Driving VS Cruise Control

[acdii]

If you had averaged 70 mph you probably would have seen a little over 40 mpg. It would have saved two gallons ($8) each way but it would have taken you about 45 minutes longer. I'd pay $8 for 45 minutes more time in Anaheim with my wife.

I'm a control freak (at least my wife says so) so I rarely use Cruise Control. It's ideal for cruising on interstate like I5 in the San Joaquin Valley and for giving my right foot a rest on long trips, but I feel I get better mileage driving manually. Instead of one constant speed, I go faster on downslopes and slower on upgrades. With the new update, you learn when you can back off just a little to get it into EV at 65-75 mph. I also don't think I've had one time in the past 10 months that another driver has looked at my FFH and said "Damn hybrid!". I've never held up traffic behind me. This has given me lower MPGs than are possible, but I don't care.

So, did the update help?

[B25Nut]

Before I got the update, I rarely posted any advice on getting better mileage. Who would want to listen to someone that had a 37.0 mpg average? My only reset of lifetime average was 5,700 miles ago. At the time of the update, the average MPG was 37.0. This morning it clicked over to 39.6 mpg, which means within the next week I will see the magic 40.0 mpg average, which has been the figure that would make me happy since I purchased my FFH last November. The four weeks of driving since the update has averaged 44.3 mpg. It is a very good feeling see the average MPG increase 0.10 every day.

[Barsoom]

The same with me. I was averaging 34 and now am averaging 38. I drive mostly short commutes with a slight downgrade one way, and the uphill return the other way. With just about 4,000 miles on the car, the 800 mile single trip is 20% of the score right now overall. I reset the lifetime (I thought) about 1,000 miles ago when I did the update, so the 34 is now 35.4.

 

On a note about the cruise control vs saving 45 minutes or $8 from better manual control, I'd add that the drive felt a lot like "push-button" driving. I set the max speed and following distance and then took my foot off of the pedal for most of the drive (6-7 hours). I rarely changed the max speed, and only adjusted the following speed if I wanted to close the gap or fall back. I would think the pedaling the car to optimize mpg would increase driver fatigue on such a long trip.

[kbailey990]

The same with me. I was averaging 34 and now am averaging 38. I drive mostly short commutes with a slight downgrade one way, and the uphill return the other way. With just about 4,000 miles on the car, the 800 mile single trip is 20% of the score right now overall. I reset the lifetime (I thought) about 1,000 miles ago when I did the update, so the 34 is now 35.4.

 

On a note about the cruise control vs saving 45 minutes or $8 from better manual control, I'd add that the drive felt a lot like "push-button" driving. I set the max speed and following distance and then took my foot off of the pedal for most of the drive (6-7 hours). I rarely changed the max speed, and only adjusted the following speed if I wanted to close the gap or fall back. I would think the pedaling the car to optimize mpg would increase driver fatigue on such a long trip.

You're right, Barsoom. This is the most relaxing car I've ever driven.

 

I have a 47 mile each way daily interstate commute, and I often have to drive 8 hours of flat Florida freeways for family fun. I set the following distance to "4", set the cruise control to 70, get in the right-hand lane and stay there. Ahhh! relaxxx and enjoyyy... BLIS and Lane Keeping Assist help me out, and I still get great mileage. The ACC speeds up and slows down on it's own, and there've been times when I've driven for hours and never touched a pedal. Windshield wipers and head lights come on by themselves; high beams, low beams on automatic... What's left to get uptight about?

[acdii]

You're right, Barsoom. This is the most relaxing car I've ever driven.

 

I have a 47 mile each way daily interstate commute, and I often have to drive 8 hours of flat Florida freeways for family fun. I set the following distance to "4", set the cruise control to 70, get in the right-hand lane and stay there. Ahhh! relaxxx and enjoyyy... BLIS and Lane Keeping Assist help me out, and I still get great mileage. The ACC speeds up and slows down on it's own, and there've been times when I've driven for hours and never touched a pedal. Windshield wipers and head lights come on by themselves; high beams, low beams on automatic... What's left to get uptight about?

^^This^^^^ Car is damn near self driving. It even tells you , Hey wake up stupid and get some coffee.

[MaineFusion]

^^This^^^^ Car is damn near self driving. It even tells you , Hey wake up stupid and get some coffee.

 

I still want to know how it decides I need to take a break or that my hands are not on the steering wheel. The vast majority of the time, it wrong on both counts.

[Barsoom]

What's left to get uptight about?

 

Ha! My wife tells me that parallel parking assist is for wimps! I love it.

 

 

 

I still want to know how it decides I need to take a break or that my hands are not on the steering wheel.

 

I think that turning the lane lines yellow too many times is what does it. I found on my long trip on I-5 that if i move to the edge of the lane to give the semi in the right lane some more space, the driver alert will eventually ding. That, and straying close to the line from fiddling with the driver displays too much.

