AU Cruise control Aggressiveness?

goXF · 25-07-2006, 09:10 PM

Hello,

Yesterday I got my first proper drive (out on the highway for a few hours) of my bosses 99 AU falcon.

Certainly very nice and lots of power but my question is in relation to the cruise control. My bosses last car was an EF and the factory cruise control in it was very aggressive (I like!!). For example if you went up a hill it would kick down a gear or so and rev as much as it needed to to keep the speed. Or if you were resuming speed of 100K from an 80 zone, it would also drop back a gear and race to 100.

I was expecting the AU to be the same, but it wasn't.
Now the driving i did was pretty much all on flat ground but when resuming a set speed of 100 from 80 it would accelerate only moderately until it reached the speed. Now it had no problem of doing it (plenty of power available) it just thought there was no real hurry in doind it - compared to the EF I was used to.

So my question is did Ford change the settings on the AU factory cruise control to be less aggressive on acceleration and therefore save on fuel?
OR is there a setting or switch somehere you can change to make it more agressive?

THANKS,

Erik.

**Mechan1k** · 25-07-2006, 09:52 PM

On steep uphills ... my ute backs down 2 gears (and with aftermarket exhaust can be loud) ... can be annoying sometimes though.

On downhills ... it takes off and doesn't hold the speed (same with my Territory as well).

On thing i liked about the TJ Magna ... it would hold the speed within 2km/h of set speed in any condition ... and back down gears on steep declines as well to hold.

Not with the AU or onwards

goXF · 25-07-2006, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

One thing i liked about the TJ Magna ... it would hold the speed within 2km/h of set speed in any condition ... and back down gears on steep declines as well to hold.

Not with the AU or onwards

OK so from the AU onwards they toned it down a bit it seems.

Pity, surely it would be possible to have a switch or setting somewhere so people can change it to suit what they like....

TwistedEL · 26-07-2006, 12:24 AM

I like the AU cruise it's very good on the fuel compared to my lead foot

sednwol · 26-07-2006, 08:13 AM

Perhaps having "econ" enabled dictates the agressiveness of the cruise control.

ClassicAU · 26-07-2006, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sednwol

Perhaps having "econ" enabled dictates the agressiveness of the cruise control.

this is true, i have played with it. now it may not be as agressive as you like, but turning off econ mode does make a difference to the way it shifts under cruise.

private9 · 26-07-2006, 01:22 PM

I have both an EF and an AU with cruise, and the EF's cruise is a fair bit more aggressive. Much prefer the AU's it is a lot smoother.

goXF · 26-07-2006, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sednwol

Perhaps having "econ" enabled dictates the agressiveness of the cruise control.

It may make a difference but econ was off when i was driving - I guess thats just the way it is.

Driving the EF and now AU is so......"WOW" compared to my XF. So much more power. Just hard to get rid of the XF as it still runs along nice and only has 128,840KM.

**Professor Farnsworth** · 26-07-2006, 01:59 PM

yep the EL used to do the same thing, kicked back and revved it's guts out. The BA/BF i've owned have been far more smooth, and they think more before dropping gears. The extra torque in the B series also allows them to rise back to the desired speed without shifting cogs (in certain situations). I'm guessing this was implemented for both economy and comfort levels, not to mention safety (imagine travelling up a slightly greasy mountain, cruise set to 60 or something, speed drops and the thing kicks back to 1st/second and canes it.. not a pretty visual ;p

**Mechan1k** · 26-07-2006, 07:23 PM

I find I prefer the smoother uptake when cruise is enabled ... as fantz mentioned ... if it took off like a rocket in poor conditions on a hill .... I reckon it'd be a little TOO much of a handful. Also helps in the fuel consumption side of things as well being a lot smoother.

Although on some hills my ute will think about backchanging ... and then when it realises it needs to ... it does kick back a couple of gears quite hard ... but I am used to it ... what i do is drop it back to 3rd out of D and let it take the hill with ease.

**DJM83** · 27-07-2006, 03:36 PM

mine is very aggresive to comapared to my XR6 but that was in econ mode i think in adaptive shift it is abit smoother

**Professor Farnsworth** · 27-07-2006, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TE50 056

mine is very aggresive to comapared to my XR6 but that was in econ mode i think in adaptive shift it is abit smoother

the tuning in the TE50 is more agressive in general, different kettle of fish