Quote: Randa france wrote in post #14

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On UK roads I totally agree with you Pete. I will always give them a wide berth. The speed limit in the UK allows you to do that (lorries 57mph, caravans 60 mph). That's a bit of a joke however nowadays. In most European countries caravans are limited to 50 mph whereas lorries are allowed to do 57mph.

Far bigger roads in Europe to accommodate far fewer lorries that the UK (except perhaps Northern Italy) so generally lots more space between them. Find a large space and click cruise control to match the lorries and it makes driving far easier. Yes, you will be exceeding the speed limit for trailers but it's far safer that way.
Randa

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As I said before, I bow to your much greater experience of towing abroad.

But you did say all countries, init?

It's almost certainly just me, but I can probably count the number of times that I've used the cruise control in our past three cars on the fingers of two hands, tops. And that takes me all the way back to 2004.

I've certainly never used it in the past five years on this car and the A3 we had before.

I don't like it particularly. It's not that I think there's any witchcraft involved, or that I'm a technophobe. I don't care for it's inability to modulate speed with anything like the degree of subtlety you possess in that thing at the end of your right leg.

I have used it a lot in the States, but even then it was only to climb into the back to make a cup of tea or have a sarnie.

It isn't as economical as doing it yourself, not least because it insists on using far more throttle than I would to resume a previously set speed and that it cannot anticipate the topography of a road, particularly when going uphill.

And while I'm on the subject of cruise control, whenever I hear about people who use it at slower than main road speeds - say thirty or even forty miles an hour - my skin goes cold. I genuinely don't think cruise control is safe at those kind of low speeds.

I remember seeing a video somewhere of some bloke - it might even have been Farmer Clarkson - attempting a traffic cone slalom at a very modest speed using just cruise control. There were cones everywhere.

Having the car determine your speed for you irrespective of the conditions (and I'm deliberately excluding the relatively new radar-based systems which follow the vehicle in front at a pre-set distance and continually adjust that distance) isn't for me.

Respectfully

Grumpy Old Fart

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