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I can understand that. I like cruise control because it lets me focus 100% on steering and watching the road around me. Trying to maintain a steady speed and c

I can understand that. I like cruise control because it lets me focus 100% on steering and watching the road around me. Trying to maintain a steady speed and conserve gas is a fun challenge, but a bit pointless, because a) it's a distraction from more important tasks, and b) the computer can usually do it better than I can.

alex_duf 9y ago
It's also more comfortable for your passengers. I did a 6 hours trip with a friend continuously putting his foot up and down on the throttle, and it was the most gruelling car trip I've had I think. When I asked he said it was "to keep control on the car". I'm a patient friend.
- overcast 9y ago
  You're a better friend than I am. That truly is torture, and is the reason I volunteer to drive on ALL trips. I don't care how long. People who can't maintain proper speed without either flooring it, or taking their foot off the pedal, shouldn't be driving.
  - patcheudor 9y ago
    >People who can't maintain proper speed without either flooring it, or taking their foot off the pedal, shouldn't be driving. Not entirely true. I've been to German driving school and my father really pushed the concept of smooth throttle control on me as a beginning driver. Be smooth always. However, as I was able to afford higher and higher performance vehicles my take on the smooth maintaining of speed without noticeable accelerator input has changed. While I'll drive my SUV very smoothly, when I drive my manual six speed German roadster, my style is entirely different. Because of the weight, size, and HP, it's really not possible to drive it smoothly outside of tossing it into 6th which isn't terribly "fun". In the gears where it's "fun", it's a very much "on" or "off" throttle experience simply because of the HP produced by the engine.
    - overcast 9y ago
      I drive a manual transmission BMW. The shifting, and speed control can be as smooth as glass. It's the driver not the machine. Take consideration for your passenger, and everyone else on the road.
      - patcheudor 9y ago
        Yes, but its not a 577 HP track-tuned roadster. I can drive my 320 HP manual sedan quite smoothly as well. There are some cars where: a) you don't want to drive them smoothing because that's no fun - even for just the exhaust note & b) It's actually difficult to drive them smoothly because of the torque/HP. It doesn't mean you are a bad driver, it simply means you've adjusted your driving style to match the car you are driving.
        overcast 9y ago
        I DOUBT OP was taking a six hour road trip with his friend in a 577 HP track car. Which is the point here. It's awesome that you have a race car, but comparing that to the rest of our daily drivers makes no sense.
- coredog64 9y ago
  If I didn't know better, I'd think you were describing my wife. In her defense, she learned to drive in a very different environment (dense Chicago surface street traffic).
  - ansible 9y ago
    I've got a friend that drives like that too. Sooooo annoying. Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down. On and on. Ugh.
wcunning 9y ago
Cruise control on my car actually gains me about 1 mpg. This is specifically because the car "knows" that the speed won't be changing much so it locks the torque converter completely and drops the engine RPM by 100~200. Many of those things are direct results of the mediocre Ford implementation of the 2005 Five Hundred CVT and the fact that it predates Adaptive Cruise Control, but it has a physical reason and follows directly from new assumptions in the code only viable from the state I put it in.

alex_duf 9y ago

It's also more comfortable for your passengers. I did a 6 hours trip with a friend continuously putting his foot up and down on the throttle, and it was the most gruelling car trip I've had I think. When I asked he said it was "to keep control on the car". I'm a patient friend.

overcast 9y ago
You're a better friend than I am. That truly is torture, and is the reason I volunteer to drive on ALL trips. I don't care how long. People who can't maintain proper speed without either flooring it, or taking their foot off the pedal, shouldn't be driving.
- patcheudor 9y ago
  >People who can't maintain proper speed without either flooring it, or taking their foot off the pedal, shouldn't be driving. Not entirely true. I've been to German driving school and my father really pushed the concept of smooth throttle control on me as a beginning driver. Be smooth always. However, as I was able to afford higher and higher performance vehicles my take on the smooth maintaining of speed without noticeable accelerator input has changed. While I'll drive my SUV very smoothly, when I drive my manual six speed German roadster, my style is entirely different. Because of the weight, size, and HP, it's really not possible to drive it smoothly outside of tossing it into 6th which isn't terribly "fun". In the gears where it's "fun", it's a very much "on" or "off" throttle experience simply because of the HP produced by the engine.
  - overcast 9y ago
    I drive a manual transmission BMW. The shifting, and speed control can be as smooth as glass. It's the driver not the machine. Take consideration for your passenger, and everyone else on the road.
    - patcheudor 9y ago
      Yes, but its not a 577 HP track-tuned roadster. I can drive my 320 HP manual sedan quite smoothly as well. There are some cars where: a) you don't want to drive them smoothing because that's no fun - even for just the exhaust note & b) It's actually difficult to drive them smoothly because of the torque/HP. It doesn't mean you are a bad driver, it simply means you've adjusted your driving style to match the car you are driving.
      - overcast 9y ago
        I DOUBT OP was taking a six hour road trip with his friend in a 577 HP track car. Which is the point here. It's awesome that you have a race car, but comparing that to the rest of our daily drivers makes no sense.
coredog64 9y ago
If I didn't know better, I'd think you were describing my wife. In her defense, she learned to drive in a very different environment (dense Chicago surface street traffic).
- ansible 9y ago
  I've got a friend that drives like that too. Sooooo annoying. Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down. On and on. Ugh.

wcunning 9y ago

Cruise control on my car actually gains me about 1 mpg. This is specifically because the car "knows" that the speed won't be changing much so it locks the torque converter completely and drops the engine RPM by 100~200. Many of those things are direct results of the mediocre Ford implementation of the 2005 Five Hundred CVT and the fact that it predates Adaptive Cruise Control, but it has a physical reason and follows directly from new assumptions in the code only viable from the state I put it in.