The single most annoying thing about using CC is the irritating leapfroggers who enter the motorway, see my in my humble Auris and decide they have to be in front, no matter what. So I'm CC-ing at a steady 70 and they creep up at a very daring 75 and finally overtake, and almost immediately cut in and reduce their speed to 65, as the single-neurone driver in front not only sets his own speed, but decides how fast I am allowed to drive as well. I end up reducing my CC speed accordingly or else disconnect it, as this type of driver will always speed up rather than allow me to get past again, even if they have slumped down to 60 and it is quite reasonable of me to overtake.
It is probably as well that in-car harpoon devices remain the stuff of James Bond films.
I get that when I'm towing my caravan - set the cruise to 60 and gradually overtake the occasional car doing 55 who speeds up as I'm overtaking but having got ahead of me then slows down.
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The single most annoying thing about using CC is ..........
.......the non-standardisation of operation. The stalk controls on my Audi work differently to those on Mrs F's Peugeot, which can occasionally result in fumbling and bad language.
PS I wonder how many of the original posters are still alive? Whatever happened to the loquacious 'dynamic dave'?
Edited by John F on 22/12/2023 at 09:46
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PS I wonder how many of the original posters are still alive? Whatever happened to the loquacious 'dynamic dave'?
Mike H rings bell, isn't that a current member?.
Personally, I'm intrigued by "Hairy Hat Man" though ;-)
Although I had some experience of CC before, it was only during my time at Stageocoach when most of our Volvo B10 coaches were replaced by CC equipped B7's that I became a proper fan. Absolutely loved it, and used it pretty much all the time, even doing as little as 30mph.
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Interesting that 20 years later it is still a relevant topic.
Although, standard cruise control mostly replaced by Smart/Adaptive Cruise Control in newer cars.
It is one gizmo I use all the time whenever on motorways or dual carriageways.
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Personally, I'm intrigued by "Hairy Hat Man" though ;-)
Hairy Hat Man was a character in Letterland illustrated alphabet books in the nineties.....
Somebody of an artistic bent drew all 26 on the windows at my kid's nursery.
A few were still there 15 years later after the building had been repurposed multiple times...
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I don't think I would ever buy another car without cruise control. I don't spend much time in traffic, so I use it almost everywhere I go. If I could set it at 20 (where that's the limit) I would.
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I don't think I would ever buy another car without cruise control. I don't spend much time in traffic, so I use it almost everywhere I go. If I could set it at 20 (where that's the limit) I would.
I suppose it depends a lot on what type of driving you do and when. When I drive down to visit my parents down the local dual carriageway then the A1, I could probably utilise it, but on my (previously) annual holiday from East Anglia to Cornwall, not so much, as I find that for large parts of the journey, even on the motorways (M25, M4, M5) and dualled+ sections of the A38/A30, there's often too much traffic or berks that would keep 'breaking' the cruise setting.
My sister, who used to travel all over the country for her job (mainly on motorways) up until about 5 years or so ago, wasn't enamoured with cruise control for similar reasons. Horses for course I suppose, but given a large proportion of newer cars have CC as standard these days, at least you have the option to use it.
Apologies if I've asked this before, but does CC use the brakes to slow the car all the time to avoid overspeed or as part of a minimum keep distance feature, or engine braking first to reduce brake wear and possibly fuel use?
I often suspect cars in front use the brakes, because they seem to go on/off so often (even when cars are a reasonable distance apart), which I believe contributes quite a lot (as well as wallies driving too close) towards unnecessary bunching and traffic jams. Is there a way to vary the 'keep distance apart' feature or to set just a reasonable minimum to avoid all that braking?
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I don't think I would ever buy another car without cruise control. I don't spend much time in traffic, so I use it almost everywhere I go. If I could set it at 20 (where that's the limit) I would.
I suppose it depends a lot on what type of driving you do and when. When I drive down to visit my parents down the local dual carriageway then the A1, I could probably utilise it, but on my (previously) annual holiday from East Anglia to Cornwall, not so much, as I find that for large parts of the journey, even on the motorways (M25, M4, M5) and dualled+ sections of the A38/A30, there's often too much traffic or berks that would keep 'breaking' the cruise setting.
My sister, who used to travel all over the country for her job (mainly on motorways) up until about 5 years or so ago, wasn't enamoured with cruise control for similar reasons. Horses for course I suppose, but given a large proportion of newer cars have CC as standard these days, at least you have the option to use it.
Apologies if I've asked this before, but does CC use the brakes to slow the car all the time to avoid overspeed or as part of a minimum keep distance feature, or engine braking first to reduce brake wear and possibly fuel use?
I often suspect cars in front use the brakes, because they seem to go on/off so often (even when cars are a reasonable distance apart), which I believe contributes quite a lot (as well as wallies driving too close) towards unnecessary bunching and traffic jams. Is there a way to vary the 'keep distance apart' feature or to set just a reasonable minimum to avoid all that braking?
There's a difference between basic cruise control (CC) and adaptive cruise control (ACC) - it's only ACC that will brake to avoid overspeeds and slow down to keep distance from car in front.. Most modern cars have ACC.
I like CC but would have a car with ACC.
