Cruise control, even though it has been around for a while, has been one of the best features of a car especially if you are looking at the safety of the vehicle. But while cruise control tends to be a standard feature in cars with automatic transmission, you might wonder if manual cars have it. So, can you cruise control with a manual transmission?
You can cruise control with a manual transmission. It doesn’t work half as well as it does with automatic transmissions as it still regulates the car’s speed when you are cruising. But the system tends to disengage the moment you slow down or when you press the clutch.
In that regard, while cruise control does indeed work with cars with manual transmissions, you shouldn’t expect it to work perfectly at all or even close to how it works on cars with automatic transmissions. Still, having cruise control on a manual car can still be something to be happy about especially when it comes to your overall safety.
Is cruise control available on cars with manual transmissions?
When you look at how cruise control works and how manual transmission cars are basically a thing of the past, you would probably think that they are not compatible with one another. And there is a good reason for that especially when you consider that cruise control works really great on cars with automatic transmissions and how it seemingly should only work on them.
However, what you need to know is that cruise control is indeed available on cars with manual transmissions. Yes, you read that right. Even though it might seem like cruise control and manual transmission don’t seem to go well together, this is still a feature that is very much present in cars with manual transmissions.
The reason why cruise control is still available on manual transmission cars is, of course, for safety and for convenience. You can never really deny the fact that cruise control is very useful when it comes to cruising on an open road especially during long drives as it basically allows you to fix your speed at certain levels. And when applied on a manual transmission car, it becomes quite useful as well especially when you consider how it can be exhausting to keep your car on a steady speed level when you are driving a stick shift car.
Of course, because modern cars now come with electronic speed signals and electronic accelerator signals, it really isn’t difficult to integrate cruise control into cars that come with manual transmissions. Even modern motorbikes also have cruise control nowadays given how useful the feature is for any kind of vehicle.
How does adaptive cruise control work with a manual transmission?
While cruise control may be available on cars with manual transmissions, don’t expect it to work as well as it does on a car with an automatic transmission. In some cases, you would even say that cruise control works only half as well as it does on stick shift cars than it does with an automatic car.
For starters, when you engage the cruise control function on a car with a manual transmission, it will work in a similar manner as it does on a car with an automatic transmission. However, the moment you step on the clutch or when you slow down or come to a full stop, the system will automatically disengage unlike how it stays turned on in a car that runs on an automatic transmission system.
As such, when you have to switch gears, you need to re-engage the cruise control function again. However, this doesn’t seem to be much of a big deal for manual transmission drivers because of how switching gears means you are actually slowing down or speeding up. That naturally means that you actually don’t have to use cruise control.
Meanwhile, when the RPM gets to levels that are too low or too high, the cruise control function automatically disengages as well. However, it won’t disengage if it detects traffic that is slower than you as long as the difference in speeds isn’t that too big. But when the speed difference is so big that you need to downshift, the system will automatically disengage.
Is low-speed follow available on a manual transmission?
No, low-speed follow is not a feature that is available on cars with manual transmission. Low-speed follow may be great for cars running on automatic transmissions but it is close to impossible to integrate it with stick shift cars because of how it will require you to shift your gears a lot when you are driving a car with a manual transmission.
Can you put cruise control in a car that doesn’t have it?
Even if you have an older car that doesn’t have cruise control, you shouldn’t worry because you can still have it added to your car. Yes, that is right. You can have an aftermarket cruise control added to your car regardless of whether it may be manual or automatic if it originally didn’t come with cruise control. And there are plenty of reasons why you should have cruise control in your car.
Long rides will end up becoming more comfortable if you have cruise control. Of course, because of the consistent speeds your car will be running on, it will end up having better mileage. And when you are in the middle of long drives, you will less likely end up getting fatigued when you have cruise control engaged.
Cruise control kit for manual transmission
In case you want cruise control to be added to your car, you can simply buy a cruise control kit and have it installed in your car. This cruise control kit from Rostra is a good choice because of how comparatively affordable it is and how it can be installed in manual transmission cars. However, you would need to buy a separate clutch switch for it to be installed in a car with a manual transmission.
Sources:
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/does-adaptive-cruise-control-work-with-a-manual-transmission/
https://www.hallmazdamilwaukee.com/blog/do-manual-vehicles-have-adaptive-cruise-control/