Yact: Any downside of using cruise control to accelerate?

[JEDI]

I'm in moderate traffic- between 40 and 60 mph.

when at 40mph i accelerate, but then traffic slows down again and i hit the brakes. i'm accelerating too fast.

but i found out that if i use cruise control to accelerate, i cut down on hitting the brakes 90%.

ie: i'm on cruise control at 40mph. traffic loosens up and i use cruise control to go faster. since cruise control doesnt do a jackrabbit, i dont accelerate that fast. then traffic will almost always slow back down to 40mph. since i didnt accelerate that fast, i'm only at 50mph (instead of 60mph) when traffic goes back down to 40mph.

is it bad to continuously use cruise control this way???

THX

 

[Eli]

Nope. It's no different than pushing on the throttle as far as the engine is concerned.

I say go to town, since you're saving wear on brakes it seems, too.

I suppose you'll wear your cruise control mechanics faster, but I'm sure they're fairly reliable.

 

[MikeMike]

all i know is cruise control is god for fuel economy, aint NO foot ever going to match what a computer can do.

MIKE

 

[StageLeft]

I'd say use the gas more gently If you use cruise it's more likely to die in the future, because the more you use anything the more likely it is to break. But, if you were going to use cruise control anyway using its accelerate feature isn't harmful!

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I don't know if its bad, just don't push on the pedal so hard then...

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Holy, 4 replies in the same minute!

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Holy, 4 replies in the same minute!

Heh sweet!

 

[thomsbrain]

i do the oppisite because the cruise in my car has quite the lead foot. hit the accelerate the button and the pedal practically drops to the floor. i leave it on, push the pedal down farther down on my own, then tap the accelerate button to reset it to the current speed.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
i do the oppisite because the cruise in my car has quite the lead foot. hit the accelerate the button and the pedal practically drops to the floor. i leave it on, push the pedal down farther down on my own, then tap the accelerate button to reset it to the current speed.

LOL.... I found that amusing.

 

[JEDI]

duplicate

 

[JEDI]

when i hit the gas to accelerate, my rpm goes to around 3.5k.

when i use cruise control to accelerate, i barely does 2k.

thus i'm also saving fuel. (lower rpm = less fuel used)

btw-how much does it cost to replace cruise control on a 2002 chevy prizm that's out of warrenty? (i'm over 36k miles already)

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: JEDI
when i hit the gas to accelerate, my rpm goes to around 3.5k.

when i use cruise control to accelerate, i barely does 2k.

thus i'm also saving fuel. (lower rpm = less fuel used)

btw-how much does it cost to replace cruise control on a 2002 chevy prizm that's out of warrenty? (i'm over 36k miles already)

Shouldn't your RPM be a product of gearing and speed, rather than the severity of the throttle you're giving to it (not ignoring bits of slip in an automatic transmission)?

Anyway, cruise control on a new vehicle installed is generally $200-300, so even if yours dies it's not going to break the bank. I wouldn't worry about hurting the cruise control really.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: JEDI
when i hit the gas to accelerate, my rpm goes to around 3.5k.

when i use cruise control to accelerate, i barely does 2k.

thus i'm also saving fuel. (lower rpm = less fuel used)

btw-how much does it cost to replace cruise control on a 2002 chevy prizm that's out of warrenty? (i'm over 36k miles already)

Shouldn't your RPM be a product of gearing and speed, rather than the severity of the throttle you're giving to it (not ignoring bits of slip in an automatic transmission)?

Anyway, cruise control on a new vehicle installed is generally $200-300, so even if yours dies it's not going to break the bank. I wouldn't worry about hurting the cruise control really.

No, speed is a product of gearing and RPM. RPM is directly proportional to throttle position.

Yeah, don't worry about the cruise control mechanism dying. We were just being logical.. It's nothing to worry about. I've actually never heard of a cruise control system dying, but I'm sure it happens.

