Daniel Who Wants to Know wrote:
> I have written about the '95 GC SE that I got recently before but I
noticed
> a strange (to me) behavior that I had never heard of before. On an 86
mile
> round trip that I do twice a week I usually set the speed/cruise control
for
> 54MPH (55 speed limit) and I noticed that when I was going down a hill
and
> the speed hit 60 that the trans down****fted to help keep my speed down.
It's a feature on the LH cars too - probably most car these days. It is
generally helpful, but can be annoying in generally hilly terrain as you
go down one hill and crest another (if anyone is familiar with hiway 460
East of Lynchburg and Appomattox, VA, that is the exact worst-case for
what I'm talking about).
Also, if you have the cruise set just below ticket threshold for the
straight-and-level, this will put you well over that on a long
downgrade. I am in the habit (on two particular hills that I drive on
my daily commute) of punching the 'Decel' button 3 or 4 times (drops
cruise control setpoint 3 or 4 mph) just before the start of the
downgrade to start that down****ft earlier and stay safely below the 'get
a ticket' threshold, and then to punch the 'Accel' button 3 or 4 times
(ups the setpoint 6 to 8 mph) at the bottom for the long descent, then
hit the 'Decel' button 3 or 4 times again when returning to straight and
level to return to the original setpoint.
This will never be a completely acceptable speed control augmentation
for all terrains. If they programed it to hold the speed too tight, the
constant up and down****fting would be very annoying on minor terrain
variations. The way they have them set now works well for relatively
level terrain. In constant short up/down hill, the constant ****fting is
annoying and does not hold speed well; on long grades, it allows way too
much speed variation on hills if your goal is too travel just below the
speeding ticket threshold on the level terrain using the same setpoint.
Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')
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