I feel like most people I’ve talked to about it say they never use cruise control & I don’t know why. It’s always easy to set up & it does make driving on the freeway easier in my opinion. It can be so annoying when I’m behind someone & their speed is constantly fluctuating, especially in the fast lane
Comments
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
Until you get the texter using cruise control who plows into other cars
Cruise control also statistically improves MPG by 7-14% and I’ve seen a solid 7% is true for me. Of course there’s a time and place for it but used in many places is also a solid mpg benefit. A high stop sign area for lots of stop lights isn’t the time, for example. My rav hybrid averages about 40MPG and I use cruise control a lot. I’m very mindful about driving and at my best would average like 36 mpg. That was like 2 years ago, haven’t tried to compare in awhile
Adaptive cruise control is both lovely and life changing, especially for when you get behind people who can’t maintain a consistent speed. I refuse to own another car without it.
I use cruise control. I support this. I even use it on city streets to avoid excessive speeds.
One of my favorite parts of of the “who deserves the left lane” conversation is when folks speak with absolutes when talking about their speed.
The “I go 15 over” guy goes 15 over when he’s paying attention. But, later you’ll catch him down the road because he’s texting or drifting off.
Folks are horrible at running a normal speed. They think they do but very few are actually paying attention enough to do it.
And then when you pass them because they have absent mindedly slowed down they get weirdly offended and try to race you. Annoying.
Limiter crew here.
The cruise control reads signs on neighbouring roads and suddenly brakes where it shouldn’t.
Guilty of this. Within ~5-10 mph but my “new” old pos car cruise is awful
My current car has adaptive cruise control and it’s a dream. Gives me more patience on the road. I will never buy a car without it now.
Adaptive cruise is a godsend on highways. Too bad modern cars always try to “guess” the speed limit and get it right about never.
I almost always use cruise control. I also think traffic wouldn’t be nearly as bad if people could pick a speed and maintain it, though this does kind of depend on the car because I notice that the reported speed varies a little when you compare it with a GPS.
[deleted]
Every time I try to use CC on a long trip it becomes more of a PITA than its worth. I’m talking on the open interstate outside of cities. Why? Because you always come up behind someone slower than you, even in the fast lane, which means you’re either constantly changing the speed setting on the CC, or dis and then re-engaging it. I.E. the idea that you (or the guy in front of you in the fast lane that you’re complaining about) can just magically maintain a constant speed, CC or otherwise) is mostly just a fantasy.
> especially in the fast lane
There is no fast lane. It’s called the passing lane, pass and GTFO of it.
My car doesn’t have cruise control. 2017.
I’ve only used the cruise control in my car once on a long distance road trip when I had a nice flat stretch of road with little traffic. In my area it’s way too congested to even think of using cruise control, plus most of my driving is on local roads with traffic lights where using it would be absolutely pointless.
I’m one of those that never use cruise control. Why? Because it’s not worth the hassle, too much traffic. We never stay at one speed for long enough to even try.
I like to use cruise control because it helps my gas mileage, even running 80 mph.
I use cruise control all the time, probably at least once every time I drive. It’s very easy to tell who is and isn’t using it on the freeway once you start using it frequently.
I despise adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist though, and I’m glad my vehicle doesn’t have either.
I love cruise control. I have severe driving anxiety and it’s one less issue to deal with on the road. I admit it. Just go in the slow lane and cruise
I only use it when I get off the highway and onto city streets. Helps me acclimate to 35mph instead of the 75mph from just a minute ago.
If I use it on the highway, my brain gets bored and I get sleepy.
I totally agree, in my opinion, with your opinion. Maybe that will satisfy the mods.
Yes it’s easy to set up. But you have to look out for everyone else who can’t drive. It’s great when everyone does what they’re supposed to but most don’t
Me, sighing when I get a U-Haul with no cruise control because I’ll have to focus extra hard on my speed for the job delivery. Love it when I get one that does have it though.
Honestly I use CC in the city, too. Everyone likes to talk about how dangerous it is because of the varying speed, but if you’re using it to go the speed limit, everyone passes you anyway and leaves you a fairly good space. And you grow more used to flicking the (negative/) acceleration buttons, flicking it off entirely before turning it back on when safe, and your breaks always work to cancel it anyway. Once you’re used to it, it’s fine.
