IS DRIVING WITH THE CRUISE CONTROL GOOD FOR YOUR ENGINE , TRANSMISSION,
I HEARD THAT IT WAstes more gas when you drive with cruise control

would driving with cruise control effect transmission life?

thanks all

 

I dont think that cruise control would hurt anything....... but I am also not a car expert

 

Jesus man, who are you listening to? I'm glad you asked that question here so someone could fill you in.

1. CC uses *LESS* gas. Why? because the car is maintaining a constant speed, not slowing down and speeding up, slowing down, speeding up. Unnecessary acceleration = wasted gas.

2. CC does not affect the life of your transmission, for pretty much the same reason as #1... less stress on the drivetrain because you're maintaining a constant speed.

Look at it this way: all CC does is control the throttle with vacuum lines. If it senses that the car is speeding up, it lets off the throttle. If it senses that the car is slowing down, it gives it a *little* more throttle to maintain the set speed.

What's bad for your engine/transmission? Drag racing, power braking, 5000 RPM clutch drops, driving with no coolant or oil, switching to reverse when you're moving forward at 50 mph, etc...

 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH , NOW I THINK I AM GOING TO BE CRUSING ALOT MORE, SORRY FOR WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOUR CAR, WHAT DID THEY STEEL WHEN THEY BROKE IN

 

Actually I don't know if that's true. In those competitions that they have for the most fuel efficient vehicles, the technique they always use is to speed all the way up and then let the car coast down to almost nothing, then accelerate again. I'm not sure that that would apply to a car on the road where you're a.) not going to shut off the engine while you coast and b.) not going to coast down to almost nothing...but I just thought I'd mention it.

 

95se: he (or they) took everything ov value except my Passport 9500 and my G-Tech... they didn't bother to look in the armrest console.

endus: That may work for a professional driver in a vehicle made for a fuel economy competition, but for an every day Joe Lead-Foot in a Maxima... I dunno.

 

yeah, only experience driver can do that, not need to be a special vehicle. just coast up a little and let off a little is what I heard. but the point is, you don't want to do that for couple hours when going to a road trip.

 

who told you that

 

Driving with cruise control is one of the best things you can do for your car (on the highway). It definetly uses far less gas (I get like 33mpg at 70mph even after 154k miles!). Running at a constant speed is also very good for an engine. In addition, using cruise control DOES extend the life of your automatic transmission in highway driving because as you are moving at a constant speed, there is no need to shift and therefore less wear on the tranny (assuming that the highway is well engineered and has no steep grades). I've been in the car with some people that are constantly speeding up & slowing down, and shifting between 4th to 3rd (to accel) and back to 4th again on the highway.

In addition it's just plain obnoxious to other drivers to speed up & slow down all the time.

That's my $0.02, enjoy your Max!

___________
96 GXE Auto

 

What about highway driving using the accel/decel buttons regularly instead of turning it off and using the gas pedal? Will the cc system wear out prematurely if you use the accel/decel buttons a lot?

 

I'm not sure about the Maxima (I've never done this), but some cars will literally go to WOT to accelerate if you hold ACCEL too long (more than 5mph worth) or if you press resume at a far lower speed than where you initially set it. COAST/ACCEL is really meant to adjust your speed + or - a few MPH to stay with the flow of traffic. If it's a big difference, then I use the gas-pedal/brakes and reset it.

I knew a guy who used to hit resume when leaving a tollbooth. His car (not a Max) didn't like that. I accelerate back to the speed I had and then hit resume when I'm within 5mph.

I really like the CANCEL button on the Max, on other cars you have to turn the whole thing off or tap the brake lighly to disconnect.