RE: PH Origins: Cruise control

[tombar]

Turbobanana said:

The "resume" function is always quite aggressive, contributing to the poorer fuel consumption when in CC mode than can be achieved manually.

On my LS400 (a simple and highly usable cruise control) the car will kick down sometimes on resume - quite disconcerting as the old dear really shifts and to have that with no foot on the accelerator is a bit hard to get used to!

[Zerotonine]

I am now on my second car with CC, only use it on motorways. The first one was a 6th Gen Accord which moved the accelerator pedal, and the current one is a 7th Gen Diesel. Haven’t a clue what magick is involved there.
Great article PH.

[ads_green]

The interesting thing is that cruise control is terrible for fuel consumption...
Going up hill it adds power to maintain speed... and then it slows acceleration on the other side.

If fuel is a big worry then it needs to be a little flexible so that when you hit a hill it trades some speed and then maximises the gains the other side.

Ironically keeping your foot in the same throttle position is way more economical (but bloody irritating to other road users)

[jamei303]

Don't see the point. The most comfortable place to rest my foot while having easy access to the brake pedal is on the gas pedal.

[wst]

ads_green said:

The interesting thing is that cruise control is terrible for fuel consumption...
Going up hill it adds power to maintain speed... and then it slows acceleration on the other side.

If fuel is a big worry then it needs to be a little flexible so that when you hit a hill it trades some speed and then maximises the gains the other side.

Ironically keeping your foot in the same throttle position is way more economical (but bloody irritating to other road users)

This is hotly disputed and to present it as fact is disingenuous Though I'm not a proponent of the opposing view either.

When EV are more common a steady speed will be more economical (and utterly possible) on cruise control as it'll be able to put miles back into the tank on the downhills. Hell, if it knew that there was a speed limit reduction coming up it could start decelerating on regen-only to meet the new speed limit without throwing any more energy away as heat than absolutely vital. As someone who gets a perverse enjoyment of watching the range display increase on an ICE car, the idea of rolling down mountain passes for free is brilliant.