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A side note: This post made me think about my high beams. I rarely get to use those either.
I thought about my high beams the other day. I grew up in rural southern Virginia and when I was in high school, I used my high beams all of the time. Driving home from high school activities at night, going to see friends who lived in more rural areas, etc. But I went to college in a fairly sizable city and then moved to another city and I just never need them anymore.
As for cruise control, I rarely use mine. I had been driving 10 years before I got a car that even had that as an option. I use it sometimes, but honestly, I forget I even have it.
I like cruise control for the increment/decrement feature. I wish it was more integrated into the vehicle systems and allowed more finite settings like target economy, target average speed, speed vs. economy, max speed, cost factor, whatever. I'm a numbers guy, so give me more numbers to manage and I'll be happy.
Economy wise, I get very good mileage driving the car myself. I've always been one of those people who watches the gauges constantly, and I rarely deviate more than a couple of MPH when I'm driving on open highway. Cruise control is too dramatic with speed changes.
Rarely do I get an opportunity to use cruise control, but it's nice when I do get the chance.
I find cruise very helpful on long, light traffic, interstate drives. The more so, the more useful.
I'm not sure it saves gas compared to careful driving. It can be beaten in this regard if one drives carefully for economy. The difference in favor of using it is the 'enforced' speed discipline.
It can be dangerous as traffic increases and speeds vary a lot.
Using cruise is damn near impossible in SoCal. Traffic is too erratic to make it worthwhile. But back when I was living in NC and had a 65+ mile one way (all freeway) I used it all the time. As to whether it saves more fuel, I dunno. Depends on what your driving habits are when you're not using it.
Mike
Not true. I use it all the time. However, I do my driving at non-peak times during the day. I've driven 30 miles without needing to adjust. Granted, I don't work in LA because I hate that hellhole.
I love adaptive cruise control. At first its tough getting used to the car speeding up and braking itself but it works and really helps tons on long trips.
Basically a laser beam is shooting ahead the car at the distance you set. If a vehicle breaks the set barrier the vehicle slows down.
Nay. I flatly refuse to use it, under any circumstances. I tried it a few times on the freeway, and found that I kept Playing Chicken with it. Gotta get into the passing lane, but there are cars coming---how close can I get to the bumper in front of me, before I have to brake, if the passing lane doesn't present a break in time?
I've never seen an Interstate where you don't need to overtake at least every 5 miles or so with other traffic in the passing lane. If I'm set on 72 and another guy is set on 71, it can take a mile to get around him. If I need to keep switching in and out, what's the use of it?
And if I do take it out of cruise, it is a distracting deviation from pedal operation to resume, and it makes me resume with excessive acceleration. And every time the speed limit changes, I need to reset.
And I was afraid that if I needed to brake in emergency, I'd have to move my foot to the brake from a different unlearned starting point, and might miss or catch my toe under the brake pedal, or at least be slowed down by the unaccustomed movement.
And then, every time I get on a slight uphill rise, the cruise sucks me into passing gear, to jerk me up the hill at 72 with my little car. Full speed ahead, damn the rpms,
I have no trouble holding a constant speed with constant pedal. And I drive without a radio, so my ear is tuned to the engine and road noise, so I can unconsciously maintain constant speed without the aid of machinery. I don't want the constant aggravation of driving by committee---me and a machine.
I've never owned a car made after 2001, so I don't know how the newer ones work. But I hate it, hate it, hate it.
I use it frequently on the freeway, in a straight line. On really, really long drives (i.e., Seattle to SF/vice versa, LA to Phoenix, etc) it is quite nice.
And I'll second that one of the best ways it saves you money is by keeping you from speeding! Haha.
We got a new type of federal cruise control now....Every one with a car gets it for free....Its called 450 a gallon gas and climbing. That will control all the cruising I bet lol
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