To cruise, or not to cruise (Control that is)

[mtbiker278]

I've had a scangauge II for a while now and I've netted a fairly big increase in MPG. However, like the rest of you I'm searching for more ways to improve. On my way to work today I decided to not use the cruise control to see if there was any measureable difference. Turns out I can get another couple of MPGs out without cruise control engaged.

I figured the terrain around here would be too hilly to have any effect on FE, but with a little DWL it helps a good amount.

I'm just curious to see if anyone else has seen similar gains.

On a side note I wouldn't recommend driving without cruise control if you were say on the phone or on a really long trip (I'm sure some on here would disagree). For the average person your attention can only put towards so many things.

[BailOut]

Cruise control is something we always warn against. Most are too lax to kick in, and when they finally do they accelerate much too aggressively. It's a double whammy to FE.

An attentive driver can maintain a speed much more effectively than CC can, and when acceleration is needed a human can perform it much more smoothly.

[PaleMelanesian]

I agree that you can do better without the cruise control. I've tested back and forth numerous times, and my foot is better.

Theoretically, on a perfectly flat road, the difference should be minimal. With any hills at all, the cruise control unit gets really stupid really fast. With foot control, you can maintain the same speed up the same hills in top gear, where the CC would have kicked it down 2 gears.

[laurieaw]

Originally Posted by mtbiker278

On a side note I wouldn't recommend driving without cruise control if you were say on the phone or on a really long trip (I'm sure some on here would disagree). For the average person your attention can only put towards so many things.

good point, which is why i don't think driving and talking on the phone are two things that can be done at the same time. it seems like you can always tell if the person behind you is on the phone. they are either really far back, or else running up your butt and then backing off, or, like the one the other day, they are parked on your bumper and not paying attention to your efforts to get them to back off a little.

[AlphabetBackward]

I have back pain so when I drove to Chicago during the summer, I would often use cruise control during the flat parts. But during my normal 20 minute drive, I do without. Actually, if I actually sit up straight, it's not so bad.

[bomber991]

I did some slight experimenting here with cruise control at 55mph vs pulse & coast 60 to 55mph. The pulse and coast worked a lot better. CC was about 32mpg, P&C was about 35 to 36mpg.

[mtbiker278]

I'm still working on the whole pulse and glide thing. It's not really practical around here mostly because of traffic and the terrain. Maryland is fairly hilly which is just a general FE pain in the butt. Usually when I try to pulse going down a hill and pick up some speed some one is either braking in front of me, or whne I'm on the glide they're riding my bumper. I've found it better to maintain a fairly constant speed for both safety and FE.

I'll do some more tinkering and see if I have any measureable results.

[lightfoot]

Try pulsing as you go over the top of the hill and gliding down the other side. If the downhill is not steep enough to sustain a glide do it as a series of P&G's. Then sort of DWL up the next hill. So modify your P&G pattern to accommodate the terrain. Does that help?

[bomber991]

You just gotta be sure to leave enough space in front of you. What I've been doing is maintaining 55mph while going up the hills, and going into neutral and gliding down the hills. Usually my speed wont get above 60 due to wind resistance unless it's a pretty steep hill.

Yeah, I gotta say I wouldn't be doing p&g with an auto though just cause it's too much work for me. I'm just plain lazy.

As far as traffic goes, read this thing here on traffic waves. You just gotta leave enough space in front of you so you don't have to slow down when the cars in front of you slow down. The common argument for why people don't do this is because other cars will fill up the large gap of space in front of you. While that does happen, it doesn't happen as often as you'd think.
http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html

[99HXCivic]

Actually, I do wish my HX had cruise control!