Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Does cruise control use up more fuel?

With the fuel prices going north, Manu started conserving more fuel and energy, by adhering to some standards what car owners should follow. Like, using less of AC, putting fewer brakes and driving in speed limit when inside the city to avoid brakes and successive acceleration.

Few days back when going to Jersey for the weekend, I was driving in my new Camry with cruise control on and suddenly she said drive manually, and don't use CC. I was surprised why she is saying that. As far as I knew, car's with constant speed gives you more mileage. But, she was adamant on her finding, when she heard the same on radio. I was pissed of with her constant nagging, asked her to sleep so that I can put on the CC mode.

Well, after reaching home, the first thing I searched was "Does cruise control use up more fuel?" and I found the following from Yahoo! Answers.

It saves you fuel no matter where you drive, for the simple reason that no person on the planet can maintain an exact speed as accurately as a cruise control. If you want proof, set it on 65 and drive down the flattest stretch of road you can find. You will be able to spot the people without cruise control because they will constantly be varying their speed, catching up to you, passing you, and falling behind you no matter how hard they try. If you disengage your cruise control, you will not be able to maintain a constant speed to within a half a mile an hour. A cruise control monitors your speed thousands and thousands of times a minute, and makes almost imperceptible changes to the throttle, giving the engine only the fuel it needs to maintain a speed. It does not get tired; it does not get fatigued, distracted, or fooled by hills or headwinds. In contrast, every time you slow down even a couple of miles an hour, it takes more fuel to return to your desired speed than it takes for the cruise control to precisely maintain it.

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