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I don't think I would ever buy another car without cruise control. I don't spend much time in traffic, so I use it almost everywhere I go. If I could set it at 20 (where that's the limit) I would.
I suppose it depends a lot on what type of driving you do and when. When I drive down to visit my parents down the local dual carriageway then the A1, I could probably utilise it, but on my (previously) annual holiday from East Anglia to Cornwall, not so much, as I find that for large parts of the journey, even on the motorways (M25, M4, M5) and dualled+ sections of the A38/A30, there's often too much traffic or berks that would keep 'breaking' the cruise setting.
My sister, who used to travel all over the country for her job (mainly on motorways) up until about 5 years or so ago, wasn't enamoured with cruise control for similar reasons. Horses for course I suppose, but given a large proportion of newer cars have CC as standard these days, at least you have the option to use it.
Apologies if I've asked this before, but does CC use the brakes to slow the car all the time to avoid overspeed or as part of a minimum keep distance feature, or engine braking first to reduce brake wear and possibly fuel use?
I often suspect cars in front use the brakes, because they seem to go on/off so often (even when cars are a reasonable distance apart), which I believe contributes quite a lot (as well as wallies driving too close) towards unnecessary bunching and traffic jams. Is there a way to vary the 'keep distance apart' feature or to set just a reasonable minimum to avoid all that braking?
There's a difference between basic cruise control (CC) and adaptive cruise control (ACC) - it's only ACC that will brake to avoid overspeeds and slow down to keep distance from car in front.. Most modern cars have ACC.
I like CC but would have a car with ACC.
Thanks - any reason why those systems don't just 'back off' on the gas pedal first? After all, that's what those of us without it (should) do.
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I don't think I would ever buy another car without cruise control. I don't spend much time in traffic, so I use it almost everywhere I go. If I could set it at 20 (where that's the limit) I would.
I suppose it depends a lot on what type of driving you do and when. When I drive down to visit my parents down the local dual carriageway then the A1, I could probably utilise it, but on my (previously) annual holiday from East Anglia to Cornwall, not so much, as I find that for large parts of the journey, even on the motorways (M25, M4, M5) and dualled+ sections of the A38/A30, there's often too much traffic or berks that would keep 'breaking' the cruise setting.
My sister, who used to travel all over the country for her job (mainly on motorways) up until about 5 years or so ago, wasn't enamoured with cruise control for similar reasons. Horses for course I suppose, but given a large proportion of newer cars have CC as standard these days, at least you have the option to use it.
Apologies if I've asked this before, but does CC use the brakes to slow the car all the time to avoid overspeed or as part of a minimum keep distance feature, or engine braking first to reduce brake wear and possibly fuel use?
I often suspect cars in front use the brakes, because they seem to go on/off so often (even when cars are a reasonable distance apart), which I believe contributes quite a lot (as well as wallies driving too close) towards unnecessary bunching and traffic jams. Is there a way to vary the 'keep distance apart' feature or to set just a reasonable minimum to avoid all that braking?
There's a difference between basic cruise control (CC) and adaptive cruise control (ACC) - it's only ACC that will brake to avoid overspeeds and slow down to keep distance from car in front.. Most modern cars have ACC.
I like CC but would have a car with ACC.
Thanks - any reason why those systems don't just 'back off' on the gas pedal first? After all, that's what those of us without it (should) do.
They do
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"Whatever happened to the loquacious 'dynamic dave'?"
I believe I'm correct in saying "Dynamic Dave" metamorphosed into "VxFan", a moderator on a certain other website.
Whether he posts here I somewhat doubt.
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Current car (Kuga PHEV, obviously with an auto ‘box) has ACC with ‘stop and go’ functionality. Works really well in slow moving traffic, such as motorway jams. Set at 20mph, it will follow the vehicle in front, accelerating, slowing and stopping as required. If stationary for more than about 5 seconds, you have to press ‘resume’ to move off again, but it does make for a less stressful time in heavy traffic.
The fact that even with a depleted battery the car will largely operate in EV mode at these speeds keeps things calm and quiet. Very different experience to previous diesel Golf with a manual ‘box. Clutch in. First gear. Second gear. Brake. Stop. Engine shuts off. Clutch in. Engine rattles into life. First gear. Stop. Engine shuts off. Repeat ad infinitum.
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Had ACC on the last few cars I've owned. Use it loads. What's impressed me with Vauxhalls latest version is it doesn't disengage when you get down to 10mph. Or so it stays on, bringing you to a halt then when the person in front moves off just give it some 'gas' and off you go. Every one I've had before simply bonged and told you to take back control.
Edited by Ethan Edwards on 23/12/2023 at 09:44
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I drove 300 miles to Essex yesterday in remarkably light traffic for the festive holiday (left home at 07.30 and arrived 13.15 after a couple of comfort stops)
ACC on at all times and really did come into its own when an eejit swerved from lane 1 to2 forcing an HGV to take evasive action - the ACC reacted much quicker - probably 0.1 seconds or so - than my move to the left hand pedal (autobox). Could have been a no-show for Christmas!! Certainly ensured the second comfort stop!
If you've got it....Use it!
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