It makes me somewhat nauseous, i feel like I’m losing control, I’ve never tried the adaptive one tho it might be better
Agree. Especially when they’re using their phone. Looking at the device = slow down. Looks up from the device = hammer the gas.
I don’t use cruise control, even on those super long days behind the wheel but I do maintain my speed until someone else is hogging the passing lane. And that is the biggest reason, no one will usually be driving at the speed that I do.
I use cruise control everywhere. I turn it on in the neighborhood. It’s one of, if not the best driving aid ever made. The thing where it’ll hit the brakes for you if you’re about to rear end someone is up there too
Small engine, steep hills, I almost never use cruise control because it doesn’t prepare for the hills soon enough. I have a cheap older vehicle so maybe that’s improved but mine is not adequate for the terrain here
The majority of people seem like they operate on autopilot and never actually consider or think about what they’re doing. Like for example upvoting actually popular opinions on this sub lol
Adaptive cruise makes life so much easier, don’t have to worry about fluctuating speed.
I love cruise control, I would not buy a car that didn’t have cruise control
One reason why I don‘t always use cruise control is traffic. Especially driving in older cars without adaptive cruise control.
It‘s just easier to adjust speed to the car in front and react to their behavior.
But on an open road there no reason not to use it.
I already use cruise control because my shits not registered so I can’t afford to get pulled over for speeding lol
I love driving my husband’s car with cruise control for this reason- his Subaru has eyesight and the cruise control matches the speed of the car in front of us, keeping a set distance. So if highway traffic is speeding up and slowing down, it no longer bothers us any. Trying to follow changing speeds in my car using regular cruise control isn’t great and I’ll get annoyed too.
I use cruise control whenever I can. Cops here will write a ticket for 2 mph over the limit and I don’t want one. I almost never drive on the interstate.
I agree but would like to add that cruise control is not great for your car. If it worked by RPM instead of MPH I’d use it a lot more.
I hate it when someone is creeping up on me and instead of passing they just get up close and linger right behind me for miles and miles.
Preach it Brother, Preach it.
Always passing the same car multiple times when using cruise control. They just keep speeding up to pass me then slowing down once they do. Quite annoying.
Cruise control is awesome. And I use it every single day. Saves gas and wear and tear on your brakes.
On the interstate if people are driving like they’re supposed to you shouldn’t have to hit your brakes after you get on the interstate until you reach your exit. That’s how they’re designed to set up. But unfortunately the way that people drive this day and age that’s nearly impossible.
Cruise control is one step closer to computers driving instead of humans, so I fully support it! People have too much ego tied up in it to cooperatively improve traffic.
That said, the computers need to be smarter- my adaptive cruise control will happily accelerate me straight into a traffic jam until the distance threshold is crossed, then HARD brake to avoid crashing.
I use cruise control whenever I can, speed limit is 35 on a side street, cruise control. It makes it easier to play my phone games.
if I take my foot off the gas, my car starts to brake
And it can greatly improve gas mileage!
As someone who uses cruise control as often as possible on the highway, yes this. It’s baffling how often someone passes me, only for me to pass them 2 minutes later. People regularly drift +-10 mph. I just don’t understand it. Are they not paying attention or do they just not have a goal speed and drive on vibes?
It depends so much on the car. some cars have terrible cruise control and they shift in really odd delayed ways on anything but perfectly level roads. A focused driver will always be more efficient than a cruise control will. Too bad focused drivers are so rare these days.
i usually don’t use cruise control because it gives my legs something to do on long boring drives, keeps my brain a little bit active. just bought a manual car so that is amplified
For some reason I read this as people just need to not use cruise control and I was about to get all bent out of shape…
No people love to slow down to a crawl randomly. CC is my favorite thing as someone who does 1000+ trips yearly.
How long are you on the freeway? Like, I understand this if you’re driving 10, 20 minutes or more, but if a few minutes of matching fluctuating speed bothers you, you need to learn some goddamn patience.
