Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Which models have cruise control - was it an optional extra?

When I bought my S2 I half expected it to have it. I'm not bothered either way, as I had it on my last car and never used it but now its really annoying me as I can't figure out if this was a standard feature on some models, an optional extra or if I'm just going mad and have imagined it. Google and Wikipedia are not being especially helpful...

out of interest how easy is it to fit as a later add-on? (reason being I'm thinking of changing my steering wheel to one which has controls for the head unit so might look at that at the same time)

thanks! (told you it was a stupid question)

It was an option, certainly on S2s & I believe on Turbots. I'd add it's about as common as rocking horse poo... or virgins in (enter town/city of choice here)
Most of the retrofit kits are A. A PITA to fit, I've done a few & B. none too reliable. The chances of finding the bits around are I'd guess virtually nil.

ah...thanks! I'm sure I saw it on one of the cars I was looking at before I took the plunge but then started to doubt myself.

Yeah Jon Mitchell said he had only seen a couple of cars with it before, came up in conversation when he was looking ay my Turbo SE. Just looked up the option's and it's code 454 but I agree, I'll probably never use it either which is why it's still working I suppose

Got it on the Jag & use it a lot, but that's in full blown waft mode rather than a sports car. Bit different when the 944 was new in Germany & used for mile munching.

I looked at retrofitting it to my Turbo back when it was a daily driver, but it was just proving too difficult to even find someone who knew what was involved. There's a different stalk set (as the stalks are a single unit) and a big electrical/pneumatic unit in front of the driver in the engine bay plus all the linkages to the throttle body, but who knows if that is all and how easy it would be to set up?

I used to use cruise a lot in the UK, primarily in roadworks with SPECS cameras; set it at 49 or 50 mph by my Road Angel and cruise past everyone trying to hold 50 on their speedo without fear of a ticket.

That's a good idea might try that on the A303 near me, there's one half way up a hill which can be tricky to gauge throttle pressure on especially as I've still not got used to this turbo yet, pulled out a junction today and nearly ended up facing the wrong way ended up on wrong side of road anyway for a moment, but it is only the third time I've driven the '44 yet.

Most Turbo owners have at least one unexpected loose rear end story. My best was on the A303 as it happens; heading toward the smoke (on the way to a Husborne Crawley autojumble I think), coming off the Countess roandabout the road was damp and the hi-grip surface ends in the middle of a slight left kink and the back stepped out quite a lot when the surface changed. Not the only time it happened, but memorable as I wasn't pushing things, just driving to get somewhere.

Not as memorable as the Impreza (which I hated with a passion) which went from understeer to 45 degrees of oversteer (as they do - Scooby people think it's called "handling") on the roundabout further toward Devon that has traffic lights on it - with a bloke in an Escort in the lane to my left, and that was on a sunny day, though admittedly I was pushing a bit harder that time.

Cruise control is for things like Jim's posh Jag and the E270CDI that I drive. I have to say that I like it for maintaining constant speed on an empty motorway, but find myself panicking when the car in front doesn't move over soon enough on a busy motorway, giving me a feeling of 'no control'. I prefer not to use it really.

i only use mine on the pug on motorways when travelling thro' roadworks @ 50 mph, or on the M42 with its active speed limits

Posh Jag....
It takes practise, I've had it on quite a few cars now. With a bit of learning you can "drive" the car on it, great for learning anticipation. Also great feeling of satisfaction when you complete 99% of a journey with it on!

mmm there's something in me that gets the fear when I think about trusting 20 year old electronics to control the car speed for me...
(mind you most of that is down to have absolutely no idea how cruise control works)

still - I think I prefer trusting my own foot.

[quote="krone9"]mmm there's something in me that gets the fear when I think about trusting 20 year old electronics to control the car speed for me...
(mind you its probably safer than some of us 40-60 eeedjits behind the wheel of a Porsche!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!he he

I used to have a 1976 Carrera 3.0 which had been converted from Sportomatic to manual (before I had it) and that had "tempostat" or whatever it was called back then. It might have worked by holding engine speed in fact, which would mean that if you set it at 70 in 5th and then resumed it when in 4th the speed would settle to something in the 50s, but I might be making that up as it's a long time since I sold that car.

Anyhow it wasn't a good system and it used to creep over time, but it was a very slow creep and I think it got slower rather than faster. I don't know that there is any need to worry about trusting the system as the worst it can do is accelerate you beyond the speed you set and you still have the opportunity to cancel or turn it off if it does, and the speedo still works so you can see how fast you're going.

I drive artics with cruise control all the time.there have been big developments in transmissions over the last decade or so and a lot of modern artics are automatic with cc.B&Q wont let you drive one of theirs until you ve had a days training.When I did it I was very nervous at first but by the end of the day I was ok with it.At first I felt like the vehicle was in control rather than me but you can slow it down or speed it up with a button on the stalk,also you can switch it off or just brake and that switches it off.You do need to drive "on the horizon" i.e. anticipate whats going to happen in front of you but its good to drive that way anyway! The mpg savings are pretty serious so you can understand why companies like these systems.Must be worth millions each year to big operators! Also it makes life a lot easier for me!!