Impression of Radar Cruise Control on 2020 ORP

[RobS10]

We have had our 2022 ORP since early March and took a 2,000 mile road trip to drop our son off at college. Tried the Radar Cruise Control for the first time...on flat roads, it was great, as I would expect. However, throw in a hill and seemed worse than expected (I have plenty of experience with standard Cruise on our '99). It seemed that if I engaged it while holding my speed on a hill (and not necessarily steep ones), it immediately downshifted and reved the engine unnecessarily, and found I could drive much smoother and with lower engine RPMs on hills without the cruise engaged. AND, if I wanted to give it a little throttle just before a hill started to avoid the downshifts, if freaked it out. Anyone have a similar experience with their Radar Cruise Control?

 

[JoshDub]

Yes the radar cruise control has pretty poor hill performance. Living in the PNW we have a lot of elevation change and the 4runner struggles at speeds above 60mph. I have found if I just give the pedal the slightest input when we start to climb it prevents it from downshifting.

 

[RobS10]

Yes the radar cruise control has pretty poor hill performance. Living in the PNW we have a lot of elevation change and the 4runner struggles at speeds above 60mph. I have found if I just give the pedal the slightest input when we start to climb it prevents it from downshifting.

That's what I used to do on our '99, but it seemed to make the new one act erratically...I'll give it another try.

 

[JoshDub]

If it's still hunting after giving it gas then try giving it even more gas

 

[Forgetful]

It's not just the radar feature. The normal cruise is also super prone to downshift all the time. It's so annoying I hardly use cruise.

 

[Whippersnapper02]

It was the same in my 2010 Tacoma. Sometimes it would drop 2 gears with the engine screaming past the set speed and then letting off to drop back to the set speed. The supercharger helped to reduce the amount of downshifting but in my Runner I just use the throttle to keep speed myself and let off when I've past the hill.

 

[RobS10]

It's not just the radar feature. The normal cruise is also super prone to downshift all the time. It's so annoying I hardly use cruise.

Yeah, seems like it's a flat road only feature :dammit:

 

[gakattack]

Yes the radar cruise control has pretty poor hill performance. Living in the PNW we have a lot of elevation change and the 4runner struggles at speeds above 60mph. I have found if I just give the pedal the slightest input when we start to climb it prevents it from downshifting.

exactly the same sentiments I have when driving a Forrester with iSight (same thing, basically). Also in the PNW.

 

[1jzgte]

yea.. our camry has it and i still have to constantly engage and disengage.. not as useful as i hoped.. it would work better if it had a +/- 5 mph buffer.. i know the kia niro electric we had worked way better.. but with the way other people drive and trip your sensors forcing your car to react, its pretty useless feature

 

[131North]

Who doesn't love a sudden double downshift?

 

[1jzgte]

Who doesn't love a sudden double downshift?

the 4runner just gets loud and still doesnt accelerate

 

[Gclark949]

Worst cruise control of any vehicle I have ever driven. It is like hyper sensitive to downshift. I stopped using it.

 

[RobS10]

yea.. our camry has it and i still have to constantly engage and disengage.. not as useful as i hoped.. it would work better if it had a +/- 5 mph buffer.. i know the kia niro electric we had worked way better.. but with the way other people drive and trip your sensors forcing your car to react, its pretty useless feature

In certain circumstances, it worked as advertised... on the Interstate in the middle of Utah or Nevada on those long, flat, straight sections with limited traffic, it was great. Everything else, yeah, worthless.

 

[lewdog998]

Yeah, seems like it's a flat road only feature :dammit:

exactly.....

the main issue is the engines lack of HP and TORQUE. The ecu "calls" for more speed, the throttle body opens and adds more fuel....actual speed increase does not happen quick enough to satisfy the rate of acceleration the ECU calls for....so it does the next and only thing is has left in its arsenal...down shift!

the solution would be (if possible) to reprogram the cruise algorithm to accept a slower rate of acceleration before moving to other measures....

also keep in mind "lugging" the engine can cause detonation "engine knock" so the engine may be detecting knock...and therefore downshifting.....

It would be interesting for someone who regularly drives a route with a highway grade to experiment with regular vs premium fuel.

Thats all I got to say about that.

