What are the advantages of cruise control?
South Africans are big fans of taking a great road trip. Gauteng folks love their long drives to seaside resorts come December — whether Durban or Cape Town — plus there’s the Garden Route and even the magnificent Drakensberg, perfectly positioned between KZN and Gauteng for all to enjoy. So the open road calls no matter where you’re based and, let’s be honest, when you have a Subaru, any excuse to spend as much time in your car as possible is something we can all agree on!
It’s during those long stretches between rest-stops that you’re going to get the best enjoyment from cruise control which allows you to set the speed you’re travelling at without having to keep your foot on the accelerator. By activating cruise control, you’re able to give your right leg a break, avoid speeding fines and ensure you stick to a smooth flow within the traffic on the freeway. And while we highlight the joy of those long trips, cruise control is certainly not exclusive to those situations; any time you’re using highways or driving on a stretch of road where you’d prefer to set one constant speed, cruise control is just perfect and a perfectly safe option (specifically in a Subaru!).
To get started:
- Turn the cruise control system on
- Set the cruising speed
- Use the controls to increase, decrease or cancel the cruise control while driving
- Cancel cruise control at any time by pressing the brake pedal
While standard cruise control is best used on the open road, Subaru has got your traffic concerns covered with Adaptive Cruise Control too.
What does Adaptive Cruise Control do?
Befitting Subaru’s reputation for technological innovation, Adaptive Cruise Control is a game-changer for long trips and uses the EyeSight® system to maintain a set distance from the vehicle in front of you on the road.
Cruise control is not unique to the Subaru brand, so while taking a look at the pros and cons of cruise control, let’s do so first with a broad overview of using this innovative tech in general.
Cruise control advantages and disadvantages:
Top three pros:
- Good Fuel Economy
- Better Driving Comfort
- Avoid Speeding
Cruise Control Disadvantages
What are the disadvantages of cruise control?
Top four cons:
- Bad for Tired Drivers
- Harder to Slow Down Quickly
- Harder to Drive in Bad Weather
- Easier to Get Distracted
It wouldn’t be fair to ignore these cons in the general context of using cruise control, though we at Subaru have moved the goalposts when it comes to safety which humbly renders these cons pretty abstract as far as owning a Subaru goes. The innovative technologies we’ve curated are focussed on ensuring the safest drive possible.
You see, our Pre-Collision Braking System provides automatic braking when EyeSight detects a potential frontal impact. The Pre-Collision Braking System provides automatic braking to help avoid or reduce the severity of detected frontal accident impacts. Should the driver be distracted or not register the risk of a collision, braking will be automatically applied when it is recognised by EyeSight.
Furthermore, Pre-Collision Throttle Management reduces available acceleration in situations where the system detects objects in front of the vehicle that the vehicle is likely to hit. The engine output is restricted to reduce possible impact force and frontal impact damage, and to help prevent injury should the driver mistakenly accelerate.
When it comes to Adaptive Cruise Control, Subaru maintains the speed set by the driver, but also regulates the vehicle’s speed in order to maintain a set distance from the car in front of it. The driver can select from three different distances, based on time and speed, and then the EyeSight Driver Assist System will automatically use braking and monitoring technologies to regulate the vehicle’s speed, in line with the traffic flow.
What’s the best way to really understand cruise control and how Suabru has ticked the boxes for all the safety aspects that go with it? Take one for a test drive of course!
We are available to discuss your safety driving concerns with you, and anything else you would like to know about on how and why Confidence In Motion fuels everything we believe in and deliver on.
Use our store locator to find your nearest dealership, and if you would like to know more about the Subaru range, you can call us on +27 11 608 0116 or email info@subaru.co.za and a skilled member of our team will be happy to assist you.