I don’t use it. My everyday driver, a 2000 S-10 doesn’t have cruise control, but I don’t use it when I drive other vehicles either.
I live in a rural area where you’re constantly driving through small towns so you always have to slow down every few minutes.
yes. and god forbid you try to pass these types. all of a sudden they want to exceed the speed limit.
That is a weird and very specific feeling. Do you think this instead?
I set my cruise control and count how many times i end up passing and getting passed by the same driver. I think my high score is 20 times in an hour.
This assumes cruise control is actually going the speed it’s advertising. I have been on plenty of trips where Im certain my old ass car is not going at the selected speed and I see tons of cars that I presume are functioning in the same way. Like going through Kansas you’ll pass someone on the way down the hill and then they’ll pass you on the way up the hill. And you just trade off every few minutes cause you’re both in doing different things. One is breaking on the way down while the other is accelerating and vise versa.
I use cruise control on surface streets because it’s so easy to find myself going well over the speed limit.
However , it’s not foolproof for me and I have an embarrassing screwup to relate. Happily tooling down the street on a Sunday morning with the cruise at 5 mph over the limit, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a green light about half a block ahead! Wow! So I punched it. School zone with speed cameras and I was 11 mph over the 45 limit (35 when school is in session). Busted.
Hell my wife uses speed control in rain, snow and in traffic. Scares the Hell out of me 100%.
Umm depends on how much time is being spent on the freeway. I assume that when you turn on cruise control, you’re most likely going on a long stretch of freeway. In that case, I think it’s because unless your car has the modern adaptive cruise control that can adjust speed automatically based on the car in front, it’s annoying having to turn it off/on again to adjust to traffic in front so they might as well keep the foot on the pedal.
Having said that, it’s still pretty tiring having to keep your foot on the pedal for a long time. So I always use cruise control on the open highway.
I have to use it on the highway to keep it at a reasonable speed. My car just wants to go fast. GTI problems!
Forget qualifiers. If someone doesn’t use cruise control then they don’t belong on the freeway. Just a hair behind those who don’t keep to the right when not passing.
If everyone drives properly freeways can be relaxing and calming as traffic of different speeds flows smoothly. Add a few people who don’t and it becomes a convoluted anxiety inducing mess.
frequent cruise control user here. I agree with everything you said. I feel like a lot of people don’t know to hold their foot steady on the gas pedal. I’ve seen many people who will push down on the gas and let off and then push down again and let off. Lather, rinse, repeat. Makes for a less than pleasant ride. I have an ex who did this and it was infuriating.
edit: gas pedal not steering wheel. been up since 4am LOL
Chicken or the egg. Most cars don’t have adaptive cruise control. If most cars are bad at maintains speeds then most cars by definition can’t use cruise control due to said variable speed.
I use cruise control everywhere, it also helps with gas efficiency. I dislike having to try and manually hold the gas pedal in 1 spot.
I think a lot of rear-ending accidents are caused by drivers using CC then zoning out. If the car in front of you suddenly slows, you are more likely to rear-end them if you are on CC.
I use cruise control VERY occasionally on long runs, but I’m generally opposed to it as it can lead to complacency. Having said that, my latest car has a gazillion sensors and it will in fact slow me down if I absent-mindedly creep up on the car in front, so I am now willing to give it more control. But I generally don’t favor it.
Thats the reason normal cruisecontrol is garbage, and why i love my adaptive cruise control so i don’t have to deal with this shit
My issue with people like you describe is the vehicle they use, cruise control is 99% of the time standard in new model cars.
I love using cruise control on the highway! Lets me rest my foot for a bit.
Adaptive cruise control annoys me because it approaches the next car so softly that they can’t tell (even if they are paying attention) that you want to pass them. It magnifies issues of inconsistent speed! Some things i can’t stand because i am such an easy driver to please:
I drive a Mitsubishi Mirage. It keeps up with traffic okay, but holy fuck does it take a while to get up to speed. You bet your ass I’m using cruise control 🤣
Cruise control is great, adaptive cruise control is really annoying when someone squeezes in in front of you without enough distance
I set cruise 5-10 miles over and ride in the second from the fast lane. Works pretty well
“I just drive with traffic” is code for I am driving absent minded. Most people don’t think about how fast they’re going. They think about where they are in line
15 years of driving… most of the time I dont even look at the gauge, its just a feeling for the speed. In city or highway driving I can easily match my speed to the limit or other cars. Cruise control dont see as far as I do and cant predict people turning over to fast lane right in front of me so driving without it is much more economic and comfortable.
