Might not be about them not using cruise control - some people seem to get irrationally agitated if someone overtakes them and will speed up and overtake and then slow down again, repeat. It gets quite silly sometimes.
Cruise Control...
- Thread starter Vern1961
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Might not be about them not using cruise control - some people seem to get irrationally agitated if someone overtakes them and will speed up and overtake and then slow down again, repeat. It gets quite silly sometimes.
It seems the opportunities to use passive cruise control for any real stretch keeps declining. Personally I still wouldn't be without it. On a long drive, even 1 or 2 minutes of cruise control every now and then means a rest for the foot. It's also still invaluable for average speed camera stretches, particularly the 50 mph ones due to road works that aren't happening.
Soldato
Yes it works on hills. In an auto it will drop down a gear or two of required also. And will also use engine braking or brakes if necessary down hills.
Going up a hill it may drop a couple of mph before it has time to react but it's usually very good at reacting quickly.
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Did 500 miles last weekend and used it almost constantly, passive is ok, next car I will look to get adaptive. Though I set it at 65 to save a bit of fuel as doing a long journey and I find its almost not worth sitting at 70, or more, sometimes.
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I very rarely use it. I don't do many long motorway journeys though.
Soldato
I don’t use ours a lot as our journeys dont warrant it, but with recent viewings to Scotland, it was a god send.
Longest part was 86 miles on a deserted road at 4am
Longest part was 86 miles on a deserted road at 4am
All my cars have had cruise control and I wouldn't buy a car without it. I mainly use it on the motorway on my commute.
As with all driving you need to be constantly aware of the traffic around you and to anticipate the need to cancel cruise before slamming on your brakes.
As with all driving you need to be constantly aware of the traffic around you and to anticipate the need to cancel cruise before slamming on your brakes.
Ha ha. I set mine at a speed that roughly saves 2 hours over a journey of that distance (average speed camera areas excluded), compared to sitting at 65. 2 hours of my time is worth the extra couple quid it costs in fuel.
Your cruise control doesn't automatically cancel when you touch the brakes?
An irritation regarding cruise control is having to use the stalk to 'rapidly' decelerate, and then it crosses that boundary where actually yeah I should just be taking full control. Also not uncommon for me to disengage cruise control and hit it again once the car has freewheeled to an appropriate speed. It's quite an art.
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Would have to drive at around a constant 85 to save 2 hours, not worth the hassle as a lot of the time can barely do that consistently due to traffic.
Though the fuel saving is perhaps only a tenner its a new car I was experimenting with.
Would have to drive at around a constant 85 to save 2 hours, not worth the hassle as a lot of the time can barely do that consistently due to traffic.
Though the fuel saving is perhaps only a tenner its a new car I was experimenting with.
Yeah, 85 is around standard for me when I drive to Bristol. Which is about 500 miles away. Obviously the average speed camera areas slow that down a bit. But I am usually FAR from the fastest vehicle on the road.
Also, obviously only when conditions allow. But we generally try to do such drives at night, where there is little traffic. And I usually just cancel the cruise when coming up behind traffic, then resume it when its clear to do so.
Most of the "local" dual carriageway driving we do I'll set the cruise to a more sensible speed. Somewhere around 74 (indicated) or so. That seems to get us through all the major average speed cameras locally without issue.
I totally get the "testing new car" bit though. I do that too. Or slow it down a touch if I want to try to reach a better stopping point before fuel runs out.
Soldato
I’d never buy a car without cruise but wish mine had adaptive. Currently working where I need to use the M1 so as soon as I’m on the motorway I bung the car into eco mode and engage the cruise.
In my car I can increase decrease in both 1 and 5 increments so rarely have to cancel it until I come off the motorway.
In my car I can increase decrease in both 1 and 5 increments so rarely have to cancel it until I come off the motorway.
Had a chuckle the other day at the start of a dual carriageway - driver infront of me was slow getting going but seemed to take offence to me overtaking (pulled up along side me as I was 90% done with the overtake and then kept increasing speed) and at a certain speed I decided not to play games and got in behind him - the Golf R and Porsche behind me took off at what must have been at least 120MPH - he didn't last long trying to stay with them!
Absolutely love the Radar adaptive cruise control on our Grand Picasso i Use it every time i drive somewhere, set it to 70 for most NSL roads and the the car do the work, with it being an Auto all i have to do is steer, On motor ways is fantastic as i just sit and enjoy the journey a bit more, couldn't have a car without now tbh.
Most of my cars from the past ten years have had cruise control and I used it a lot especially on motorways. However, since my latest car is an automatic I've found myself not using the cruise control at all unless I'm going through an average speed camera area. The eco mode for driving stops the accelerator reacting to every touch of my foot so I can happily just rest my foot on it - no need for the cruise control. This surprised me immensely as previously I wouldn't have considered a car without cruise control!
After driving to central Italy, in one go, between 2 drivers, but no cruise control, never again.
As others said, it's all about planning, reading the traffic.
Drove a golf which had the adaptive cruise control, and the (remote I must say) chance of the system suddenly brake the car because of a false reading, which happened just once, put me off. But 99,99% of the time was a pleasant experience.
As others said, it's all about planning, reading the traffic.
Drove a golf which had the adaptive cruise control, and the (remote I must say) chance of the system suddenly brake the car because of a false reading, which happened just once, put me off. But 99,99% of the time was a pleasant experience.
Soldato
I have passive CC. I use it for many miles on the motorway without slowing down.
It's called forward planning & situational awareness.
Checking mirrors every 6-8 seconds, knowing where following vehicles are.
Slowing vehicle ahead & empty overtake lane, mirror, signal & maneuver!
I drove about 80-90 miles in a single trip last weekend. I slowed down maybe twice briefly.
It's called forward planning & situational awareness.
Checking mirrors every 6-8 seconds, knowing where following vehicles are.
Slowing vehicle ahead & empty overtake lane, mirror, signal & maneuver!
I drove about 80-90 miles in a single trip last weekend. I slowed down maybe twice briefly.
That is something that concerns me a bit - I'm not upto speed on it but I believe there is a firmware version/generation on the VW platform that is a bit meh while the implementations before and after are supposedly better.