Let the opinions commence...

[Holden]

My daily commute consist heavily of motorways, i have never driven fast in fact, love seeing my fuel gage static instead of dropping minute after minute... I have only ever had 1 car with cruise control before and to be fair, used it a lot! Set at 65/70 and bosh away i go... what i thought as a fuel saving exorcise...

But...

Now I'm going to own a car not only cruise control but with a speed limiter... now heres my theory!

Cruise control is actually pretty poor at fuel consumption, example... Driving normally burns fuel, going down a hill lets off the throttle, saves fuel but going up a hill drives the car to the desired speed (burning fuel)

Speed limiter should be better on fuel, example... Driving normally saves fuel as can be driving below the set speed, going down a hill saves fuel as you cant go faster than set speed if anything slower, going up a hill you can manage your own speed and amount of throttle applied...

So there are my thoughts... any of your thoughts? evidence??

Chris :confused:

[Highdigi]

I too challenge my fuel consumption on my commute to work and the majority of the journey is on A roads. I have found using the cruise control in fact results in better fuel consumption as he car is kept at a steady constant speed which is difficult to adhere to when driving without cruise control. At a steady 50 miles per hour I can return on average 70mpg but have reached on occasions 76.8Mpg

[Holden]

With a speed limiter you too can manage a steady speed, if you set it at 50mph you can stay at that speed with you throttle fully down (before the click) and your car will not go any faster, in fact can only go slower... saving fuel??

[CliveP]

I like trying to see what the best and worst mpg I can get is! Whilst the highest mpg has been reasonable, I find it too boring! 12 hours plus in the office everyday doing what I love best, a bit of business, is made even more enjoyable with spirited driving each end of the day.

Spirited driving, throwing it round bends, enjoying it (isn't that what dirving is all about? Work too hard to worry about mpg!) - I use cruise control hardly ever, just too boring for me, prefer to have complete control. By the way I restrict my spirited driving to where it's safe..

It has another benefit, it means it cakes my car up ready for the next detail each weekend and tests all my detailing products

Regards,
Clive.

[Holden]

Very very true Clive,

I'm lucky I have a superbike for my 'spirited' ride/drive I mean 180bhp on tap with a machine weighing no more than 200kg is enough fun for me, my car is a pure mode of transport and having never owned a car which such means of eco driving I thought it be interesting to find out which was the preferred choice

At the end of the day you don't buy a 90/110/115 diesel for its blistering speed?? just an interesting thought...

[iceward]

Surely if you wanted purely fuel economy you would have gone for a hybrid or some such devil spawn. I bought my DS3 because I thought it looked like the best car out there (within reason), fuel economy was secondary. The fact I got the diesel was more down to recommendations than anything else.

However, although I have used both the limiter and the cruise control, I find neither to be of great use. On long motorway journeys where I can drive for 2 solid hours without changing out of 6th, I do engage the CC. Those of you used to driving on the M25 will, however, be used to the unpredictable nature of the traffic flow and this is where I think the CC is dangerous. When I have it engaged I try to use the buttons to increase/decrease the speed, effectively using it as an accelerator, but this causes problems because I just dont have the same feel as through the pedals. Sometimes I find myself having to brake suddenly which in turn causes problems because both my feet are planted flat on the floor and those pedals are neither large nor spaced far apart....... Maybe I'm just crap at driving on the CC though...

[Chris_Blue]

Too in depth- enjoy the car

[Bensds3]

Speed limiter when theres lots of other "safe and considerate" drivers about. Cruise when its nice open road and you want to enjoy the view and not worry about speed cameras or getting an achey foot. (i do 1500 miles a month so use it alot!)

[pcmaczone]

Cruise control works for me. Definitely improves our mpg which, to be honest has not been great. I think we average something around 47 but most of our journeys are less than 20 miles. Suppose could have gone for the petrol version but we do a couple of long hauls around France every year and that's where a diesel comes into it's own. The cost of diesel is much cheaper in France and there are plenty of long well maintained roads on which to use the cc.

Most we have had out of our DS3 to date is 51mpg and that was using the cruise control for short periods here in the UK. Not really what I was expecting but then, never believe the hype. The government figures are a complete joke!

[mjhill]

i tried the cc and the speed limiter when i picked up my car but i find that a steady right foot is the best way to get decent fuel economy

[Dangerousfish]

I'm curious. If MPG was the only factor in the purchase of the car, how come you purchased a DSport?

[Holden]

I'm curious. If MPG was the only factor in the purchase of the car, how come you purchased a DSport?

Oh dont get me wrong MPG certainly wasn't the deciding factor, I instantly fell in love with the DS3 when i first see them back in 10'. the fact i took my dad to see the one i wanted and the first thing he said was 'Chris that is so you" . i just kinda enjoy the whole MPG game, never had CC or SL so was just pondering the thought! also i was going for a DStyle plus 90 but when the dealer called me saying he had a 110 sport+ with 4k off i couldnt turn it down

[pcmaczone]

Also I might add that despite it being the Dsport 110 the "official" fuel consumption figures are still excellent, if somewhat misleading. I really wish they would give real world figures instead of doing everything in a lab. That's completely meaningless and they may as well not bother!

Still loving our DS3 9 months on

[jondog]

Whatever happened to the 0-60 game or the quarter mile game?

A guy at work borrowed one of the bosses XK-Rs and when he got back I overheard him tell of how he got a 30mpg average or something like that. The response was... Why?

[pcmaczone]

Personally I didn't get our DS3 Dsport for it's speed or handling but simply because it's the best looking, best equipped and best value car in it's class. Also I didn't come up with the fuel consumption figures which, were they true would be the icing on the cake.