As mentioned earlier, the cruise control is not the nice, modern incarnation I've come to like on our Forester that will brake on hills and properly maintain speed on a steep grade. I have found that you can slap the stick over to S and it will pick 4th gear and hold speed on climbs much better and will overshoot far less past the crest. On most descents on-road, it seems that 4th can maintain speed, but 3rd is overkill though sometimes necessary. While going into S4 won't kill the cruise, going down to 3rd will. And yes, after driving nothing but manual cars for the past 12 years, I hate using the brakes on hills...not to mention that you'll cook your brakes descending passes out here if you don't downshift.