Petrol Economy and Cruise Control

[bdee Member Find all posts View Profile Close bdee]

Hi Guys,

Interested in your thoughts re economy using Cruise compared with not using Cruise. I had a disagreement regarding which would be better on fuel.

What are your thoughts is Cruise control better or worse for the fuel economy?


Brett

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Don't have the fuel usage calculator (or whatever it is called) on the small screen any more, as I had it replaced with a larger screen with a satellite nav. unit, and don't really care about fuel consumption any more, just fill up and drive now.

The cruise is really good on flat roads, or roads with not much incline, however, driving up a bit of a hill, the cruise kicks in really hard sometimes. Set on 105, the bloody thing will kick down and head towards 120 if not careful. Obviously this will really raise the fuel consumption to a high level.

Having a different exhaust system allows the motor (petrol auto) to breath better, and around 100, will kick down to 2nd gear at times. When it does this, usually have to tap the brake pedal to stop the cruise working, as you don't know who may be sitting over the hill with the radar gun.

Heading up a bit of a hill, the speed will drop a few k/h, and this is what causes the cruise control to kick in hard, so I have to feather the accelerator pedal a little bit up the hill to keep the revs up and stop the hard kick back. Asked Toyota service to check it out, stated there was nothing wrong with the control.

When I drove a few Holden and Falcon work vehicles, never had such a hard kick down of the auto as with the Prado.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

My experience has proven non cruse control is more efficient for me
For the simple explanation in the above post.
But then it depends on the driver and their right foot.
The bigger the hills the more the cruise will cost you.
Non cruise you can use the hills to save, going down speed up a little to use that free/cheap momentum to get u up the hill.
Basically don't move your foot, let it slow a bit going up also. More right foot = more fuel.

[D4Dforme Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4Dforme]

The cruise control ''kicking down '' must be a Toyota thing as my old 100 series V8 would do the same thing.......slight incline and it would go from 5th to 3rd and rev the pants off of it thus increasing fuel usage.......

Flat or near flat roads i think cruise is the way to go but if in hilly areas definatly have the cruise off........my diesel Prado seems to be no where near as agressive with the throttle on cruise but it is also a manual.

Dan

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Have to agree with YOWIE and D4Dfor me 100%, cruise on toyota vehicles I think is a pain in the arse on hilly terrain or even the slightest incline. 2 previous prado's I had and current one, and previous toyota's with cruise do exactly what has been posted by Yowie and D4Dforme. The best cruise Ive had has been on my commodore and statesman, it didnt budge off the set speed unless it was a steep down hill run then it would get away but this is to be expected on any vehicle unless it brakes its self (maybe the kakadu does with radar cruise control ??) I definately get better consumption using a combination of both, cruise on dead flat surface's with any hilly terrain I either cancel the cruise by pulling the cruise control lever towards me then take over using the throttle without the prado dropping back a couple of cogs and reving the shit out of itself then over shooting the set point then takes a minutes for it to steady its self. Its like you get to the bottm of the hill and it drops off 5k then thinks shit we need to speed up, BAM accelerates like crazy and blows any fuel economy out the window.....So answer from me is a bit of both, cruise and manual foot control depending on terrain........Cheers Steve

[bdee Member Find all posts View Profile Close bdee]

Thanks guys I couldn't agree more. I was of the opinion (a fuel consumptions figures tend to agree) that I get better fuel economy without cruise. On hills cruise can be damn dangerous hence I always turn it off.

Brett

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Have to agree with YOWIE and D4Dfor me 100%, cruise on toyota vehicles I think is a pain in the arse on hilly terrain or even the slightest incline. 2 previous prado's I had and current one, and previous toyota's with cruise do exactly what has been posted by Yowie and D4Dforme. The best cruise Ive had has been on my commodore and statesman, it didnt budge off the set speed unless it was a steep down hill run then it would get away but this is to be expected on any vehicle unless it brakes its self (maybe the kakadu does with radar cruise control ??) I definately get better consumption using a combination of both, cruise on dead flat surface's with any hilly terrain I either cancel the cruise by pulling the cruise control lever towards me then take over using the throttle without the prado dropping back a couple of cogs and reving the shit out of itself then over shooting the set point then takes a minutes for it to steady its self. Its like you get to the bottm of the hill and it drops off 5k then thinks shit we need to speed up, BAM accelerates like crazy and blows any fuel economy out the window.....So answer from me is a bit of both, cruise and manual foot control depending on terrain........Cheers Steve

I have found many vehicles do the big kick down.
The fords and Holden's typically bigger displacement engine, more power and torque.
Then they can maintain the speed much better than a less areodynamic heavier vehicle like Prado.
The fords autos do gear down to decel for you.

The aftermarket cruise controls are the worst.

[reggie426 Member Find all posts View Profile Close reggie426]

I've also got a vz 6.0 and the cruise is magnificent, the bigger engine lets it accelerate without dropping back. But, my subaru outback with its 2.5l kicks back to 2nd and revs it's tits off with the slightest touch of the stalk. I've found the 4.0l prado somewhere in between.

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

I find that the CC uses more juice to the order if 1to 2 l/100 at about 100-110kph eg on relativley flat roads like western NSW. All of the above is true about the sudden kickdown and rev the crap out of it BUT that penalty may be worth it as a licence saver in a car that is totally happy creeping up to 130+kph and sticking there all day [while having a big drink of petrol at the same time.]Neil