But that is exactly what the cruise control DOES do.

What it doesn't do is allow a build up of speed going down hill to gain momentum to get up the next one. This is especially so on a DSG where it will change down the gears to increase engine braking to maintain the set speed going down hills. When I see that situation develop I just flick off the cruise and resume as soon as the speed drops back to the set point on the up-gradient.

Yep! Me for one

Now with ours its not strickly true, I use CR in 30 mph situations and whilst going down hills you feel it breaking, it sometimes goes anything up to 45 mph if i let it.

I'm laughing reading this thread. Of course a car CAN be driven with better economy without using cruise control, but is clear some of the posters are unable or find it too hard to achieve better results with their driving! Well if YOU can't beat what cruise control offers in term of economy I guess using cruise is YOUR best bet. If you have the driving skills that allow you to get better economy than cruise control then drive the car with your foot (actually its your head doing most of the work!)

Of course you can do the same as cruise manually, but only if you have the time & can be bothered to drive for 6 hours constantly trying your hardest to maintain a constant speed, if this is your bag then good luck to you. What's the point when Cruise will do the job for you & a better one at that.

I "nick" in & out of cruise control as appropriate.

I would really miss not having cruise control.

I also appreciate that it is not the most economical in all situations.......... simply because it cannot plan ahead....... like any reasonable driver will do.

The words "reasonable driver" however apparently exclude many of the road using community.

This is merely my perception, of 35 years, you understand.

Pity my boots are not as shiny as my Halo.

Monkster, could you please give us some tips on how to drive properly? It would be extremely useful .... Thanks. Adrian

I drove to Lincoln last night, 5 up from sunny Doncaster. My fuel consumption showed as 64 mpg, I know that the computer is a bit optimistic but it is all about having a smooth driving stlye, that is looking further ahead to avoid having to brake then speed up again, also shutting off earlier instead of keeping the power on then having to brake helps enormously. I recently showed my daughter how to drive properly and she now gets 8 to 10 mpg more out of her car. No, I'm not a slow coach, I'm an ex traffic cop retired (Sorry) so I do know how to drive.It also makes for a much smoother ride for yer passengers. Monkster.

Monkster, could you please give us some tips on how to drive properly? It would be extremely useful .... Thanks. Adrian

Have a look in the Advanced Driving section on here. You should hopefully find some bits of interest

http://briskoda.net/...ing-techniques/

These two sites might also be of interest...

http://www.advanced-driving.co.uk/

http://www.hpc.org.uk/

Interesting replies to my original post. I'm satisfied that I can get the improved mpg ,not using cruise, under the circumstances I described. ~54mpg is better than ~48mpg.I do appreciate cruise control to keep my speed down for legal purposes and on long autoroute runs.

I did attend a speed awareness course last year because I took manual control on the M6. That cost me £70.

Edited 22 February, 201115 yr by gregoir

Agreed. It's a good tool to have.

But personally, I don't use it with the primary aim of saving fuel really. But it does help me conserve fuel, in the sense that I'm not as tempted to over-ride it and go into hyper-drive