Cruise Control mpg

I think that you'll find that those out there who are getting the extremely high mileages don't often go 65., and spend a lot of time using Pulse & Glide. 50-55mpg is probably a little high for that sort of highway, cruise-control driving. I probably end up with about 48-50 if I'm driving like that.

 

I usually use cruise control and get mid-high 40's at 65 mph. At those speeds, I rarely do better when not using cruise. If I'm willing to do, say, 65-68 downhill, 62-66 level, and 52-60 uphill, I can get a 10%-20% improvement in mpg.

I wish there was a "smart cruise" option that would let the car slow to -10% on uphills, stay at speed on level, and coast to +5% on downhills. That would presumably boost cruise's mpg. The way it works now, it seems to lag uphill for a moment, then boost to +4% uphill. That's the opposite of what I want it to do going uphill. I often find myself bumping the cruise down as I go uphill, to try and keep that boost from killing my mpg.

I'll typically drive without the cruise and vary my speed a lot for mpg for a few months at a time, getting low 50's for mpg just because I feel like it. But I find more often than not these days, I'll just drive with the flow of the middle lane or the fast lane because it feels a little less stressful than dealing with all the merge action of the slow lane.

 

I think something that would be nice for CC & FE is if it just held a constant throttle setting. If your speed got too low for your comfort you could always push on the pedal some or tap the brakes if the speed got to high on a downhill.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bobdavisnpf @ Jul 4 2007, 01:01 PM) [snapback]472966[/snapback]</div>

You are right on how to get better mileage than the cruise control--it works in any car BTW!

I'l take the smart cruise control, and put it next to the variable regen switch and the EV switch!

 

Using cruise control I earn 55 mpg at 46 mph on an older highway. On Interstates using cruise control I earn 48 mpg at 70 mph. (Just turned 11k miles)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dirtanpper @ Jul 4 2007, 10:41 AM) [snapback]472954[/snapback]</div>

That's better than I get on trips to San Diego. But then again, on those trips I'm doing 65 or 70 most of the way (about 100 miles each way with a modest net elevation change of about 1,000 ft each way). I generally see mpg of 51 or so after a round trip. I have noticed, however, that the cruise control is better at finding occasions on which to coast the car, which is rather hard to do manually ("podally"?) at speeds over 40 mph.

 

I've been using cruise when traffic permits, and have just topped the 50 mpg mark, and been there for the past month or so. In over a year and a half, and 37,000 miles, it was hovering 46-48 or so. After trying to use the cruise whenever I can, I've finally topped 50, and I use the AC a lot, and drive over several substantial mountains (210 thru Pasdadena), OK, hills. Anyway, don't be afraid of the CC. Its your friend. So is the AC. (I saw some guy Friday in the 100° + San Fernando Valley, with a black Prius cruising with windows down, no AC.) Why suffer when you can be cool and still get the mileage. I don't get it.

 

Due to the CVT, cruise control on the Prius is the best implementation I've ever experienced. I've cruised from sea level to a 3,000 foot mountain pass entirely on cruise control without a single hiccup from the car. Brilliant! I think it does get better milage than using the old technology foot on the pedal method.

Speaking of foot on the pedal, I wish there could be a better implementation of cruise control! Something like a dial with a button would be nice, like on a Boeing 737. Dial in the speed you want, hit 'hold' and the car will accelerate or coast to the set speed. I've often wanted to be able to hit cruise from a stop and have the car smoothly accelerate to the speed I had it set to before turning it off to stop at a stop sign.