Do you use Cruise Control?

[Vegard]

Oh, thanks for clearing that up. I always thought that Scandivians are better drivers. Isn't it so that you have to learn car control when you want to get your driving licenses?

In Norway, when I took my license, there was only one mandatory session on a skid pad - not exactly a rally school.

I don't get it. If you use Cruise Control, you can't put your foot on the throttle/brake pedal because it will turn off Cruise Control. Right? Or not?

That varies from car to car. My VW Passat cancels cruise control when I shift gear, apply the brakes or use the accelerator (manual transmission). On the Mercedes W211 I recently drove you could apply throttle and use the manual function on the auto 'box without cancelling it.

*kikie runs off to buy a new car with Cruise control because still needs to learn a lot about driving a car propely*

I'm sure you know how to drive a car properly but like other technology, cruise control takes getting used to.

Cruise control? Love the concept, although with beltway traffic adaptive cruise would've been good. When I use it I always have to go on and off because people pull out or don't manage to hold their speed in hilly sections..

You have to use it actively a lot of the time, like I learned when driving Bergen - Tromsø - Bergen recently. There were plenty of slow moving, obliviously self absorbed mobile home and caravan towing drivers around

 

[Wolfe]

I remember that. But you also said that you use Cruise Control because your heels hurt when driving long distances. So, covering the brake pedal with your foot, you still have to put your heel on the floor of the car. Doesn't that give you problems with your heel? Covering your brake pedal, isn't that equally tiresome for your leg and foot as keeping your foot on the throttle?

That was @R1600Turbo.

I only cover the brake pedal when keeping an eye out for deer, sometimes. Other times, I don't necessarily pull my leg away from the pedals -- I might just lean my foot on the transmission tunnel -- but even if I do, the amount of time it takes to get to the brake pedal is practically the same as lifting my foot from the throttle pedal.

I think your concerns about cruise control could be valid for an inexperienced driver or someone learning to drive, but with experience, it only takes an instant to find the brake pedal, and appropriate alertness should be a well-practiced habit.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Yeah my heals hurt if they sit in one place for too long. I do also cover the brake pedal if I feel like I'm in a situation where I might need to mash it for some reason though.

 

[eiriksmil]

Yup, for sure you are ready to brake down hard or just turn off cruise if something's up ahead.

Today (or was it yesterday) I came to think of this thread as I was coasting down a hill in low gear I'm the city at a slow speed, feet resting on the floor.. No cruise control.. And no difference to feet on the floor with cruise on at legal highway speeds on a clear, wide highway.

@kikie you should drive a car with cruise control and overcome your fears..

 

[Legro]

I chose 'only on highways' although that's not entirely the case, as I do also use it on other roads of the same long and quite straight higher speed nature, and don't use it when there's more traffic relentlessly changing speed by accelerating and then pressing the brakes.

Perhaps I should change it to 'whenever I can'.

If so, you can't hold your foot nowhere near the pedals. Right? So, as I see it, you bend your right leg to keep your foot away from the throttle, which means that in an emergency, it takes a fraction longer to get your foot on the brake pedal, which means a longer distance to stop the car.

Not completely true. At least the way I'm keeping my right foot while using cruise control, which is under the brake pedal with the leg resting against the centre console, it doesn't really any more time to get the foot on the brake than when I'm trying to keep my usual 125 km/h motorway speed with it.

 

[kikie]

@kikie you should drive a car with cruise control and overcome your fears..

I have no fears. I have anxiety.

It's absolutely not a question of fear, my car just isn't equiped with Cruise Control. It's was one of the few options available for my car. I don't need Cruise Control because I have a lot of discipline and I always try to drive within the speed limit. I'm just not interested in Cruise Control, just as I'm definitely not interested in an automatic, whatever the technology is (double clutch, classice automatic, 5-speed gearbox with a robotized clutch like in my Fiat 500 twin air, sequential single clutch, etc ....).
Fiat 500, BMW 3-series, Porsche 991 GTS, Alfa Romeo 4C, all automatics that I drove and not one of them could please me at all.