StealthyBulldog
Full Access Members
On my Escalade you had to turn it on first as well.
MPG vs Cruise control report.
- Thread starter Deadman
- Start date
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Dice Roll
Full Access Members
Well that sucks. I think my other cars have had cruise left on for years at a time before I bumped it off.
I can always get better mileage than the cruise can.So my wife and I just took my 18 Expedition Max 4x4 tow pack 3.73 gear on a cross country trip. We always ran the mode in SPORT and we both ran 91 Octane fuel. We went from WI to FL and traded off driving numerous times and I reset trip 2 for each of us each fuel load to keep track of our average MPG.
My wife drove with the cruise on the whole time at 79 mph. She had light traffic and rarely kicked it off, but we both hate the Adaptive cruise so that is completely shut off. Every hill the car climbed, I could hear the turbos working. She averaged 18 MPG on the car computer screen for almost every single fuel run.
I ran my fuel runs with NO cruise control at all and I ran it between 80 and 90 mph. I ran it up on the way down hills and then backed off on the way up each hill. I never dropped below 80 and barely heard the turbos on my climbs. (Obviously this was in light traffic, so I wasn't annoying all the cars behind me speeding up and down).
My mpg Average was just over 24 mpg. Thats a 6 MPG difference and I could run 180 miles farther on the same tank of fuel. In my opinion, that's a HUGE difference and clearly shows that the cruise control can't look ahead and anticipate a hill.
Needless to say we could of went from WI to FL on ONE fuel stop! lol.
Even worse with new with adaptive that wastes brakes and free acceleration downhill.
Isn't technology grand???
Deadman
Full Access Members
I know but theres always some sheep that won't believe us.
Everyone thinks cruise is for MPG, not its for speed control. It doesn't care if you are going up, down, etc its flooring it and slamming on the brakes to hold u at THAT speed. So wasteful. 6 MPG wasteful In my case!
I always thought cruise was for speed. Never considered the mpg aspect. When I'm driving all day for 5 days in a row, it's a crapload easier on my heel/ankle to use cruise throughout the day. I think it's also safer to be evenly spaced on the highway with vehicles travelling at same speeds. I also like cruise to maintain a constant max speed without any concern for a speeding ticket. It's also safer since that's one less thing you have to visually monitor and control so you can apply those resources to other driving concerns. I'll stick with cruise and if I take a hit on mpg so be it. I have the 5.4 so I'm not even sure there is that much of a hit to mpg anyway.
I think its entire design is for convenience. They've never marketed it or intended it to be the maximum miles per gallon.
I will say though that I think the newer adaptive cruise controls are less fuel-efficient since they can't speed up going downhill like traditional cruise control can. You won't notice this though really because the newer cars have adaptive cruise control get such better mileage. So it all gets lost or all comes out in the wash.
Once I figured out that the cruise control would let you go as fast as the car would Coast downhill I realized that was a plus for fuel mileage. Then I realized that the cruise often gives it too much gas going uphill and will even cause it to shift down into a lower gear but depending on conditions that's not necessarily always a loss of fuel mileage.
Most of my vehicles are driven all about smoothness. I wouldn't drive hard unless I'm in a performance car and was playing or racing on the roads... hypothetically of course.
I'm the old man in a Lincoln usually impeding traffic.
No. I'm not really that old yet as I can't get a senior discount but you would think I am from the cars I drive and how I drive them.
A lot of my driving is in limos or sedans with passengers. I can drive far more smoothly than the cruise control can.
When I went to look at my first limousine and I was looking to buy one... the guy let us take one out for a test drive and he wrote up front with me and my friend was in the back.
He said the way to train a new driver is to take a 5 gallon bucket of water and fill it half full and set it in the back on the floor and tell him to drive without spilling any.
That was February of 1994 and I clearly remember the conversation.
I didn't buy that car because it was black and I needed a white stretch Lincoln. I told him to get me a white one just like it and I'd take it. He called me two days later and said he had a white one so I went back there and bought it.
Every generation of the Lincoln's, Cadillacs and everything else I've driven still kicks it down too far and changes gear when you're going up anything over the slightest incline. That's not how you want to drive when you have passengers in the car for a luxury ride.
As was stated in the last post, cruise control is design to maintain a constant speed as its first priority.
It will sacrifice comfort or fuel mileage to keep the speed consistent going uphill other than to allow you to drop two or three miles per hour and slowly get back to the same speed.
When doing it yourself for comfort you can let the hill slow you down a little bit and gradually give it a little more fuel to get up to the hill and then resume your speed.
If you're going for maximum fuel mileage like hyper-driving you can let your speed decrease by 8 to 12 miles per hour on the Hills and then when you get to a downhill let yourself go as fast as it will go so on the next uphill or even the flat areas you won't have to give any gas for a greater distance thus increasing your fuel mileage.
