I read HJs comment re. Cruise control in the Telegraph OnLine today 21st Jan.

I only used cruised control once, when I was driving a Chev all-wheel-drive ambulance in Zambia. That gave a very relaxed drive for several hours until the bonnet flew off due a faulty catch giving way. I was so amazed that I didn’t react for seconds before I collected myself to cancel the cruise control. In those vehicles the mechanism was a winding knob that had to be wound back to get the revs down. I am willing to be corrected in that because it does seem stupid..

I have cruise control on my Outback but have never used it and don’t feel the need for it. I regard it as one of those additional features that are there to go wrong, and, go wrong it seems to do. Every so often the engine management unit skips a beat when starting up and the engine warning light illuminates while cruise control light flashes. That goes on for as long as a day or two, with the alarms going every time the engine is started before the alarm self cancels. The problem started when the car was six months old and the Subaru dealer took the car back numerous times to try to sort the fault. Eventually I stopped taking it back because there doesn’t appear to be anything they can do.