Fuel Economy Tip - Selectively Use Cruise Control
May 11th, 2006 | by Brian Carr |Today’s tip will help you decide how and when to use your cruise control to help you save gas and increase your vehicle’s fuel economy.
Use your cruise control selectively
Using your cruise control will help you increase your car’s gas mileage because it will help you maintain speed (hopefully you’ll be maintaining the speed limit) and will help with smooth accelerations when you use the “resume” function.
That being said, here is when you SHOULD use cruise control:
- Driving on the highway
- Driving on relatively flat terrain
All of that being said, there are ways using cruise control can actually reduce your vehicle’s gas mileage. When driving on hilly roads, using cruise control may cause your engine to “race” to maintain speed, meaning the engine will reach higher RPMs under cruise control than if you were controlling the acceleration on your own.
So, here’s when you SHOULD NOT use cruise control:
- Driving in stop and go traffic
- Driving on hilly roads
While having cruise control is a nice luxury to have, especially on long road trips, if you’re not careful how you use it, it may end up costing you a bit of gas.