[MaineFusion]

I have to keep the lane keeping turned off on my daily commute because I drive close to the white line due to the fact that the pavement in the normal tire tracks is worn really badly from people using studded tires. Even with lane keeping turned off, I still get the driver alerts from time to time, but not as often on my daily commute route. I'm not convinced lane placement is what triggers it. I almost think it is the feedback we are giving the steering wheel that triggers them.

 

Studded tires are evil, they chew up roads and really don't improve traction except on ice. On dry pavement they actually make traction worse. Even when I lived in Alaska (eight years), I never used studded tires (except on my bicycle).

Edited September 14, 2013 by MaineFusion

[acdii]

It is the steering wheel that determines the driver alert or lane keeping Get your hands on the wheel alert. It senses movement, and when it doesn't sense movement it triggers the alerts. I tested by keeping my hands extremely light on the wheel and sure enough triggered both within seconds.

[B25Nut]

The Driver Assist options would have put me over budget so I don't have them, but the reports of false alerts in some reviews, which I know would irritate me, are what put them at the bottom of my option priority list. Barsoom's description of his SoCal trip, however, reminds me of how Walt Disney envisioned future highway travel in an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney, and makes me wish I had picked ACC over Navigation. My wife wouldn't have been happy with that choice, however.

Edited September 15, 2013 by B25Nut

[dalesky]

I have to keep the lane keeping turned off on my daily commute because I drive close to the white line due to the fact that the pavement in the normal tire tracks is worn really badly from people using studded tires. Even with lane keeping turned off, I still get the driver alerts from time to time, but not as often on my daily commute route. I'm not convinced lane placement is what triggers it. I almost think it is the feedback we are giving the steering wheel that triggers them.

 

Studded tires are evil, they chew up roads and really don't improve traction except on ice. On dry pavement they actually make traction worse. Even when I lived in Alaska (eight years), I never used studded tires (except on my bicycle).

I am surprised to hear that studded tires are legal anywhere. I used them in the 70's when I had a big V8 Ford, and I could spin them at will on dry pavement. On ice and packed snow they were the bomb, but yes, they tore up roads, drives and were downright scary on very cold days. Some folks wouldn't let you drive on their driveway with them.

 

I love the lane keeping feature. During this trip to Florida I am using it often, and am impressed.

[MaineFusion]

It is the steering wheel that determines the driver alert or lane keeping Get your hands on the wheel alert. It senses movement, and when it doesn't sense movement it triggers the alerts. I tested by keeping my hands extremely light on the wheel and sure enough triggered both within seconds.

 

I tend to keep a light grip on the steering wheel by nature. I have full hold of it, just not tight. I also tend to rest my elbow on the window ledge of the door and my right leg. I don't think it is just a really light touch that triggers it because I can go days or weeks along my normal commute path without triggering an alert, but on other stretches of Interstate I can trigger them constantly. No difference in holding the wheel. I'm sure it has something to do with how the car "feels" vibration in the steering wheel, but however, it works, it isn't very good. I'd be tempted to turn it off if I could figure out how and if it didn't disable other systems.

 

To really work such a concept would really need biometric sensors in the steering wheel, and/or use camera's that "study the driver's eyes like other systems do.

[MaineFusion]

I am surprised to hear that studded tires are legal anywhere. I used them in the 70's when I had a big V8 Ford, and I could spin them at will on dry pavement. On ice and packed snow they were the bomb, but yes, they tore up roads, drives and were downright scary on very cold days. Some folks wouldn't let you drive on their driveway with them.

 

I love the lane keeping feature. During this trip to Florida I am using it often, and am impressed.

The first time lane keeping nudged me to the center of the lane I was like "did I really feel what I think I felt?" Then I tried to see what would happen if I drifted to the outside line on a curve and the car steered through the curve. I was like "whoa... that's cool!"

[murphy]

The first time lane keeping nudged me to the center of the lane I was like "did I really feel what I think I felt?" Then I tried to see what would happen if I drifted to the outside line on a curve and the car steered through the curve. I was like "whoa... that's cool!"

I tried that by taking my hands off of the wheel and it very quickly told me to put my hands back on the wheel.

[MaineFusion]

I tried that by taking my hands off of the wheel and it very quickly told me to put my hands back on the wheel.

I didn't take my hands off the wheel, but I did loosen my grip so that I could distinctly tell if the car was steering on its own.

[dalesky]

I didn't take my hands off the wheel, but I did loosen my grip so that I could distinctly tell if the car was steering on its own.

Yeah, no question that the wheel is assisted by the car. That's a feature of electric steering instead of physical. I can easily feel the pull of the steering, and it does tend to try to steer thru a curve. I have no idea how it knows if I am in the lane center, but I have noticed on a very narrow 2 lane road the lines stay white, instead of being green. A very cool feature.