Found something new today. When I use the Sport Shift and put the car on cruise control, I am able to change gears without the cruise control turning off. You might wonder what use it is, but I have a 15 mile drive to and from work and there are a few hills on the way. Usually with cruise, the hills can sometimes cause the cruise control to disengage. With the Sportshift, when I am coming up to a hill, I downshift to 4th gear and the cruise control stays engaged. In the past when I have had MT, if you downshift, it cuts the cruise off. I also found it good today for varying RPMs since I am still breaking in the engine. Just thought those of you with 5AT might find this usefull.

 

I believe this to be the same way with all Honda/Acura automatics now that I think of it. In case of the manual, using the clutch will disengage the cruise (as well as the cancel button or the brake)

 

Wait a second there....

A hill can cause your cruise to cancel? Do you mean when you're driving a car with Sequential Shift or a regular automatic?

All the cars I've driven with cruise, when you start climbing a hill, the computer will downshift if you start loosing too much speed. After you crest the hill, the computer automatically upshifts.

What I've never been able to figure out is how does this work in a MT car...I assume that you'd just keep on losing speed up the hill, until you reached the top...or does the system tell you to downshift?

 

In severe cases, the cruise will cancel, this happened on my '88 Accord in Colorado at around 12,000 feet. I had about 600 pounds worth of junk plus myself (180 pounds) in the car. The cruise cancelled after it went into second gear going at 60 mph. Thats the only time cruise control has ever cancelled on me and I was surprised it held that long (and I was even MORE surprised that my car could go that fast, going uphill at those elevations with all the junk in it! Remember, the older carb. Accords only had 98 hp!)

 

Ah. Understood. I guess I just haven't been in a car that:

a) has under 127HP and;
b) been driven through severe hills with a heavy load using cruise (I have driven an '85 Camry on the highway, but didn't use the cruise, and I've been in a 98 Civic, but it also has no cruise).

Or, maybe they've changed cruise systems since then to be more intelligent...if the revs get too high, it'll upshift, and just make you slog until you get over the crest of the hill. I dunno.

 

Generally speaking, if a cruise control system can't maintain the set speed within 8 mph (I think), it will cancel out, forcing you, the driver, to intervene.