General: Cruise Control Usage

[gjd]

Originally Posted by GMcL

The state of the roads and pot holes is not a cause for concern. For the time a wheel is not in contact with the road due to the shocking state of the surfaces is not considered a road safety issue

I've always regarded potholes as a consequence of speedbumps. They have to get the stuff for the bumps from somewhere, so they just dig it up from somewhere else. Sort of a double whammy.

[tickedon]

Cruise on motorways and decent A roads for me.

Speed limiter in London or when the roads are congested. Worked so far

[tt82]

Cruise on Motorways, and especially any road works or temporary speed limit areas!

[Spike56]

Tried using mine in town but it doesn't like 30mph anyway (auto box) and sits in a probable 4th (?) at higher rev's. Fine above 40 though, officer.

[XC70Bob]

Only on motorways for me, especially in road works and speed restricted areas.
but not a big fan of it when its busy mostly used late at night or early morning when the motorway is quiet.

[DaveNP]

I don't have CC on my current car but we have it on all the trucks at work, we have monitoring systems on the trucks to check our driving and my last one showed I use CC for about 80% of the time. I find it makes driving much more relaxed as I don't have to keep staring at the speedo to make sure I'm not speeding. To turn the CC off when approaching a junction etc a quick dab on the brake pedal turns it off and also has the advantage of flashing the brake lights to alert the person behind that I'm going to slowdown.

[stephend]

I only use it on motorways and dual carriageways, and only in the lightest traffic.

What I very often find is this: say I've got the CC set to 70 mph. I'm coming up behind someone doing 60-65 mph, and have someone coming up behind me at over 70 mph. Then I either have to pull out early - in which case do I stay at 70 and hold up the chap behind, or do I accelerate to get past, which sort of defeats the point of CC? - or I have to dab the brakes to cancel the CC and slow down, wait for the chap behind to get past, then pull out and resume the CC. So I'm sitting dithering about what to do, trying to judge the gaps, whereas without the CC I'd just be adjusting my speed to suit.

Then if I do pull out and overtake, I haven't got much of a speed differential over the chap I'm overtaking so it's a slow overtake, and if he (like a lot of people seem to these days) decides to speed up, I'm stuck beside him doing the same speed. So I accelerate to get past, pull back in, slow back down to the set speed, and now he gets frustrated, pulls out and overtakes me...

So most of the time I find the CC takes more effort than not using it! Maybe it's just me.

I do wonder if CC is the reason I seem to see a lot more of one of my pet hates, people who get alongside you and then just sit there blocking you in. I was taught to avoid sitting beside another vehicle (especially a truck!) on a multi-lane road: either sit behind so they can pull out if needed, or get in front briskly so they can pull out behind.

[Paul240480]

Fairly new to CC, only had it since Nov last & the car is not my daily. I voted M/way only.

Though the other day I tried it on an A-road, 90km limit. It was fairly quiet, but found myself needing to cancel it every now & then due to slower traffic.

Came off a roundabout and hit the resume at about 35mph, next thing I was off like a rocket hurtling towards a slower accelerating vehicle....... Wasn't expecting to take off like that, lol.

[tt82]

Originally Posted by stephend

I only use it on motorways and dual carriageways, and only in the lightest traffic.

What I very often find is this: say I've got the CC set to 70 mph. I'm coming up behind someone doing 60-65 mph, and have someone coming up behind me at over 70 mph. Then I either have to pull out early - in which case do I stay at 70 and hold up the chap behind, or do I accelerate to get past, which sort of defeats the point of CC? - or I have to dab the brakes to cancel the CC and slow down, wait for the chap behind to get past, then pull out and resume the CC. So I'm sitting dithering about what to do, trying to judge the gaps, whereas without the CC I'd just be adjusting my speed to suit.

Then if I do pull out and overtake, I haven't got much of a speed differential over the chap I'm overtaking so it's a slow overtake, and if he (like a lot of people seem to these days) decides to speed up, I'm stuck beside him doing the same speed. So I accelerate to get past, pull back in, slow back down to the set speed, and now he gets frustrated, pulls out and overtakes me...

So most of the time I find the CC takes more effort than not using it! Maybe it's just me.

I do wonder if CC is the reason I seem to see a lot more of one of my pet hates, people who get alongside you and then just sit there blocking you in. I was taught to avoid sitting beside another vehicle (especially a truck!) on a multi-lane road: either sit behind so they can pull out if needed, or get in front briskly so they can pull out behind.

The newer radar guided ACC does solve those problems as it will brake for you when you approach the slower car. Once the next lane is clear and you pull out it will then re-accelerate up to your desired speed. However this is quite fuel inefficient and so if you want to maximise economy you do end up in the same predicament!

Usually I will just raise my speed as you describe to pass the slower moving car or knock CC to standby, allowing the car to slow gradually and then hit resume was the the other car has passed and you can pull out.

[CJL]

Originally Posted by tt82

The newer radar guided ACC does solve those problems as it will brake for you when you approach the slower car. Once the next lane is clear and you pull out it will then re-accelerate up to your desired speed.

I actually find that you need more planning to maintain speed with ACC.

Let's say you are going along at about 70 and closing on a vehicle doing say 56. The ACC starts slowing very early because it tries not to use brakes to begin with. This means that to maintain your speed you have to move out earlier than you would with passive cruise control.

not sure I like the active system that much for normal free flowing motorway conditions, but it can be very good in heavier conditions.

Wish you could switch between active and passive.