Cruisin'

This is the first car I've had with cruise control, since last May I've had it, and once I got used to it, it's been a boon on the longer journeys. Because you can force yourself to obey the speed limit, and yet you seem to arrive everywhere in good time, and use less fuel.

It's only when you have the cruise control on that you realise how inconsistent most people's speed is. We've all had that experience where you'll overtake someone, and then they'll overtake you back and almost immediately slow down again to the point that you have to overtake them again. And that's the way it is with a true Spaniard. But if you are sharing the inconsistent speed thing, then you might put your foot down a bit harder for a while and leave them further behind at this point.

Coming up the motorway yester, I had the CC set to 70, and found myself overtaking and being overtaken by the same Fiat Punto for almost the whole journey (and, by the way, don't rear seat passengers in small cars look incredibly vulnerable?). It's especially noticeable on hills. The revs drop, the car slows down, you get to the top of the hill and you're 10 mph slower than you were at the bottom. So I find, actually, that without ever speeding, you still get where you're going quicker because of sticking to a consistent speed. At the same time, you use less petrol. I was getting 52 mpg yesterday, which is about 10 better than when I used to drive at 80 on the motorway. And yet, overall, I think it took me no longer to get where I was going.

I've found this on long trips through France as well. Whereas I used to average 50 mph for the journey there, I'm now averaging as much as 60-65 mph, simply through sticking the cruise control on at 130 kph.