 

[Eli]

Damn. First DP in a while, thought maybe the problem had gone away.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: JEDI
when i hit the gas to accelerate, my rpm goes to around 3.5k.

when i use cruise control to accelerate, i barely does 2k.

thus i'm also saving fuel. (lower rpm = less fuel used)

btw-how much does it cost to replace cruise control on a 2002 chevy prizm that's out of warrenty? (i'm over 36k miles already)

Shouldn't your RPM be a product of gearing and speed, rather than the severity of the throttle you're giving to it (not ignoring bits of slip in an automatic transmission)?

Anyway, cruise control on a new vehicle installed is generally $200-300, so even if yours dies it's not going to break the bank. I wouldn't worry about hurting the cruise control really.

No, speed is a product of gearing and RPM. RPM is directly proportional to throttle position.

Yeah, don't worry about the cruise control mechanism dying. We were just being logical.. It's nothing to worry about. I've actually never heard of a cruise control system dying, but I'm sure it happens.

Yeah but what I'm saying is that if you're in gear at 50 mph and you give it a small bit of extra throttle the RPM will be the same as if you floor it, at least until you start to speed up and your RPM grows along with your speed!

 

[glugglug]

The chain or whatever they use now that connects the cruise control to the gas will eventually break.

It broke from pulling too hard to go 160 for a couple hours on cruise in my old Bonneville. To fix it I replaced the chain with rubber bands which wore out and needed to be replaced every 20,000 miles or so.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: glugglug
The chain or whatever they use now that connects the cruise control to the gas will eventually break.

It broke from pulling too hard to go 160 for a couple hours on cruise in my old Bonneville. To fix it I replaced the chain with rubber bands which wore out and needed to be replaced every 20,000 miles or so.

I hope that was KM/hour In both of my cars the cruise control throttle cable is right next to the gas so I'm able to tell that they are just as thick and, since more times than not I'm not using cruise, I'd think the standard throttle cable is more likley to go out before the cruise!

 

[glugglug]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Yeah but what I'm saying is that if you're in gear at 50 mph and you give it a small bit of extra throttle the RPM will be the same as if you floor it, at least until you start to speed up and your RPM grows along with your speed!

When you floor it, the chip controlling the transmission will automatically downshift to a lower gear than you would normally be using at that speed. Cruise control generally uses the same or higher gear than you would normally be using at a given speed. This of course assumes automatic transmission. (is there even such a thing as cruise control on a manual?)

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: glugglug

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Yeah but what I'm saying is that if you're in gear at 50 mph and you give it a small bit of extra throttle the RPM will be the same as if you floor it, at least until you start to speed up and your RPM grows along with your speed!

When you floor it, the chip controlling the transmission will automatically downshift to a lower gear than you would normally be using at that speed. Cruise control generally uses the same or higher gear than you would normally be using at a given speed. This of course assumes automatic transmission. (is there even such a thing as cruise control on a manual?)

Yes there is cruise control on manuals. It just hold the throttle position in that particualr gear.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: glugglug

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Yeah but what I'm saying is that if you're in gear at 50 mph and you give it a small bit of extra throttle the RPM will be the same as if you floor it, at least until you start to speed up and your RPM grows along with your speed!

When you floor it, the chip controlling the transmission will automatically downshift to a lower gear than you would normally be using at that speed. Cruise control generally uses the same or higher gear than you would normally be using at a given speed. This of course assumes automatic transmission. (is there even such a thing as cruise control on a manual?)

Of course there is cruise control on a manual. It has nothing to do with the transmission really.

Skoorb- Ahh, I see what you were saying. Yes, that is true.. but hitting + with the cruise control isn't like flooring it, it only increases your RPM maybe 100RPM at a time(or whatever), so the whole speed/rpm adjustment happens fast. I'm sure he was talking final RPM anyway.

 

[Eli]

:|

 

[JEDI]

the cruise control on my '93 sentra died at ~150k miles. never bought it in to see how much it would cost to fix.

 

[StageLeft]

i think we're all on the same page now

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: Eli
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[Eli]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis

Originally posted by: Eli
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:Q

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