Cruise Control V's Fuel Economy

[Lenny HB]

Mpg can be affected by the slightest thing, when we travel north to Cumbria we get better fuel economy than the return journey, probably because of the wind direction!

Alway do better going south in France - going south must be downhill all the way.

 

[androidGB]

Alway do better going south in France - going south must be downhill all the way.

Must be because you're rushing to get back home

Andrew

 

[Reallyretired]

Agree with others that the most useful is the speed limiter as on the Mercedes, ensures that you don't speed, especially in those tricky 20kph limits when you are at a snails pace. The speed limiter uses less fuel than cruise as it allows slowing on inclines, but doesn't save your right ankle the way CC does.

 

[Zigisla]

Agree with others that the most useful is the speed limiter as on the Mercedes, ensures that you don't speed, especially in those tricky 20kph limits when you are at a snails pace. The speed limiter uses less fuel than cruise as it allows slowing on inclines, but doesn't save your right ankle the way CC does.

Never used the speed limiter side of the system yet. May look into this. Is it an auto system like CC or do you manually drive but just not allowed to speed

 

[Reallyretired]

Never used the speed limiter side of the system yet. May look into this. Is it an auto system like CC or do you manually drive but just not allowed to speed

Just drive normally but it won't let you exceed the set speed. It doesn't operate the brakes so you can still go too fast down a steep hill.Flicking the stalk up and down increases/decreases the set speed by 10kph/mph depending on how the display is set. I always have the digital speedo set to kph as the analogue dial is only in mph. The vast majority of my mileage is abroad.

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[Baldeagle7470]

Probably cos going north it's uphill all the way

Mpg can be affected by the slightest thing, when we travel north to Cumbria we get better fuel economy than the return journey, probably because of the wind direction!

 

[DL42846]

I have a cruise control on my Sprinter work van. I average just over a hundred thousand kilometers a year. I use it extensively on motorways where you can set the control then concentrate on the road and not have to worry about your speed. Also great for driving around the peripherique in Paris when you set the maximum speed on the CC. And also when driving on the outskirts of towns in 50 mph zones.
I haven't noticed any difference in fuel consumption. In heavy traffic it can be difficult and annoying to set the speed to go with the flow of the traffic as not everyone has CC and there speed is up and down. If I was doing a lot of motorway driving I would invest in a CC, but as I do not intend on doing much motorway driving in the Motorhome ( Works out expensive on the toll roads here in France) I would not bother with a CC. Also where the roads are heavily congested like the UK I would think twice about it. Would depend on the cost of the installation. At the time the CC was a two thousand Euro option on the Sprinter, no way would I pay that, If it was a few hundred then I might consider it.

 

[Steve N Tracy]

There are a few threads on here about cruise control and should I fit it etc. Many of the replies are positive and I have CC also. I am not a fan of CC because of my belief over how much it decreases fuel economy and with such a poor return already, I don't want to drop it even further.
So my question is; Am I right to think it will decrease significantly so continue driving manually, or not that much or not at all, or just man up and lump the loss for the ease of driving? - until you get to yet another UK hilly motorway or the A34
All replies from noncombatants welcome as always.

Having driven the A34 twice once without using cruise control and once using it it was slightly more economical using it I did not even bother changing out of 6th gear to take the hill heading south after the Chiveley services.

 

[androidGB]

I have a cruise control on my Sprinter work van. I average just over a hundred thousand kilometers a year. I use it extensively on motorways where you can set the control then concentrate on the road and not have to worry about your speed. Also great for driving around the peripherique in Paris when you set the maximum speed on the CC. And also when driving on the outskirts of towns in 50 mph zones.
I haven't noticed any difference in fuel consumption. In heavy traffic it can be difficult and annoying to set the speed to go with the flow of the traffic as not everyone has CC and there speed is up and down. If I was doing a lot of motorway driving I would invest in a CC, but as I do not intend on doing much motorway driving in the Motorhome ( Works out expensive on the toll roads here in France) I would not bother with a CC. Also where the roads are heavily congested like the UK I would think twice about it. Would depend on the cost of the installation. At the time the CC was a two thousand Euro option on the Sprinter, no way would I pay that, If it was a few hundred then I might consider it.

I just paid £293 to have a genuine MB cruise control fitted. Well worth it in my opinion.

Andrew

 

[two]

Just drive normally but it won't let you exceed the set speed. It doesn't operate the brakes so you can still go too fast down a steep hill.Flicking the stalk up and down increases/decreases the set speed by 10kph/mph depending on how the display is set. I always have the digital speedo set to kph as the analogue dial is only in mph. The vast majority of my mileage is abroad.

Which speed limiter do you have, Reallyretired? It sounds rather better than mine.

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[pappajohn]

As Jim said, aggressive cruise is a thirsty cruise.
My previous rv would sit at 55mph and 2000rpm on the level.
Come to a slight incline and lose a couple of mph and the cruise was determined to get back to 55mph.
Out of overdrive and down one gear resulted in 55mph at 4000rpm in 3rd gear.
A 2000rpm difference on a 6.8ltr petrol engine makes a world of misery at the pumps

 

[Reallyretired]

Which speed limiter do you have, Reallyretired? It sounds rather better than mine.

The standard one that comes with the merc base. The control is on the cruise control stalk, the little one on the left, if you push the end it changes from cruise control to limiter, a little amber LED comes on the stalk and the dashboard display reads what its set to, initially the speed you're doing at the time.

 

[two]

That's the one I have, except that it moves in steps of 5mph, rather than 10. As speed limits are more commonly in increments of 10, I've always thought that the 'big' step should be 10 also.
I'm also unaware how to switch from mph to kph.