My FG would drop 5k's or so when it met a gradient, i learned to accelerate when i knew it would be slow to react and kept it at the set speed.Originally Posted by defective
My FG would drop 5k's or so when it met a gradient, i learned to accelerate when i knew it would be slow to react and kept it at the set speed.
My Falcon family heritage: XY V8 Falcon 500, XYGT, XBGT, XC 351 GS, XD 4.1 Spack, EF wagon, AU Wagon, AU2 Wagon, AU2 XR8, BA XR8, BF XR8, FG XR6, Sprint 8. AU3 XLS Marlin Ute, FG2 Ute, 996.2 Carrera, MY24 Raptor.
I could do 110 in my Tez on a perfectly flat road, turn the cruise on and set it at 110 and take my foot off, and the fucking thing will drop 5km/h and take about 5 minutes to get back up to speed. No other Ford with cruise I have owned has behaved like this.
My F6 was like this, you would have to keep holding your foot on the throttle until the cruise control caught up
2002 T3 Manual Naroma Blue TS-50 (049)Sunroof, Premium Sound, Black/Blue Leather, Brembos
I might take it for another drive and find some more long and steady inclines and try it again, and if still the same I will take it to the dealer, although I have a feeling they will fob me off.
took extra notice of mine tonight. 100km/h road, starts flat then in to a 3km incline ave 6% gradient. needle at 100 on the digital display sits just to the right of the 100 on the speedo. the lowest it dropped was just to the left of the 100 trying to hold 6th, then dropped to 5th and back to the sitting just to the right of 100 and held it fine. this is how it is all the time. if my car behaved how others have described theirs, i would think there is an issue somewhere.
i wonder if it becomes more intuitive the more you use it? i wouldn't have thought so myself.
I have contacted someone that is in the know with all things Ford and they tell me that it is normal and all to do with fuel efficiency that manufacturers need to replicate these days.
Another surprising fact is that you'll actually get much better fuel economy by not using cruise control.
The old carby technique of holding the throttle steady doesn't jibe with modern high geared vehicles
and I've found that these vehicles prefer that the driver keep backing out of the throttle and re-apply
the minimum needed to maintain speed.
If you hold a constant throttle (like cruise does) you notice that on the flat or slightly undulating roads,
the instant economy numbers will slowly get worse over a few Ks, it's like there's zone on light throttle
where the speed remains basically constant but the instant economy can change up to 20% or more.
Try it some time and you'll see what i mean...
only in a hilly environment.
i have tested my economy as you suggest in my FG and also my BF, and the instant with cruise on was not really any different to not having it on. the difference either way is hardly worth talking about. what is worth talking about is the fact that humans are not very good at holding a constant speed, which in itself is poor for economy.
Turn that thinking around, the best economy you'll get with cruise control is on flat roads.
In anything but a flat road, a skilled driver will beat the machine every time, the jack rabbit
will be too interested in overtaking and braking behind the next car up the road.
Hybrids are interesting because varying the vehicle's speed enables the electric side of the car to do
its stuff with regen brakes and releasing energy on acceleration so the car gives better economy
in variable speed situations.
So basically, everywhere in Western Australia apart from the Perth hills. Works for me
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