 

[02SE]

exactly.....

the main issue is the engines lack of HP and TORQUE. The ecu "calls" for more speed, the throttle body opens and adds more fuel....actual speed increase does not happen quick enough to satisfy the rate of acceleration the ECU calls for....so it does the next and only thing is has left in its arsenal...down shift!

Yep. It just lacks power in the RPM range where the engine is running when in 5th gear at highway speed. So you get a downshift or two to bring the engine up into the RPM range where it does make enough power to maintain speed on grades, strong headwinds, etc.

Of course there might also be a point where the engine might not make enough power to maintain speed no matter what gear the transmission is in. Then you're just going to be going slower until the road grade decreases, or conditions improve.

There are vehicles with a better power-to-weight ratio than the 4Runner. Especially when a 4Runner is modified with a lift, bigger tires, and all sorts of other accessories, as so many of us do.

You can add power to increase the power-to-weight ratio. The biggest improvement would be to use forced induction. Ether a supercharger, or turbocharger. But they aren't cheap, and you'll want to use premium fuel (which is an ongoing expense) to avoid pre-ignition.

I have other vehicles with much better power-to-weight ratios. They fill a want/need just like the relatively slow and underpowered 4Runner.

For me the 4Runner is adequate at stock power levels. But I don't put heavy demands on it, or expect more than it's capable of, either.

 

[RobS10]

Yep. It just lacks power in the RPM range where the engine is running when in 5th gear at highway speed. So you get a downshift or two to bring the engine up into the RPM range where it does make enough power to maintain speed on grades, strong headwinds, etc.

Of course there might also be a point where the engine might not make enough power to maintain speed no matter what gear the transmission is in. Then you're just going to be going slower until the road grade decreases, or conditions improve.

There are vehicles with a better power-to-weight ratio than the 4Runner. Especially when a 4Runner is modified with a lift, bigger tires, and all sorts of other accessories, as so many of us do.

You can add power to increase the power-to-weight ratio. The biggest improvement would be to use forced induction. Ether a supercharger, or turbocharger. But they aren't cheap, and you'll want to use premium fuel (which is an ongoing expense) to avoid pre-ignition.

I have other vehicles with much better power-to-weight ratios. They fill a want/need just like the relatively slow and underpowered 4Runner.

For me the 4Runner is adequate at stock power levels. But I don't put heavy demands on it, or expect more than it's capable of, either.

We have been driving a '99 SR5 for 17 years now and used to the lack of power on hills problem with the cruise control, but was surprised I could drive our new ORP on hills much easier, without the double downshifts, and at the same speed, than with the cruise control.

 

[JoshDub]

It's not just that the 4runner has to downshift, it hunts. It'll go from 5 > 4 >3 > 4 > 3 > 4 > 3 and so on continuously until it gets to a level grade. shifting every couple seconds. While the lack of power is a root of the problem, the primary issue is awful programming on Toyota's behalf. This happens on grades that do not require downshifting at all, just mildly more throttle.

 

[RobS10]

It's not just that the 4runner has to downshift, it hunts. It'll go from 5 > 4 >3 > 4 > 3 > 4 > 3 and so on continuously until it gets to a level grade. shifting every couple seconds. While the lack of power is a root of the problem, the primary issue is awful programming on Toyota's behalf. This happens on grades that do not require downshifting at all, just mildly more throttle.

Exactly, that's just what it feels like, a Programming issue, as our old 4Runner doesn't seem to have such erratic behavior as the new more "advanced" one!

 

[02SE]

Exactly, that's just what it feels like, a Programming issue, as our old 4Runner doesn't seem to have such erratic behavior as the new more "advanced" one!

The new one also has another gear to choose from, that your old '99 with it's A340 4-speed didn't. The old 4-speed would inherently hunt less.

I've driven numerous modern rental cars with relatively underpowered at low RPM engines, mated to 8+ gear transmissions. They are shifting all the time in situations where the 5th gen 4Runner also does.

Underpowered cars with CVT transmissions are also changing ratios constantly in those situations.

They try to keep the RPM as low as possible when cruising on flat ground, to maximize MPG. But that just means that anything demanding more power might need a downshift or two.

It's just the way it is with relatively low-powered vehicles, with the goal being maximum MPG.

 

[BobsTrail]

I run in S5 all the time, it helps with downshifts and delays. But that's on my old 2013 TE.

Our other Toyota is a 2018 Sienna with the 8 speed and radar cruise. The radar cruise works very well in most conditions.