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Originally Posted by Grovsnus
On newer BMWs, the cruise control brakes if needed to maintain the speed.
If you want to save your brakes going down the long stretches of Coquihalla, shift down instead. Brake failure or overheating is a major cause of accident on that particular road  |
I barely used the cruise control on the Coquihalla, too tricky with these curves and I wanted to drive! Going down from the Pennask pass (1741m) toward Okanagan Lake the road goes down to 500m over a stretch of 32km (avg grade 3.9%, more then the Coquihalla). I used 60-70% of the distance the cruise control as this a wide road with wide turns. I recall the engine doing 2500rpm, avg speed was 127 km/h (8th gear?) I never realized the car would use it's brakes too. After I read your comment, I looked it up in the owner's manual.
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As for fuel saving, it's frequent small hills where cruise control doesn't do so well - it will give gas on every small uphill and brake on every small downhill, when you could just crest them on the momentum.
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Agree and that is what I typically do.