Team-BHP - Cruise Control in India

Voted yes.

Definitely useful. Not only it greatly reduces driving stress, but it also helps consume less fuel. Correct me if I am wrong here, but I feel since the throttle position is electronically controlled it reduces fuel consumption and thereby reducing the emissions too. Only downside I see is we have to constantly re-engage the cruise, as frequent braking is needed under normal highway conditions here in India.

Voted Useful -

I extensively use it while driving Mumbai - Goa - Mumbai. I set it on certain speed suitable for that particular patch of the highway. Since this is India, we all types of charterers slowing us down frequently. The lane cutters to heavy vehicles driving in right most lane.

The 'RESUME' function is very helpful to get back to the cruising speed after slowing down. This one function I miss while driving cars without the CC,

I voted Useful. I travel every weekend from Trivandrum to Ranny - close to 130 kms. I mostly drive at night to avoid traffic and man did i wish i had cruise control in my old Verna. I use SH 1 route 90% duration with 80 km/h speed limit. I've had eight 400 rupee chalans with majority of them unknowingly. With B segment and above cars you won't realise gaining speed without checking speedo frequently.

Now that I am using Alto 800 i can maintain 80 easily because at that speed I'm really pushing the car. Alto being very basic with high NVH levels, judging speed is easier. But still I wish even alto had a budget cruise control to keep it at 79 km/h.

I believe the poll should have had a third option - Not Required. A feature is worth only if there is an infrastructure to use it. That said, roads are improving in India and access controlled/toll highways are becoming the norm. For e.g., once the new ~1200 Km New Delhi-Mumbai expressway is completed to specs, driving a vehicle with cruise control would be desirable.

Additionally, how much does it cost to include cruise control? Here in the US, pretty much its a standard feature.

Voted a Firm YES.
Never even though about using it in any of the previous cars, not that any had them stupid:.
However, ever since the XUV 3OO was bought, Cruise Control has been one of the most used features.
With just a click of a button on the Steering Wheel, it is switched On and Off. All the controls are on the Steering itself which means you don't have to take off your hands. Besides, since the car is an Auto, I don't even have to change gears.

And for long drives, it is really a big boon. Just flick the button after hitting brakes and the car automatically hits and maintains the speed.

And now Google Maps has started warning about speed limits on major roads. Which means I can simply use the provided buttons on the steering to increase and decrease the vehicle speed.

Even though a hardcore petrolhead will curse me, but these small conveniences make way for a much more enjoyable and stress-free drive, no matter the distance.

Although, my next car needs to have the Adaptive Cruise Control which is even better for lazy people like me lol:
Cheers

Voted for Useless as I have never been able to sustain beyond a minute. Some of the reasons:
-I don't hit the highways often.
-Poor lane discipline.
-Rather than freezing on to kmph, I observed that it locks on to the RPM. This is a bit scary when the car has to pass through even a minor downward slope. i.e. Speed increases.

The only time when I find it to be useful - when I feel like scratching my leg, but don't want to lose on the momentum :D

I have voted this as useful. Cruise control is very useful on expressways like Noida expressway or the empty stretches of highways where traffic is very less. If you follow the speed limit and stick to your lane, then CC is extremely useful. I have seen someone driving using the CC very heavily to accelerate and deaccelerate. Normally, the tendency is to floor the pedal when the road is empty and thus people miss out the usefulness of CC. The only caution is that you have to be doubly alert as using CC makes one little relaxed. Also using CC, i have got higher mileage than without.

I personally feel this feature does not add as much value to a prospective Indian car buyer (me being one right now) and hence voted Useless. There are multiple reasons like:

1. Majority of Indian car buyers are city commuters (~60% and above) who do not get to use the feature as much
2. The ones who do regular highway trips usually have a chauffeur and most drivers are either unaware of the technology or do not prefer letting the machine take control (makes them more lethargic probably)
3. Varying speed limits on the National & State Highways (60KMPH to 120KMPH) within short stretches does not allow you to lock the speeds for cruising
4. Prolonged driving habits where we are used to the A pedal so much that it takes a lot of conscious effort to get used to Cruise option

Not only the Cruise control, there are a lot of other unnecessary equipment that the car manufacturers offer now-a-days which a native Indian car user does not really need vis-a-vis, automatic rain sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, sun-roof (don't bury me for this) etc. Instead, I'd ask the manufacturers to give us more BHP, more Torque, better sheet metal on all cars and better safety equipment (EBD, ESP, ISOFix mounts) etc.

Regards,
Vinay

The features like cruise control, rain sensing Wiper and auto headlamps will help with road safety and thus we could get more BHP.

The cruise control can be set in at 60 kmph and easy to use so not a hindrance. With the covid situation I expect more people doing road trips as they would want to avoid the public transport.

Voted : Not Useful.

I have tried it in Europe on a Citroen C4 and in India on a City. Even in relatively sparse traffic, I find myself calculating too many variables that might go wrong which unnerves me.
Also, sometimes on arrow straight highways I get bored doing constant speeds so like to keep varying it.

Voted 'useful' but with caveats.
I find cruise control pretty useful in empty stretches of highways on long trips. I use cruise control about once in a month. Else, I don't use it much. Also, I never like cruise control with a manual transmission.

I've personally not used cruise control in India, but I'm sure there are a lot of highways where one can use it. Examples I can think of are travel on stretches of the GQ from Bangalore-Hubli(and maybe beyond) and Bangalore-Chennai during early mornings. Bangalore-Mysore highway is the example of a road in which cruise control is useless.

Regardless of what this survey indicates, as a manufacturer I will not let this data from a few enthusiasts (some of them do extremely long road trips) influence my decision in adding cruise control to a car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anjan_73 (Post 4817666)

Not to get off topic, we need better law enforcement and stricter licensing tests to improve road safety.