Some cars are better than others because some cars have more drag when you are off the gas. Other cars the transmission or torque converter disengage is better and allows you to Coast so your RPMs can be at a thousand or maybe even 1100 are you're still rolling 80 miles per hour.
This is why people in manual transmission cars will push the clutch or shift into neutral downhill. It was always said to be a bad habit and we were told to not do it but tons of people still do.
I will say though that I think the newer adaptive cruise controls are less fuel-efficient since they can't speed up going downhill like traditional cruise control can. You won't notice this though really because the newer cars have adaptive cruise control get such better mileage. So it all gets lost or all comes out in the wash.
Once I figured out that the cruise control would let you go as fast as the car would Coast downhill I realized that was a plus for fuel mileage. Then I realized that the cruise often gives it too much gas going uphill and will even cause it to shift down into a lower gear but depending on conditions that's not necessarily always a loss of fuel mileage.
Most of my vehicles are driven all about smoothness. I wouldn't drive hard unless I'm in a performance car and was playing or racing on the roads... hypothetically of course.
I'm the old man in a Lincoln usually impeding traffic.
No. I'm not really that old yet as I can't get a senior discount but you would think I am from the cars I drive and how I drive them.
A lot of my driving is in limos or sedans with passengers. I can drive far more smoothly than the cruise control can.
When I went to look at my first limousine and I was looking to buy one... the guy let us take one out for a test drive and he wrote up front with me and my friend was in the back.
He said the way to train a new driver is to take a 5 gallon bucket of water and fill it half full and set it in the back on the floor and tell him to drive without spilling any.
That was February of 1994 and I clearly remember the conversation.
I didn't buy that car because it was black and I needed a white stretch Lincoln. I told him to get me a white one just like it and I'd take it. He called me two days later and said he had a white one so I went back there and bought it.
Every generation of the Lincoln's, Cadillacs and everything else I've driven still kicks it down too far and changes gear when you're going up anything over the slightest incline. That's not how you want to drive when you have passengers in the car for a luxury ride.
As was stated in the last post, cruise control is design to maintain a constant speed as its first priority.
It will sacrifice comfort or fuel mileage to keep the speed consistent going uphill other than to allow you to drop two or three miles per hour and slowly get back to the same speed.
When doing it yourself for comfort you can let the hill slow you down a little bit and gradually give it a little more fuel to get up to the hill and then resume your speed.
If you're going for maximum fuel mileage like hyper-driving you can let your speed decrease by 8 to 12 miles per hour on the Hills and then when you get to a downhill let yourself go as fast as it will go so on the next uphill or even the flat areas you won't have to give any gas for a greater distance thus increasing your fuel mileage.
Some cars are better than others because some cars have more drag when you are off the gas. Other cars the transmission or torque converter disengage is better and allows you to Coast so your RPMs can be at a thousand or maybe even 1100 are you're still rolling 80 miles per hour.
This is why people in manual transmission cars will push the clutch or shift into neutral downhill. It was always said to be a bad habit and we were told to not do it but tons of people still do.
Speaking of stretch Lincoln's ... I just saw a cool old Caddilac in Rawlins Wyoming that was the front of 2 cars back to back wedded to look like one. You didn't know which way it was going. And a huge truck stop on I80 in Wyoming had some totally restored old trucks in it ... A Powerwagon and a Ford commercial truck of some type. So sweet
t_bois
Member
I also think that just flipping on the cruise and letting the computer figure it out is not the way to go. If I'm on flat ground and no head wind, yes, cruise is the way to go, so when are the manufacturers going to get smart and design something that can think? I ease up on the gas when going up hill or when the fighting a head wind. How about adding the option of including the best MPG mode when on cruise control??? This can even include how fast to accelerate for the best MPG by just holding down the SET button. When I think of so many changes to the way the truck is design to improve MPG, or how to add comfort, or to make shifting better, why can't they?? A lot has to do with changes that don't require additional parts, but just adding a bit of manual intervention. We aren't all stupid, some of us actually know what to do when certain driving conditions occur.
They have figured out a lot of that. There are many patents on that. Some work with the topological map data.
https://www.autoblog.com/2015/07/23/ford-smart-cruise-control-patent/
Innovation and invention is often a process of making improvements to existing ideas. First they invent cruise control, then someone improves it by making it adaptive, then another improvement uses topological data to make it more fuel efficient, on and on.
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=p...3.2872...33i299k1j33i22i29i30k1.0.qFmeboMK50w
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Deadman
Full Access Members
Most people used to always say to set the cruise to get better mpg. I'm just glad a lot of you realize that your foot can do far better. In todays vehicles its even more true. The vehicles downshift and everything else on the decents, so they really hurt mpg.
