Cruise Control - Downshifting?

**COOKZ32** · 11-22-2006, 11:53 PM

Today, when I was going to Grandma's house, I had the "Cruise Control" set at 50mph. Lot's of deer on the way to Grandma's house, so slow we go. There is a long steep hill to go down, and the Mag started to pick up speed. When it reached about 57mph, the tranny downshifted and we slowed back down to the "set" speed." It may have been my imagination, I plan on testing it again when I go for Turkey dinner.

Anyone else ever notice this? Drove my Chevy Suburban's for years to Montana, down steep mountain roads and it would climb 20mph past the set speed or more, never heard of a vehicle doing this.

**dchemi** · 11-23-2006, 01:03 AM

Mine seems to stay within a few MPH going up or even down a hill. Never really went down a very steep grade with cruise, but I have gone up a few and got the same result.

**crazy_luck** · 11-23-2006, 01:06 AM

Mine does the same, but seems to hold closer to within 3~4 mph of what cruise is set to.

**cadzilla74** · 11-23-2006, 01:13 AM

Yep cruise will downshift on a downgrade for engine braking. The fun is having the cruise on and hitting a steep uphill, that crazy cruise will downshift and just about WOT to get back up to speed.

**fnkychkn** · 11-23-2006, 01:14 AM

the interactive speed control system used on LX vehicles will force a transmission shift, up or down, in order to help maintain set speed.

**ratman1648** · 11-23-2006, 01:16 AM

many of the late model vehicles do this

**rule62** · 11-23-2006, 02:15 AM

I'm a cruise control junkie. I use it just about all the time. After the light turns green, I lightly step on the pedal to get the car into 2nd and then tap resume on the control stalk. Needless to say... I've got an almost pristine set of pedals.

That being said, I've noticed the following: In both my 98 stratus, and my 06 sxt, the trans will shift whenever the car's speed reaches 5 miles above what the cruise is set for.

Another thing I found out: In my stratus, if I were to shift from D to 2 manually when the cruise was set, the cruise control would act as if I had given brake input and suspend until I hit resume.

On my late build 06 mag sxt (auto-stick)

, if cruise is set and I decide to tap a few gears, the set speed will be maintained (rpms increase). This was a bit of a surprise as I was attempting to use the auto-stick to engine brake a little the other day while my cruise was on.

**COOKZ32** · 11-23-2006, 09:06 AM

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fnkychkn	the interactive speed control system used on LX vehicles will force a transmission shift, up or down, in order to help maintain set speed.

no need to test it again, the KING has spoken!

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ratman1648	many of the late model vehicles do this

I wonder if the new Suburbans do?

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cadzilla74	Yep cruise will downshift on a downgrade for engine braking. The fun is having the cruise on and hitting a steep uphill, that crazy cruise will downshift and just about WOT to get back up to speed.

The Chevy would do this, but WOT in that suburban was pretty sad.

Thanks guys and Happy Turkey Day!!

**magnum lover** · 11-23-2006, 09:11 AM

My 02 Stratus would hold the speed close to what was set. The Mag seems to let it go a bit higher than I like so I tend to tap the brakes alittle.

**Displaced Hokie** · 11-23-2006, 09:16 AM

The downshift surprised me too the first time I was crusing the mountians. I think it's cool as heck.

When I had a loaner Stratus the other week I really disliked the cruise on it. It seemed to take forever to engage and speed changes were sort of sluggish. On the Mag everything is instantanious. I figure it's due to the better computer and drive-by-wire on the Mag.

**lowriderman3** · 11-23-2006, 10:20 AM

Cruise control has done this for as long as I can remember. Had it on my 87 Z24 Cavalier, and it did it then even.

**PaulFix** · 11-23-2006, 01:30 PM

The cruise control is a trip... had me giggling the 1st time i drove in the mountains...drop 2 gears and WOT up the hill, then drop a gear and engine brake down.

**COOKZ32** · 11-23-2006, 03:35 PM

I will take the family on a couple ski vacations to Montana this year, and I'm sure it will downshift plenty. First vehicle I ever owned that will do this.