I live on cruise control.
I mean, that’s the main reason I use cruise control.
People don’t use cruise control? Why would you not? No way I’m even driving 10 highway miles and keeping my foot down on the accelerator if I don’t have to. Traffic moves so much better when people travel at consistent speeds. The best change I ever made to my driving was to just drive the speed limit, I feel like I have much less interactions with the lunatics on the road.
I hate cruise control I never use it.
I say it all the time. My wife refuses to use it and prefers to be at the mercy of the person in the lane in front of her. Also has no idea what speed she’s going because she’s not really concentrating on driving. She always drives bc she gets motion sickness.
Case in point: we’re driving through a construction zone and she’s 20 mph over. Passes a cop. He pulls her over. She DOESNT get ticketed because she’s a pretty woman.
He leaves and I read her the riot act because if it were the other way around I’d be hearing about myself AND we’d have an obscene fortune of a ticket, and I don’t do double standards in our marriage. She followed my “instructions” for all of 5 minutes and was right back to it on the return trip, in SAME CONSTRUCTION ZONE!!
This is why men die sooner.
I use cruise control in the city to keep myself from driving too fast.
A hundred percent. I call myself bad at keeping a consistent speed because I go two or three miles over the speed limit. I watched my mother go twenty over and not give a shit.
I had my cruise control on the other day on the highway. Going the exact speed limit because I can’t afford a ticket right now. This guy turns out of a side street right in front of me and just doesn’t go for a few seconds. I get into the passing lane and go around him. Never gasing or breaking, just cruise controlling at the speed limit. He dramatically rolled down his window and stuck his hand out palm down, pushing it repeatedly towards the ground and mouthed “slow down” to me.
I pass him and continue on my way. About a minute later he passes me going 20 over the speed limit. And I’m the one that needs to slow down. Some people are just really shitty drivers.
Maintaining a steady speed has always been a weak spot of mine. When I finally got a car with functional cruise control and started using it, I noticed that it’s not just me that struggles with it.
I don’t have cruise control 🙁
I think cruise control is scary. You just set a speed and your car goes that fast? I can’t take my foot off the gas to slow down? Terrifying. Car just goes by itself and I’m just supposed to steer. No thank you.
I use the limiter, where I set a maximum speed, and then still use the gas pedal. I can still take my foot off the gas and lose speed without braking (which is amazing for fuel economy) and as long as I keep my foot down far enough it’ll go the same speed as cruise control would, I’m just actually in control of it without manually disengaging the whole system.
100% agree. I use it in town, too. It keeps me from speeding on top of keeping a specific speed. With the eye sight, my Cruise also slows me down and speeds me up based on vehicles in front of me.
I dont use it cause my truck doesn’t have it.
Cruise control and ice are a bad deal.
I hate when someone passes me, switches into my lane and then slows down causing me to have to either slow down or pass them. If I just had a laser death beam …
I drive with the pace of traffic, might be going faster than some at times.
I for aome reason have a weird thing against cruise control. I understand how useful it can be but i just dislike “not being in control of this death box”, even though i am, it just feels super uncomfortable to me to to not have my foot controlling the speed.
My god I hate people like that, they make cause so many problems for everyone around them. It’s fine if you don’t want to use the cruise control, but maintain your speed.
I have two cars, and automatic with cruise control and a manual without. I’ve driven the manual more overall. The automatic with cruise control however was the best purchase I could’ve ever made. It keeps me from speeding and reduces my road rage. I like to think that after seven years of exclusively driving the manual, that I can keep my speed consistent fairly well. But honestly my longer drives go much smoother in the other car, though I do think much of that is not having to deal with shifting when traffic gets stupid.