Aftermarket Cruise Control Systems

DervMan · 2005-03-01T17:02:59+00:00

We're currently planning a road trip to Italy. :)But I sure as heck don't want to do it without some form of cruise control. But I need to balance spending over four hundred quid. :-/These basic crude mechanical systems will probably suffice, but I can only find one company that sell them - Conrad Anderson.For the electronic ones, we've Conrad Anderson, Howard May, Ultimate Design and Vehvac, and that appears to be it.That can't be it, surely... Anybody got any more ideas? Other than a brick, of course...

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Nom 21 years ago

Yes. And usually, I'll cruise along at 90mph ish in the outside lane, overtaking the traffic in the middle two lanes. I *regularly* have to move to the middle lane to let someone past me. It's very rare that the traffic is light enough to let me move to the middle or left lane, and still continue at

90mph. To put that another way - I always move left whenever I can, which usually means I spend 90% of the journey in the outside lane. I continually catch up other drivers in the outside lane, and have to slow until they let me past. etc. Unless the motorway is empty (ie, only at illegal-o-clock when I'm in bed), I can't see how Cruise is gonna work...

Um ? How would cruise help me with my variable-speed-driving ? :)

Wa ?

I thought you were PRO-cruise ?

! I'd never actually thought about it like that !

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Alistair J Murray 21 years ago

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Try it and find out :)

You'll be pleasantly surprised how rarely it's necessary if you choose the right cruise speed...

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Steve Firth 21 years ago

No, and mostly I stick to lane 1 on the motorway. OTOH I do make use of both forward vision and my mirrors while driving.

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Alistair J Murray 21 years ago

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I think those are "buy one get one free" rather than "today only!" ;)

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DervMan 21 years ago

You're right, see later! :p

Spot on.

Yes, but only if you're gonna cruise anyway! Varying from 70 to 90 to 70 isn't going to work...

Hehehe! Cruise control will only work if you set it to a speed that's compatible with the road concerned.

It ain't gonna work if you slap 90 on and it's a busy motorway. But it works _much_ better if you slap 70 on...

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Questions 21 years ago

No. I must admit I didn't see a point until I got CC.

The automatic throttle control you develop on the motorway to maintain your cruising speed works just fine, but does also mean you hold your right foot in a particular position, with the muscles tensed for hours at a time.

Where CC comes in handy, you can do the same thing with a lot more consistency without having to keep your foot in use and you have the option to regulate your speed in any gear to any speed, as well, while the trained foot works reliably, generally, only in top at one speed.

The "downside", that you can't react to conditions and must overtake too slowly, isn't really an issue in practice. To speed up and overtake, you just push your foot down on the throttle. Then you take it off again to let the CC take over again. To slow down, you brake or merely "pause" the CC and let the engine do it. Then when you are done with that, you "resume" and it goes back up to the speed you had dialled in.

There is *one* direct safety issue. If you have a stroke or whatever, and stop controlling the car, without CC you would find the car slowed naturally down and, when it started bouncing off crash barriers, it would probably be at a slower speed.

Yeah, do that. It's a handy tool IME, although not vital.

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Tim.. (Remove Safetycatch) 21 years ago

What is VMax of the Endura E Ka? An indicated 90 two up on the level seems surprisingly easy..

Tim.. ( '52 Collection)

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DervMan 21 years ago

You've summarised it up very well. I've no _need_ for cruise control, but the last time I did over two thousand miles in a week, I had a bit of an ache in my right leg for three or four days afterwards. We want to do some hiking in Italy... A sore foot would curtail my pace a little.

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DervMan 21 years ago

" Tim.. (Remove Safetycatch)" wrote in message news:d0chjr$oad$ snipped-for-privacy@hercules.btinternet.com...

According to Ford, for the Endura-E engine it's 96 mph and for the 1.3 Duratec 8v it's 104 mph.

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Dave Plowman (News) 21 years ago

Is one a factory extra? If so a scrappie might be the best bet.

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Dave Plowman (News) 21 years ago

Both mine allow you to increase the speed to overtake - by just pressing on the pedal - and will resume the pre-set speed when you release it. Only braking causes it to cut out until you press the resume button.

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