Engage cruise control at 30km/h in Lexus

Del2005

Is there anyway to reprogram the cruise control on a GS450h so that it will engage at 30km/h?

I'm in South Dublin and all the housing estates are now 30. The problem is that the car has no gears, it's a CVT box, so I can't keep it in 1st to control the speed and even on idle the car will exceed 30. Currently the cruise control will engage at around 45km/h. I'd rather be able to set the cruise control to 30 so I can concentrate on driving than keep looking at the speedo to make sure that I don't go too fast.

colm_mcm

Isn’t there a sport mode and manual selection on those? Cruise control is t really designed for low speeds and there’s no way the car won’t go any slower than 30kmph in creep mode otherwise the car would be undrivable.

Some cars have a speed limit switch, on Mercs it’s very easy to activate on the cruise control stalk . Not sure about Lexus as I think it uses the standard Toyota type small stalk on the wheel.

Del2005

There is a sports and snow mode. There's increased engine braking for going down hills and it sort of works to slow the car down but no gears to lock it at low speed. The car can drive fine at 30, the limit in work is 20 and it's fine at that, it's just that I have to spend more time checking the speedo and not looking at the road, which kinda defeats the purpose of making us drive slower. No speed limiter built in either which is just another type of retarder which cruise control does when going down hills, as I can see the car generating electricity.

It should only be a line of code on the ECU that sets the minimum speed for cruise control. I know it's not designed for low speed but IMO I'd rather be concentrating on the hazards of the road than the speedo and engaging cruise control at low speed does that.

colm_mcm

When you put into D, isn't there the option to shift the shifter to the side? Am I thinking of a different car?

Del2005

colm_mcm wrote: »

When you put into D, isn't there the option to shift the shifter to the side? Am I thinking of a different car?

Yes flip it to the right and it increases engine braking it does stop the car increasing speed but some of the 30 zones are massive and it's easy to drift over even with the maximum resistance, especially when cyclists are disappearing into the distance.

KERSPLAT!

How do you normally drive and read the speedometer at the same time... hardly difficult.

gctest50

A pitlane limiter thingy is what's needed really, again just a few lines of code

kyote00

I have a 2008 GS450h and there is a +/- on the shifter that allows CVT to stay in low power band - can't say I ever use it...

TBH, the 450h will be running fully on electric at that low speed so it should be very easy to keep it below speed limit
The only danger is people will not hear you coming !

Its kinda nuts to set cruise control in a city IMHO

http://www.lexus.com/pdf/models/GSh_driving_performance_guide.pdf

What MPG do you get from yours ? Believe it or not, I get a steady 32mpg on a commute of 100miles - (80% motorway/ 20% city)

Del2005 wrote: »

Is there anyway to reprogram the cruise control on a GS450h so that it will engage at 30km/h?

I'm in South Dublin and all the housing estates are now 30. The problem is that the car has no gears, it's a CVT box, so I can't keep it in 1st to control the speed and even on idle the car will exceed 30. Currently the cruise control will engage at around 45km/h. I'd rather be able to set the cruise control to 30 so I can concentrate on driving than keep looking at the speedo to make sure that I don't go too fast.

Del2005

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

How do you normally drive and read the speedometer at the same time... hardly difficult.

I can judge most speeds by throttle control but for 30 zones even on idle the car can exceed the limit, if in doubt that I'll exceed the limit I'll throw on cruise control.

Vronsky

Cruise is not really appropriate for built up areas tbh. Even 30kmh can be inappropriate for built up areas.

Cruise on for the highway, I would never even use it on a two lane road, only segregated motorway or dual carriageway.