Does anyone else find the Toyota style cruise control annoying as I do? Toyota: - Cruise lever under the steering wheel and turns with the wheel. - Forgets the set speed when car speed drops below 25mph. - Must be turned on every time the car is started. - Cruise light shows it is armed rather than engaged Honda: - Mounted on the steering wheel surface (of course turns with the wheel) - Remembers set speed even after the car is stopped (but still running). - Stays set to last mode (on/off) when the car is turned off/on. - Cruise light shows it is engaged rather than armed. To me it is hard to find the lever under the steering wheel. If they have to put it there I wish it was stationary like the directional lever. I would really prefer that it does not forget the set speed. I just like the Honda style which we had on our Civic, CR-V and Odyssey. I suppose the reason it forgets the set speed when dropping below 25mph is a safety factor since one could bump the lever with you knee but if it were on the top of the steering wheel that is much less of an issue. Besides if you just hit the brake these systems disengage. To me this is the biggest annoyance of the Prius. Following that is the lack of a telescoping steering wheel. Don't get me wrong. I really like the car and can't wait to drive it every time I need to go somewhere. I can see Toyota responding to the need for a telescoping steering wheel, a vertical adjust on the driver's seat, and other minor complaints. But they seem to be stuck on this cruise control design.
It is right up there on my list of annoying things. For me the worst is the "going stupid" when my speed drops. I drove a Camry before the Prius so having to turn it on after turning off the car is no big deal. Guess I'm used to that part. Bob
only complaint on have on the cc is how unreliable it is. It is slow to respond to increasing power when going up hills but worse when going down hills it seems to not even control speed. I find my speed fly up to 75 when going down some hills when my cc is set to 68. on speaking to whether or not the cc forgets below 25 mph i believe this is because you dont want the cc accelerating you from 0 to 65 because its a rather aggressive acceleration and would kill your mpgs going 0-65.
The 25 mph thing is Fed mandate. I have found the Prius cruise control to be by far the most stable in the many many cars I have driven. I find many of the controls on Toyota's to be counter-intuitive. I grew up driving GMs and most of the Toyota controls are bass-ackwards to the GM controls. As with most annoyance, you get used to about anything over time.
I prefer our Honda's cruise control over the Prius hands down, but I prefer to drive the Prius any distance where cruise control is needed -- go figure.
Why would you want the cruise control to remember your speed after turning the car off and then on again? Highway gas station stop? That doesn't seem terribly useful, as there's no way that I'd accelerate from a stop up to highway speed using the cruise control. I've only rarely driven non-Toyota cars (occasional rentals for business trips), so I guess their CC system is the only one I'm used to.
One good thing about the Toyota CC is , while in CC mode, the driver can increase/decrease spped in 1 mph increments using the +/- function. V ery, very useful when controlling you speed increase.
No Problem having driven my '97 Camry over 200,000 miles which has the same CC. Proves what a great car we have if minor things like that are all we can come up with. Remember--- Life's a bitch and then we die. Lighten up. Russ
When I first got my Prius I thought that the cruise control was broken because it forgot what speed it was set at when the car comes to a stop. My 05 Avalon remembers. Just start out and when you reach about 25 mph flip it up to resume and the car returns to the speed it was going before it stopped. The Prius doesn't, but now that I know that everythings OK. Doesn't bother me --- just the way it works.
Its much nicer then the one on my wife's Beetle. It is located on the turn signal lever. There is a switch for it midway up. It has position Off, On, and Accelerate. You have to hold it to Accelerate with it and if you want to slow down you have to slide it to Accelerate and let go immediately. While doing this you have to be careful not to accidentally turn on the High Beams on the headlights.
I never had a car with c/c before. So I have no problems with it. I would prefer that the c/c stalk did not turn with the wheel, because if it stayed put it would be easier to engage or disengage the EV mode (Coastal Tech EV switch) while in a turn. But otherwise I like the position of it because I can operate it with my finger without taking my hand off the wheel or looking at it.
Why would you want to engage CC while in a turn? That seems unnecessary, if not downright dangerous. If you're in a turn, you're not cruising!
I dont have a chance to use CC in my prius yet. The only thing i dont like is the cc location. I prefer it can be set on steerling wheel. Perhaps there are too many buttons on the wheel.. , just no more place for CC.
I've owned American, German and Japanese cars with cruise and the Prius cruise is as good as any of them. I've never had C/C that remembers a speed when you re-start the engine.
I use cc every day, driving to work and, as with most things, I've become quite accustomed to it. I must say that I've had no problems whatsoever with it holding its pre-set speed on hills...going up or down!
Yes, I find the Cruise control lever very old fashioned and very annoying!!!!!! I am used to my old 2005 Saturn VUE that had the simple buttons right on the steering wheel, press one button to start, one button to set, and one button to resume. Very easy,, With all the other stuff Toyota put on the steering wheel for easy access they could have easily hooked up the cruise control to the steering wheel panel as well