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Experience with cruise control & longest distance covered using it

11th August 2024, 11:32 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

My Tata Harrier returns phenomenal fuel efficiency with the cruise control on. On one expressway, I was able to cruise for almost 50 minutes and covered around 80 km.

BHPian Raghuwire recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

In 2016 when I was in the US for a few months, I got to drive the New Nissan Ultima and the super sexy Mazda 3. This was the first time I was driving a car which is bigger or had more features than the humble Hyundai I10. The feature that stood out the most for me was the Cruise Control. Used it extensively as I had no intentions of paying the heavy over-speeding tickets in the US.

Back in India, I always wondered when will I get the opportunity to own a car with Cruise control. In 2021 post the second wave of Covid, I bought Harrier XZ+ in Orcus white. Out of the long list of new features in the car, I was very excited to try out cruise control in India.

But my joy was short-lived as cruise control was almost useless. I could hardly use it for 2 minutes before braking out of it.

Reasons for lack of usability of Cruise mode which I could list out

Traffic
Slow moving vehicles blocking all lanes
Sudden lane merges
2/3/4/6/8/12/14 wheelers all sharing the same roads
Sheer lack of discipline in personal 2/4 vehicles, who don't shy away from switching lanes right in front of you and braking/slowing immediately.

It took a lot of deliberation, tries, usage and effort and finally from the last 2 years I can confidently say that I am super confident and use cruise mode almost every day.

Longest I have used Cruise Control:

For the purpose of this post, I will use Longest/Continous cruise mode to mean no use of any of the pedals, no change in set speed and no deactivation of cruise mode.

Bangalore to Goa- Post Tumkur/Sira - Set speed-101 - Cruised for around 45 mins - 1 hour. This is around 80-100km in cruise mode. On multiple occasions on this route, I have had 50-60kms on cruise mode continuously.
Mysore to Bangalore (2024 June)- Set speed - 98 - After the Expressway toll was able to cruise for almost 50 mins. This would again mean around 80 KMs on cruise.
Nice Road Bangalore - Set speed - 75 to 82 - My daily commute includes 20kms on Nice road in the morning & evening. From Electronic city entry to Mysore road Exit, I usually get in around 5-6kms of continuous cruise.
Bangalore to Vellore road - Set speed - 75 to 80 - Two weeks back on my visit near to Yelagiri Hills - I got in around 60-70 kms of cruise mode in around 3 bursts. (Speed was lower as was carrying 3 cycles on the rear with a cycle stand)

Other good roads for cruise mode near Bangalore -

Bangalore Airport rides, we can easily get 15-20kms on the trot.
Bangalore to Hyderabad I have got around 40-50 KMs on cruise.

Advantages of Cruise mode:

Mileage: The mileage I get with cruise is phenomenal. With a daily commute of 80 Kms I am able to eke out around 19+ KMPL (tank full method) in Harrier with AC. Considering half of this is in peak BLR traffic and the other half is on four lane NICE road, it is really good. (I used to average 14-15KMPL earlier) On most days I am able to cover 22 kms on NICE road with only 1 or 2 usages of brake (Without using the shoulder). (BHPians if you see a White Harrier lumbering down the NICE road on weekdays at 80 with a KA51 registration, it's probably me, please do wave out )

Today's Mileage is at 19.6, Cruise set at 80KMPH, NO usage of brake from E city to Mysore road, in 40% of tank capacity I have covered 400KMs

Safety: Many times I have realized that, when you are speaking with the passengers or when you are just concentrating on the road, you lose track of how fast you are going. On Expressways, going at 120KMPH can seem like 80. Cruise ensures the perfect speed at all times.
Avoiding fines: With many of the roads now being equipped with smart/AI-based traffic cameras, it's never a good idea to be over the speed limit. Many of my contacts have been hit by huge fines on the Bangalore Mysore expressway.
Comfort: Driving is jerk-free, smooth and comfortable, which the passengers of the car will love. For me getting a good drive approval from Wifey after any drive is the ultimate prize and certificate. She absolutely hates jerks/speeding and racing/tiffs with any other vehicle on the road. Cruise mode definitely helps me with that.

Disadvantages of Cruise mode:

Takes time to get used to: Cruise in India takes time to get used to, the feeling of deceleration when there is an upward climb, is replaced with an accelerating feeling. Controlling with buttons instead of pedals is discomforting at the start.
Delay in getting out of Cruise: sometimes, the need to continue in cruise mode instead of taking proactive action leads to sudden braking, (Adaptive CC takes care of this, but I have not used it).
Bullies on the road: Driving at a set speed means, driving slower. Bullies and rash drivers will overtake from any side, and sometimes it can get dangerous (Routinely face this from the shoulder riders on NICE). Driving a burly SUV does help out though!
Distraction?: Without active control, there is some possibility of distraction, but. But I have not faced this.

Tips to improve usage of Cruise control

Know the bottlenecks: Knowing intersections, routes helps us in anticipating and probably reducing the set speed to prevent braking or unsafe conditions. This also will help you plan which stretches are best for uninterrupted Cruise mode.
Predict traffic / advance lane switching: When on highways, it helps if we proactively switch lanes so that we don't move into lanes of faster vehicles. Hence preventing any last-moment deactivation of cruise.
Perfect speed setpoint for the roads: The speed selection should be such that it should be more than the slow-moving commercial vehicles, but less than the faster-moving PVs. Example: On NICE, the empty trucks move between 70-80KMPH, so a setpoint of 81-83 will help you quickly and predictably overtake the trucks. On NH I prefer a set speed of 100-105 so that I am slower than most cars, but faster than all CVs. In Cities, I prefer to use a set speed of 50.

So, dear BHPians, I would love to know what is your experience with Cruise control and what is the longest you have used it.

Here's what BHPian sunilonwheels had to say about the matter:

Delhi to Sawai Madhopur via the expressway. Used for about 3.5 hours at a stretch. Set the speed to 118 and the speed guns always showed 120 as my speed in my Scorpio N 4x4.

Here's what BHPian warp_10 had to say about the matter:

Adding to it:
Cruise control removes the fun out of driving and the throttle or turbo kick that the engine shows gets to overtake the next lane.
Scary with Indian highways with pedestrians, dogs or animals trying to sneak in all of a sudden, requiring your foot on the pedal anyway.
Sedate driving with cruise is fine in parts, I usually use it in the straight stretch between Vellore and Ambur NH where it's not that busy.

Here's what BHPian 1.2TSI7DSG had to say about the matter:

The longest I have used is ~400 kms on the Samruddhi E Way (not including the breaks @200 kms we took).
Speed set was ~105 kmph, and had absolutely no deactivation in between. I was placed in the second lane which allowed faster cars to fly without breaking my rhythm. Any slower car was either flashed to give way or I moved to the right lane.
In case I deactivated, I usually resumed it after the obstacle/overtake. Even to overtake, I used the +/- buttons to adjust speed.

Here's what BHPian scala26 had to say about the matter:

I have tried it multiple times in Skoda Kushaq. The longest ones are as follows:
Ambala to Kotputli on Trans Haryana Expressway (cruise at 99 km/h)
Khalilpur to Gurgaon on Delhi Mumbai Expressway (cruise at 119 km/h)
Greater Noida to Chitrakoot on Yamuna Expressway, Agra Lucknow Expressway and Bundelkhand Expressway (cruise at 99 km/h)
Trip summary for my Chandigarh to Chitrakoot drive: