway), I speed up as to not get in other people's way.

So just because I use the CC doesn't mean I don't look out for being fair to other drivers. I'd say maybe half the drivers I encounter are courteous in this manner, but most will just go at their measly pace.

Because the law says yield to faster traffic and keep right except to pass. And in my state that is a class B traffic infraction, the same as going 20 over the limit. So who is break the law "in such a gross manner"?

This is EXACTLY the kind of bad driver attitude I was talking about. I suggest you try being more concerned about safety and traffic flow, and less about a couple mph above the limit, or playing passive-aggressive citizen cop with the guy behind you who wants to go faster than you feel is proper.

edit: and to one of the other responses in this thread, cars use less gas coasting in gear than they do in neutral. It's a tiny difference, yes, but still there. This is because the wheels drive the engine while coasting in gear, so no gas required, while it takes a little bit of gas to keep the engine spinning in neutral. It's not "new technology" at all, although with OBD-II it is a certainty (fuel injectors cycle to 0).

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Vic
Skinny pedal, right foot. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

:thumbsup:

 

[Blackjack200]

Originally posted by: Vic

Because the law says yield to faster traffic and keep right except to pass. And in my state that is a class B traffic infraction, the same as going 20 over the limit. So who is break the law "in such a gross manner"?

Thank you. This drives me crazier than almost anything else. I spend more time passing in the right lane than I do in the left. How many times have I been in a 65, and the guy in the middle lane is doing 70, the guy in the left lane is doing somewhere between 69.5 and 70.5? Too many to count.

Vic, I hope you get to drive in Spain at some point. I had the pleasure of driving on their motorways last week and oh man, people keep right! They pass quickly and decisively and immediately get back into the right lane. You can't convince me that it was a coincidence that I could only find 1 automatic transmission all week. Here's the problem:

1. Put car into "D"
2. Set cruise control 6 mph over speed limit
3. Get in middle lane (so you don't have to deal with merging traffic)
4. Turn brain off

The Spanish don't even get to step 1.

 

[Dirigible]

Originally posted by: Blackjack200

Originally posted by: Vic

Because the law says yield to faster traffic and keep right except to pass. And in my state that is a class B traffic infraction, the same as going 20 over the limit. So who is break the law "in such a gross manner"?

Thank you. This drives me crazier than almost anything else. I spend more time passing in the right lane than I do in the left. How many times have I been in a 65, and the guy in the middle lane is doing 70, the guy in the left lane is doing somewhere between 69.5 and 70.5? Too many to count.

Vic, I hope you get to drive in Spain at some point. I had the pleasure of driving on their motorways last week and oh man, people keep right! They pass quickly and decisively and immediately get back into the right lane. You can't convince me that it was a coincidence that I could only find 1 automatic transmission all week. Here's the problem:

1. Put car into "D"
2. Set cruise control 6 mph over speed limit
3. Get in middle lane (so you don't have to deal with merging traffic)
4. Turn brain off

The Spanish don't even get to step 1.

I wish that law were in effect and heavily enforced in every state. Stay right except to pass! And don't take all day when you pass!

I like CC quite a bit on long trips with light traffic. Here in the Bay Area there's always too much traffic to use it.

 

[LTC8K6]

I use my right foot to pass people when I run up on them with CC on. I pass them quickly and the CC just takes over again. No sweat. 99% of the time it's a nice smooth fast pass.

There's always the 1% of the time that you run across somebody who doesn't get it, and ruins the flow.

I never allow the CC to "creep" me on by in the passing lane. I always make the pass quickly.

Sometimes I think people don't realize you can still use the gas pedal without bothering the CC and that it will just resume their set speed when they take their foot off the gas. They must think they have to turn it off or bump it up to pass, so they just leave it set and wait until they finally make it by the other car because they don't want to change it.

 

[krunchykrome]

I never use it, nor do I ever turn off the VSA.

 

[Scouzer]

I always, always, always use it. Even in town for short distances.

Cruise control keeps the speeding tickets away.

 

[SearchMaster]

I use it fairly often on empty highways on my Maxima. I refuse to use it on my wife's Odyssey because the transmission always decides to downshift two gears if we're going up a very slight hill.