Cruise Controls

I think you must be on a motorbike (or a car with Hand Controls) to "free up a hand" on cruise.

Yes that wasn't worded very well Landseka

Toyota do it to Robin, manual or auto. I can whack the prado in neutral (not that I do it normally did it just to show my mate that the cruise will activate again if I hit resume even in neutral) The patrol does cut out but doesnt it if you use the clutch ?? and obviously the brake. Regards steve M

Joe
Cant agree about the fuel. Just about every vehicle I have driven with CC gets better economy then I can get driving it normally. Could be just that I am not an economical driver.

I agree with the Gravel and slippery conditions and the fact that they can have a mind of their own sometimes and apply power just when you dont need it, Eg Topping a crest with a curve and the auto kicks back a gear and the CC accelerates just at the time you would be normally lifting your foot off the accelerator. In something with a bit of power it can be unsettling when it occurs.

I'll back up Joe on the the fuel economy. A constant speed... chosen well = economy.

I disagree with you both on the economy side of Cruise control.

When towing and going up a hill the natural thing is just keep it going without too much more throttle and ease it over the hill and take your foot off to let it run down.

Cruise however doesnt know its a hill. It only knows it has more resistance so feeds more fuel to keep the speed at what its been set at It therefore will change down and rev it up to try to stay at the speed.

How is this more economical.

I have found it disconcerting when cruising along and suddenly the car will "take off" or even change down on a slight slope to maintain speed.

Prefer to drive it my way rather than "its way"

Agree with the reply on reliability and smartness of some electronics.

With an all up weight of 6100kg "I" prefer to be in charge Not the car.

Too late when its taken you into a corner 30k too fast cos you werent really paying attention.

You must drive a powerful car. My vehicles have needed full throttle to climb most hills of any significance so it makes no difference if the cc or my foot does the job.

It comes back to using the tool correctly. If you are in hills, or winding roads then you turn off the cc....... easy.

Yes I agree with Joe, My 100 series diesel auto increases fuel usage. I find the cruise control is very aggressive .
On the flat it is beautiful, but hilly terain it is too agressive.
The patrol I had, was much better, but was still aggressive in hilly country
Bob

Any increase in fuel costs is swamped by the saving in speeding fines.

I use my cruise control everywhere - even in 40k zones.

I love my cruise control !!!!

It allows me to concentrate on the road ahead and not about what speed I am doing I think, used properly, they make for safer driving.

Wheel spin is a furphy, the main problem is going into a corner too fast and losing control. You need to remember to slow down before a tight corner and accelerate out rather than hitting the brakes half way through and losing it.

As with everything practice, practice, practice get used to using it and get to know what it can and cannot do.

The cruise in my rodeo is very gentle it does not like to go above 2,000 rpm so just accelerates slowly, some are set more aggressively and will gun it to get back to speed, again it is just a matter of practice and finding what works and what doesn't.

well ya havta have POWER to get wheel spin i guess :-)
You are very correct, learn how to use it and you cant beat them

The wheel spin issue IS VALID!

I drive a Mitsubishi Lancer with after market cruise. It of course is a front wheel drive which will cause this issue to be much more evident.

As one wheel aquaplanes, all the drive goes to that wheel - the cruise is still happy as there is a delay in it responding which is a lot slower than a driver in this situation. Also the speed that the cruise sees is the average of the two front wheels via the front differential not just the single high speed wheel.

This effect is evident using brand new tyres, but much much worse on worn tyres.

The wheel that has lost traction is now spinning a lot faster than normal, so depending on how much traction is acquired after the water will depend on whether the car may pull excessively to one side resulting in a serve & then possible an over corrected spin.

I have also heard of high powered vehicles loosing traction on the rear when towing a heavy load, as the auto gear box drops a couple of gears on a climb & the cruise applies full power to compensate in the loss of speed.

The cruise in the VY commodore was very good. Smooth & not at all throttle hungry, but then again it has a lot better power to weight than my Prado which is really aggressive.

Often it will reach 106km/h over a climb when set to 100.... probably the worst time you want extra speed over a blind crest...its just too slow to respond & being a 4 speed, overdrive is very tall, it loses speed, changes back to 3rd & guns it. If the hill is moderately steep it will not reach 100 again so it will be full throttle in 3rd all the way up. If the crest is sharp, it will be a full throttle for a full second before it backs off. This allows the speed to increase so much over the speed limit set.

Cruise is a different way to drive a car & you need to be aware of its limitations.....you need to watch ahead for corners etc that you know you won't be able to navigate safely at the set speed.......often you might move your foot to 'cover' the brakes, you can do the same with the cruise on....

I find the cruise excellent at allowing you to watch the road without having to watch your speedo & thus taking your eye of the road. I find that without cruise if I see a white commodore approaching, the first thing I do is look at my speed, with the cruise on I just need to continue watching the road.

Cheers

Thanks for all the great replys,

It seems to me commonsense should prevail when using any of these aids , does the cruise know the road is wet or if your feeling sleepy or the corner ahead is sharper than what it looks.

I will now start using mine with a lot more.confidence.

Warren.

No it doesn't know.....

Currently it also doesn't know if you've left the road either......

You can be assured it will try its darnedest to hit that tree at your selected speed....if you fall asleep....

If your tired, pull over!

I never drive when tired I am towing a caravan with a beautifull comfy double bed, and use it whenever I start to feel drowsy. What I posted was more an example of what a cruise control can not do.

Warren

It interesting the comment about cruise control does not know if you have left the road.
I was a passenger in a car at the time the driver fell asleep with cruise set at 115 in a 110 k zone ( correct GPS speed ).
It definitely does not know you are going through a paddock or going sideways and will not turn off unless you hit the brakes or switch off.
Lucky we did not hit anything as we were out the far west of NSW and not many trees.

Its funny know.

Honky

I find it easy to identify those without cruise controls on the freeway.

While you're travelling at the speed limit they'll overtake you - than a couple of kilometres further on they'll be at 5k below the limit so you overtake them - then a few kilometres further on they roar past you - then . . .

Hopefully you arent one of the many that drive with their foot on the brake pedal and the brakelights on so the following traffic has no idea if you are stopping or what.

Far to many do that and it is most annoying

Have you ever looked to see if this is so.

Like any car component ....

- "It was working when it left the factory" -


And we all know how carmakers react when we go back with faulty items that they dont want to accept responsibility for .......