Cruise Control

[Tom Joad]

When I bought my Honda Accord in 2009 it was the first vehicle I owned that had cruise control. So, like a kid with a new toy I started playing with it. So much that I got into the habit of using it a lot just for driving around town.

That was in a town of 35,000. Then this summer I moved to a bigger city, 200,000 and it got to be a real pain in the ass to play with it, so I quit.

I have always kept a careful record of my gas mileage and over the past few months my around town mileage has increased from 20 MPG to 22 MPG, or about 10%.

So I'm glad I broke my playing with the cruise control in city driving habit.

From now on I intend to only use it on the open highway when traffic is light.

[bobabode]

I thought this thread was going to be about Ted Cruz's S&M hobbies.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

When I bought my Honda Accord in 2009 it was the first vehicle I owned that had cruise control. So, like a kid with a new toy I started playing with it. So much that I got into the habit of using it a lot just for driving around town.

That was in a town of 35,000. Then this summer I moved to a bigger city, 200,000 and it got to be a real pain in the ass to play with it, so I quit.

I have always kept a careful record of my gas mileage and over the past few months my around town mileage has increased from 20 MPG to 22 MPG, or about 10%.

So I'm glad I broke my playing with the cruise control in city driving habit.

From now on I intend to only use it on the open highway when traffic is light.

Around town, the cruise control will have you charging lights and then braking hard, which amounts to using gasoline to heat up your brakes. You're seeing the result of dropping the cruise control around town.

One the highway, on the other hand, the cruise will hold your speed more steady than you will with your foot. Feet insist on being moved every so often. If you slow down a little, you then burn extra gas to speed up again; if you speed up, you just burn extra gas to do it, and then throw away the speed to go back to your target speed. So on the highway, the cruise control helps mileage.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by bobabode

I thought this thread was going to be about Ted Cruz's S&M hobbies.

Oops--looks like someone's been a bad boy again....

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

When I bought my Honda Accord in 2009 it was the first vehicle I owned that had cruise control. So, like a kid with a new toy I started playing with it. So much that I got into the habit of using it a lot just for driving around town.

That was in a town of 35,000. Then this summer I moved to a bigger city, 200,000 and it got to be a real pain in the ass to play with it, so I quit.

I have always kept a careful record of my gas mileage and over the past few months my around town mileage has increased from 20 MPG to 22 MPG, or about 10%.

So I'm glad I broke my playing with the cruise control in city driving habit.

From now on I intend to only use it on the open highway when traffic is light.

Interesting. We bought our first hybrid in Jan 2011, a Toyota Highlander. The big hybrids do pretty well actually, this one gets us right at 28 MPG on the summer blend and that's with 150 miles a week on I-94 going back and forth to Indiana every weekend. But I'll tell ya...you can knock that right down to 21 or worse if you're even the slightest bit aggressive with the gas pedal. And I've noticed that the more I'm on the cruise control, the better the MPG tends to be, on this hybrid anyway. Just a little extra pressure on the pedal, the electric motor kicks off and the bottom drops out of the mileage.

The little cars like the Prius it's pretty tough to go under 40 MPG.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Interesting. We bought our first hybrid in Jan 2011, a Toyota Highlander. The big hybrids do pretty well actually, this one gets us right at 28 MPG on the summer blend and that's with 150 miles a week on I-94 going back and forth to Indiana every weekend. But I'll tell ya...you can knock that right down to 21 or worse if you're even the slightest bit aggressive with the gas pedal. And I've noticed that the more I'm on the cruise control, the better the MPG tends to be, on this hybrid anyway. Just a little extra pressure on the pedal, the electric motor kicks off and the bottom drops out of the mileage.

The little cars like the Prius it's pretty tough to go under 40 MPG.

I've noticed that many of the hybrids are rated to get better mileage in city driving than on the highway.

But I've never driven one myself.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Around town, the cruise control will have you charging lights and then braking hard, which amounts to using gasoline to heat up your brakes.

My ex-wife was really bad about that.

She would go through a set of brake pads in 20,000 miles.

I'm talking about from brand new to metal against metal.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

I've noticed that many of the hybrids are rated to get better mileage in city driving than on the highway.

But I've never driven one myself.

We generally pick up some MPG when we get out on the road...but you have to watch your speed. The Highlander can get a bit over 28 MPG combined, but if you're out in a 70 MPH zone and running around or over 75, it won't do better than maybe mid 26 MPG. So it depends how much speed you want to maintain. Lot's of stop and go, lots of congested city driving and before you know it you're down into the low 20's. But the smaller hybrids do better than that with less weight to move.

The thing we had to get used to with the hybrid was the whole thing shutting down at every red light. The gasoline engine just shuts down and pops back on as soon as you hit the gas. There's really no noticeable lag...but even after three years with the hybrid, I pull into a parking lot and if I don't shut it down right away sometime I forget it's on and you can't hear that it's on. If you walk away from it, it starts squawking at you, and refuses to be locked until you go back and shut it down. I understand that quite a few standard gasoline powered cars now shut all the way down at a full stop as well. Mostly European cars from what I'm hearing.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

We generally pick up some MPG when we get out on the road...but you have to watch your speed. The Highlander can get a bit over 28 MPG combined, but if you're out in a 70 MPH zone and running around or over 75, it won't do better than maybe mid 26 MPG. So it depends how much speed you want to maintain.

I get 31-32 on my the interstate with my 2009 Accord, but I always observe the 70 mph speed limit.

[BlueStreak]

Have cruise control in both vehicles. Rarely use it, 'cept maybe on long trips.

Dave