Grrrrr! Cruise control....MPG wrecker

[Gogogordy]

Just finished a 3800 mile RT San Diego CA to St Robert Mo and back.

Hate todays digital cruise control....no longer a set-it, forget-it proposition....at least if fuel economy is on your agenda as well as comfort.

The problem with today's "digitally" controlled cruise control is this:

Unless youre travelling on perfect flat roadways without any overpasses, or undulations for terrain, the cruise control forces the AT into passing gear at the slightest hint of incline, in order to stay at the set speed without any variance.

The passing gear surge essentially shoots your MPG squarely in the keister, and not in a small way.

During the trip I eventually got to the point where I'd disentage the CC in advnace of any slight incline and manually control the throttle to keep the engine RPMs constant even if my speed did drop 1or 2 MPH while ramping up.

Thats all fine, but in practice it becomes more work than driving without using CC. In past years (well for us OLDER folks anyway!) the cruise control provided both a quiet, and "nearly" constant speed ride, while delivering the best possible fuel economy possible. Neither of those former benefits apply in todays digital, drive-by-wire vehicles.

The digital nature of these things makes the cruise control strive for an all-or-nothing operation, without any of the finesse possible by human (analog) or old-school (also analog) cruise control systems. Thats the shortcoming and thats why modern cruise control technology is more a marketing point anymore, than a viable feature for anything but mindless, and fuel-thirstier driving. A shame.

If anyone, including the Hypermilers reading this have any further suggestions or workarounds for this, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, I'll consider cruise control a semi useless option on an otherwise great vehicle.