Cruise Control

[JME]

The cruise control on my '03 MCS is quite ineffective. If I set it at 110 kmh it will vary between 100 and 120 kmh on a relatively flat freeway! I'm interested to hear if it's just my car or all Minis, or if it only afflicts MCS.

[mightyquinn]

Quote: Originally Posted by JME

The cruise control on my '03 MCS is quite ineffective. If I set it at 110 kmh it will vary between 100 and 120 kmh on a relatively flat freeway! I'm interested to hear if it's just my car or all Minis, or if it only afflicts MCS.

I have experienced the same thing. I mentioned it to MINI and they said they would look into it and correct it, unfortunately I still have the same problem. I have driven a few cars with CC and they have all been quite accurate, its a rather disapointing feature.

But what the hell, say something and get them off there butts

Mighty

[warped]

Quote: Originally Posted by JME

The cruise control on my '03 MCS is quite ineffective. If I set it at 110 kmh it will vary between 100 and 120 kmh on a relatively flat freeway! I'm interested to hear if it's just my car or all Minis, or if it only afflicts MCS.

Cruise Control seems very hard to set in my MCS, hitting the SET button will almost invariably mean the car actually cruises at a much lower speed unless the + button is used to adjust the speed back to the desired setting

However, once I have it set the car does a pretty good job of maintaing that speed, compensating for hills etc And the resume button is great, being able to return to the previous setting with a single touch of a button is fantastic

The Cruise Control on both my previous Audi's did not have a resume feature (however they did set themselves accurately) ... which meant I hardly ever used it cause I was forever resetting the speed after some idiot pulled out in front of me

[nonsequitur]

Over on the CVT Forum, there has been comment in several threads about the Cruise Control functionality. The comments seem to be good, maybe even very good, overall. Here is one thread with some fun comments: CVT with Cruise Control

In the MINI Cooper CVT (the gearbox helps here), the Cruise Control function is butter smooth at speed and it does a very good job of holding a set speed consistently, up hill and down hill, flat, or curves, without jerks or wild tach-swinging acceleration.

The best Cruise Control I ever used was a late 80's BMW 325 4-dr Sedan. It was wonderful, intuitive, and responsive. I could easily drive the car in traffic on the freeway, changing speeds to slot into line or to maintain a proper following interval.

[scooperman_uk]

no probs for me. i use it everyday on my commute up the m4/m3 motorways. i find it sticks to the set speed, give or take a few mph difference either side.

[maxsendq]

Mine moves enough for the set speed to be tripped if I am on CC and set it to CC+5mph. So I have to make sure its turned off through speed cameras.

But its great fun in second going up 1 in 5 hills :P

Mike

[ABG]

I've have CC on our other cars (both BMW) and it seems to work much better than it odes on the MCS. It's not too variable on the MINI just not as rock solid as I had expected from previous experience.

[johnnycircuit]

Mine is not able to hold a steady speed either. Also, the "+" and "-" buttons do not work as described in the owners manual. It's almost imposible to adjust the speed by 1mph up or down while in cruse. It doesn't seem defective, just not very good.

-John

[Ian Clark]

I have CC on my MC. When I set it, it will vary +/- 2mph.

I find this perfectly acceptable as most road surfaces aren't perfectly flat and the computer and engine need at least some time to adjust to a change in gradient.

We don't really need CC in the UK but ya know.. it's great when you can use it... had a nice 60 mile stretch on the motorway not long back... not a huge amount but cool anyway

[nonsequitur]

Ian frames this discussion in a good way, so what is a proper expectation for Cruise Control holding a steady speed in the manual-equipped cars?

The poll is drifting toward a distribution of responses I'd expect.

[Paul]

This is me: I've got an MCS and the CC works OK

It varied on my last MCS too, and on some press cars I've used. Not rock solid, but not miles of variation either.

[AndrewH]

Quote: Originally Posted by JME

The cruise control on my '03 MCS is quite ineffective. If I set it at 110 kmh it will vary between 100 and 120 kmh on a relatively flat freeway! I'm interested to hear if it's just my car or all Minis, or if it only afflicts MCS.

Funny that you mention this JME, I rang BMW Australia late last year to complain about the CC in the MCS as it, in my case at least, is unusable, ie you set it at 110 and it goes every speed between 105 and 115 except 110 and this is on dead flat ground! They told me that they would contact Germany to find out what the acceptable tolerance was. Long story short, I rang them on Monday to see what was happening and to enquire about another promised fix for the harmonic tensioner. The guy I spoke to said that they actually had a reference in their system from a Mini mechanic that the CC was not very accurate.

They have apparently been advised by Germany that as far as they are concerned there is nothing wrong and that they (Germany) will continue to monitor the situation. The guy kept telling me that CC is only a driver aid and that it does not substitute for concentration and it won't slow the car going down hills blah blah blah like I had never driven a car with CC. He kept emphasising it so many times that I got quite cranky . I am fully aware that CC will vary especially on undulating terrain but my problem is that it varies by far too much, especially in comparison with the previous cars I have owned with CC, and is not useable especially given the crack down on speed in this country. I said that if I couldn't use it that perhaps they should give my money back - he didn't seem to take that too well. Rather than getting more worked up, I decided to say thanks for helping me with my other problem and insisted that they keep the pressure on BMW HQ to fix it as it was totally unacceptable.

Somehow I don't think that they give a monkeys (par for the course for BMW I think) which is a pity as I really want to be able to use it.

[KatanaPilot]

My MCS has by far the worst cruise control of any car I have ever driven in my life. I feel that we may have different responses to the survey because of different levels of expectations. I have driven many different brands of cars, including Honda, Ford, BMW, and Audi, and all of them are able to maintain speed within one or two miles of the set speed. These are all cars my family have owned, and I drove them extensively. My BMW had the problem of maintaining a cruise speed 2 miles slower than the set speed. Other than that, it holds onto that speed perfectly.

But the MINI on the other hand, yes I can take my foot off of the gas pedal, but the speed variation is so great that if I set the speed right at the speed limit, the car may end up cruising fast enough to get me a ticket. To me, an acceptable cruise control should be able to maintain a speed within 2mph on flat ground. My MINI could not maintain +/- 5mph on flat road.

That performance may be acceptable to some, but not to me.

[nonsequitur]

With completely objective numbers to support me, I'll say that our Cooper CVT varies far less than 2mph on a flat road, reasonable upslopes (not real serious hills but anything you'd get on the freeway), and reasonable downslopes too. It is steady and spot on. The gearbox may have everything to do with it, which is what I'm suspecting after reading some of these posts.

The +, - buttons take some careful use. Just rapidly going push-push-push doesn't give a 3mph change, but push ... push ... push comes closer.

[jzlemon]

I have an MCS and with mine it is dependent on the gear.
If it is in 6th, it varies greatly. In 5th, it's pretty good.
I don't think 6th has enough power to keep it steady. Even when I'm not using CC, if I'm going up a highway hill in 6th I have to floor it just to keep a steady speed.