Rancidlunchmeat
2019 XLT FX4
I said Eco, not normal. And in Eco, adaptive cruise absolutely does not floor it and downshift. I use adaptive cruise in eco on highways with lights and just hit resume from a complete stop and it most certainly will not floor it to get up to 55, let alone at any other time in freeway traffic.
Deadman
Full Access Members
Eco handles so poorly, I'm not risking killing my family on the interstate while it sways all over the place. The suspension is far too soft, its too soft in normal and even softer in Eco. I had it loaded down pretty heavily too, so the last thing I wanted was the lazy shift points of the eco if I needed it.
Whatever works for you.... If you don't have a CCD, you won't suffer the soft suspension syndrome.
Deadman, just an FYI for you. I towed the same trailer with the same cars on it with the same gas from the same station to the same destination in Sport modes this weekend vs a few weeks ago in tow haul. The stiffer ride and handling of sport mode was greatly appreciated. Transmission shifting was the same going up hills but coming down it would not down shift on its own without a brake tap. Sport MPG was 12.6 and tow/haul was 16.3. No cruise control. Kept the speed limit and it’s the Ford computers calculations. As soon as you give the word the new sway bars are shipping I will order at least the rear. Pretty surprised just the shock dampening made that much difference and sport sucked that much more fuel.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Deadman
Full Access Members
Ya, the Sport mode really juices up the shock valving. After driving it in Sport, I hate driving it in normal because it sways and wobbles all over the road on rough back roads. Just a FYI, they don't build those sway bars ahead for inventory, they custom build every one when the order is placed, so waiting probably isn't in your best interest on the sway bars. They build them as the orders come in and they typically take a few weeks to be built and then ship after. I'm sure excited for mine, hopefully it will make "normal" mode more tolerable the rough roads.
I'll have to play with Normal/Sport more for Fuel Milage reasons. I just simply couldn't run the normal mode on this trip because my wife and I both absolutely hated the sloppy titanic feeling in normal. I know at slower speeds around home, the Sport mode absolutely killed my fuel milage. I took for granted that since we stayed over 80 mph and it never downshifted that the Sport mode MPG would not change from normal mode, but maybe the turbos or the tune is more aggressive in Sport mode.... I guess thats another test I need to do. lol.
My expeditions washed and sitting in my garage and all the roads are mud and water and salt as its the spring thaw going on around here, so I haven't driven it much since the trip. I'll be taking it on a long trip this summer and I'll have that sway bar on, so that will be a great spot to test it again.
duneslider
Full Access Members
I am really curious to see how you all like the swaybars. What I find interesting is that I haven't felt I needed a swaybar improvement when towing or normal driving but this last weekend on my trip to southern utah with everything loaded in the back and the big bike rack and 6 bikes I did notice a bit of sway at times. I have never felt that in any other driving situation I have had in the expedition. It has always felt really stable and planted with the trailer and WDH on.
For what its worth, I have noticed that ECO doesn't always return the best mileage on the highway. I don't have CCD so the modes don't affect my ride at all. The ECO does seem to improve mileage around town and on the highway if speeds are lower but if speeds seem to be 70+ then it is better to be in normal for gas mileage. I have used sport very little, usually just for when I know I need to make a quick merge out into traffic.
For what its worth, I have noticed that ECO doesn't always return the best mileage on the highway. I don't have CCD so the modes don't affect my ride at all. The ECO does seem to improve mileage around town and on the highway if speeds are lower but if speeds seem to be 70+ then it is better to be in normal for gas mileage. I have used sport very little, usually just for when I know I need to make a quick merge out into traffic.
Deadman
Full Access Members
Your standard shocks are valved stiffer and that probably holds down the sway until you load it down with extra stuff. When we select different modes on our CCD models, that affects the shock valving and the softer settings sway ALOT. In Normal, my wife actually asks me if there is something wrong with my car on our rough back roads. It bobs and leans all over the place. I call it the leaning tower! lol.
The rear sway bar will end that Lean and sway. Try this, take and change lanes a little bit aggressively and take note of the leaning feeling. That will all go away with the sway bar. Theres youtube videos of Expeditions before and after rear bars and its very noticeable. The rear Independent Suspension is awesome, but thats a side effect of it. I've ran a lot of IRS ATV's and different vehicles and we fought with the IRS handling issues, but the comfort was so much better than any straight axle could ever produce.
duneslider
Full Access Members
I have bilsteins at the moment but I didn't notice any sway issues before the new shocks either. Probably still just a CCD issue. I have never noticed any issues until this last trip with the big rack on back and all the bikes. Still wasn't bad but I did notice it occasionally, definitely not so bad I would think something was wrong with the car though. Then again, my jeep is all over the road, so it would take a lot of sway to have me concerned.
