Volvo S40

[Raza]

After you let off the gas, it will coast back to the set speed, and then downshift/increase throttle/etc... The most you'll do is move the process halfway up the hill. It won't be as effecient as someone doing it themself.


I know what cruise control is, you prick.

A downshift is pretty rare (and in my car, impossible) for cruise control.  In the Mercedes, I could set cruise control and actually shift up and down without cruise control turning off.  It was pointless, but kind of fun to listen to now and then.

So if you could do it more efficiently, then do it, and reset cruise control and let it do what it does.  I probably gain 4-5mpg by using cruise control. 

[Tave]

A downshift is pretty rare for cruise control.

[Rich]

I hardly come across anyone that can keep their speed in the hills without using cruise control

Everyone becomes a roadblock on the way up the hill, and then I'm the roadblock on the way down because the fuckers can't be bothered to keep their speed

[Rich]

Not all of us are stuck in an Aveo

[Lazerous]

What Raza said applies to my car as well. As soon as I tap the clutch cruise control shuts off.

Plus I am basing all of my arguments on my frequent trips between where I go to college and my hometown when I go to visit my parents. It's a 260 mile journey the vast majority of which is done on highways with 70mph limits. I'm usually doing 10 over at 80mph. I believe my car runs somewhere around 3k rpm in 5th so I don't have much of a need to downshift anyway unless I feel like blowing past a trucker.

[Raza]

I don't know, maybe it's just because I always used my automatics in sequential, but I don't ever remember cruise downshifting.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I don't know, maybe it's just because I always used my automatics in sequential, but I don't ever remember cruise downshifting.

You've never driven a minivan.

[Raza]

You've never driven a minivan.

I have.  But I never used cruise control in any of them.  I only drove them on surface streets. 

[Tave]

Plus I am basing all of my arguments on my frequent trips between where I go to college and my hometown when I go to visit my parents. It's a 260 mile journey the vast majority of which is done on highways with 70mph limits. I'm usually doing 10 over at 80mph. I believe my car runs somewhere around 3k rpm in 5th so I don't have much of a need to downshift anyway unless I feel like blowing past a trucker.

You would be downshifting constantly out here. I realize not everyone lives in the mountains, but not everyone lives on the eastern seaboard, either. In the end, we're probably talking about a slight difference in both cases, but I think its difference in real world mpg gains is minimal to begin with. The only way it's going to help mileage is by keeping you from exceeding a given speed over time, which I'm guessing is a common problem among most of us here It's a convenience more than anything else.

[Tave]

Not all of us are stuck in an Aveo

[Raza]

You would be downshifting constantly out here. I realize not everyone lives in the mountains, but not everyone lives on the eastern seaboard, either. In the end, we're probably talking about a slight difference in both cases, but I think its difference in real world mpg gains is minimal to begin with. The only way it's going to help mileage is by keeping you from exceeding a given speed over time, which I'm guessing is a common problem among most of us here It's a convenience more than anything else.

I live in a pretty hilly area, and my drive to school has a lot of hills.  Like I said, on the same trip, I get 4-5mpg, maybe even more, just by using cruise control.  In the Passat, my maximum no-cruise MPG was about 24, and the next drive I used cruise and got 30. 

I used to get nowhere near EPA on long trips, and then I started using cruise control and routinely beat it. 

[Eye of the Tiger]

I have.  But I never used cruise control in any of them.  I only drove them on surface streets. 

And did you notice that it downshifted pretty much any time it wasn't coasting downhill?

[Raza]

And did you notice that it downshifted pretty much any time it wasn't coasting downhill?

Well, I drove a Dodge Grand Caravan (older model, maybe 1998-2000) and a Honda Odyssey (pretty recent, maybe 04).  There wasn't much memorable about any of them. 

[Lazerous]

Well, I drove a Dodge Grand Caravan (older model, maybe 1998-2000) and a Honda Odyssey (pretty recent, maybe 04).  There wasn't much memorable about any of them. 

VTEC, bitch. VTEC. Did it kick in? That must have been memorable.

[Tave]

I live in a pretty hilly area, and my drive to school has a lot of hills.  Like I said, on the same trip, I get 4-5mpg, maybe even more, just by using cruise control.  In the Passat, my maximum no-cruise MPG was about 24, and the next drive I used cruise and got 30. 

I used to get nowhere near EPA on long trips, and then I started using cruise control and routinely beat it. 

Like I said, you probably drive faster when it's off.

[Eye of the Tiger]

VTEC, bitch. VTEC. Did it kick in? That must have been memorable.

I remember the first time I felt VTAK kick in.
It was like waaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAEEEEEEOOOOnnnnn ba bopb opb opb boppopoommm......
waaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOnnnnn ba bommmm....

[r0tor]

my torqueless wonder can climb large hills at 70mph in 6th gear with the cruise control on...