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How about drive versus overdrive? I always put it in overdrive but I'm not sure exactly whats the difference. I almost never get the chance to use cruise control.
Anywho, I rent cars right now when the bicycle or company semi-truck is unfeasible.
Living anywhere in CA and trying to go anywhere during the daylight hours is a guaranteed slugfest.
Luckily, I've made it a habit to only go places at late-night/early AM and that cruise setting works just fine for those stretches over 50 miles.
As for my job, I regularly request to be put on runs going from SoCal out to the Mountain states or anything situated along the 15/70/25 corridor.
Apart from Vegas, Denver, and the smaller hamlets in between, no corny truck speed limit of 55mph to worry about.
I turn down any 5-corridor runs(CA/OR/WA) like fruitcake at Christmas!!!
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 guess if you've been driving for awhile without it or before it became standard on vehicles, then that's the way to float the boat.
However, I've only had my regular drivers license since '03 and got my Commercial in '04.
Seems all the cars I learned to drive in had that option and I was pretty much weaned into it.
I still at least learned to properly operate a 10-speed manual before I learned there were semis with automatic transmissions.
I personally can't live without when I'm driving and utilize it every chance I get.
The fuel savings are rather noticeable and makes the trip more enjoyable.
I would not own a car without CC. I take alot of long road trips and it saves on gas and makes 500 miles stretches of desert much more enjoyable
I drive a stick and never use my cruise. Somehow it doesn't feel right in a manual transmission car, even though it functions exactly the same aside from needing to downshift for major hills..
I use it all the time. And my cars have been exclusively manual for over 10 years. At highway speeds, there's not much difference between driving a manual or an automatic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
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?
There's no need to disengage the CC for passing. You step on the gas, accelerate, pass the car, and let go of the gas. The car will return to the previously set speed. No need to press any buttons or switches. It's been like that for decades.
There's no need to disengage the CC for passing. You step on the gas, accelerate, pass the car, and let go of the gas. The car will return to the previously set speed. No need to press any buttons or switches. It's been like that for decades.
Yes, I quite often pass other slower cars on the freeway (with my '95 Town Car). The CC can be overridden by using the accelerator in the normal way. Once I pass and let off the accelerator, it automatically goes back to the set speed. I also sometimes have to brake and I just push the "resume" button on the steering wheel to go back to CC.
I can even adjust the speed I want without turning the CC off then on again. There is a tap up and tap down feature. It it's set at 70 mph, I can tap one button and the speed will increase by 1 mph each time I tap it. Or another button to decrease the speed in the same way.
Inexplicably, my Volkswagen doesn't have a tap-down feature. That and if you override with the accelerator, it will decelerate to as much as 4mph under the set speed before resuming the set speed. The behavior of the cruise control on that car pretty much sucks, though it's still better than not having it. Unfortunately it only works intermittently so sometimes it doesn't have it. Which is why the Volkswagen a) is no longer used for road trips, and b) is for sale.
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