Do you use your autos cruise control for better gas mileage?

I don’t know why that is, but I noticed it also and no longer use mine.

I rarely use it, because 90% of my driving is city streets. According to gas mileage testing and tips from edmunds, the opposite should be true.

I do when I’m making the 3 hour drive from school here in WV to my parent’s house in Cleveland. It does mean better gas mileage, but that’s the only time I use the cruise control. That drive and the 7 hour drive from my parent’s house to my aunt’s house in Philly. Those long drives are the only time I’ve seen a difference.

I don’t really have the option to do it here unless I’m on a long drive but I use it when I can. I believe the principal behind why it works has to do with consistency in speed. when we drive we tend to speed up or slow down then need to correct for it, this can happen several times even in just short stretches of straight road and costs us gas. Cruise control only adjusts when there is a change in terrain but otherwise keeps a much more steady feed to the engine there by eliminating those small but consistent variations. All of this is subject to the vehicle, the conditions, and the terrain you’re driving on. If it didn’t work for you it might have been because you had a lot of hilly terrain, humans can anticipate the acceleration and increase it before the incline (saving gas) where as the CC has to accelerate with the incline. A lot of slow traffic seems to work against it to as there is a wider variable in speed changes that the driver has to match to stay with the flow of traffic.

Ive tested this out and i definitely get better gas mileage when using cruise control. Not really sure why your car is screwy…

I do use the cruise control, but not for gas milege.
I use it because some of the music I listen to seems to make me drive in the 90 range.
(Squirrel Nut Zippers song Hell is one)

I use the cruise control because it results in sitting in a pocket during freeway driving between two pods of cars.

People unconsciously drive in groups. If I set the cruise control about two miles over or two mile under the speed limit, I am by myself.

Was the mileage drop on the highway, with a fairly constant speed on flat ground?

I could see it dropping if you used it in where you had to stop and go, and the cruise is somehow inefficient in the way it accelerates. Same for hills & mountains. But for a lengthy flat highway drive I can’t see how it could be worse. Not saying you are wrong, I just have a hard time picturing it.

@filmfann SNZ?????? OMG, I LOVE them. I didn’t think many people knew who they were.

I use CC mainly to keep my speed in check. We live in a rural area & have to go several miles to get anywhere. I set it at 60 to keep myself in check. On long road trips, we use it, as keeping your foot on the accelerator gets tiresome after a while.

You’ll get a mileage drop on some driving, especially if it includes a lot of steep hills. That’s because the cruise control will frequently downshift to maintain speed on the uphill side, where you might have accelerated a bit more on the flat approach and coasted over the crest of the hill, or just dropped speed gradually on the climb to avoid the downshift.

I use the CC to avoid… being stopped by you and your brother officers, @john65pennington.

If it’s flat, less gas mileage and nice traveling.

I use it, don’t really care about gas mileage and that stuff. My vehicle gets 16 MPG, and that’s fine with me. Not out to go through any trouble to get it to be 16.2 MPG.

I recieved a note this morning telling people not to use the cruise control when on wet or icy roads. Seems if the car begins sliding, it tries to accellerate, which makes it worse.

I conducted two tests on two different trips to our casino, which is 150 miles one way. the speed was set at 72 mph each time. gas tank filled each time. my vehicle is a 2000 Toyota Soara with a 4-cyliner engine, 4-speed automatic with a 5th gear overdrive. the first trip, i used the cruise control feature. the second trip, i manually drove the car. 60% of the interstate was flat. 40% was hilly. on the cruise control trip, i noticed my cars transmission was constantly changing gears as we going up the hilly sections. from 5th to 4th and sometimes 3rd gear. the cruise control was attempting to maintain the 72 mph speed, previously set. on the manual trip, i drove normally. after each trip, i filled tha gas tank and compared the two figures. the cruise control trip was 28 mpg and the manual driving was 31 mpg. i am really not complaining about either gas mileage. i am just wondering what made the difference?

You’re supposed to get better gas mileage with cruise control, I’m pretty sure this is a documented fact. Didn’t Mythbusters test this?

@john65pennington It’s probably the hills. Next test: cruise on the flats and take control on the hills.

Good job on the testing, btw, I play around like that, too. The surprise I found was that removing the crossbars on my roof rack boosted highway mileage about 3 mpg, more than 10%.

@filmfann Oh no, you definitely shouldn’t use it on questionable road conditions. You need to be 100% in control of your car at all times.

I use it on the deserted straightaways here because there is the temptation to go faster and faster. The local highways are hilly and curvy.

I use it for the rare drives that take an hour or more of highway driving. I would rather have manual control when I’m in traffic.

I only use it when I know I’m going to be going the same speed for a while. I notice that the RPM is lower when cruise control is on. I’m not car savvy, but that should have something to do with it?

I use it because I have a tendency to speed.

Cruise control does result in better mileage but not if:

You pass everybody everytime you can.
You are driving on highways with steep hills.
You are towing a heavy trailer.
Your tires are severely underinflated.
You drive at excessive speeds.

No. I use my cruise control all of the time. On the highway in light and moderate traffic, and even on the curvy road to my house. I believe that if more people used cruise control there would be less accidents. Less passing, and better flow of traffic. I don’t know how many times I will have a car ahead of me that will vary in speed as much as 15 mph. From 45 to 60 and everywhere in between. When I pass in a passing lane and set my cruise for 55 this same joker runs up on my rear end creating more stress for me and himself. Lets just all use the cruise control, pick one speed and stick to it! Please.