I have noticed that cruise-control will not work in reverse gear on my
current car(Kia Magentis), as I find this very important aid to my
driving can you point me in the direction of a manufacturer or model
suitable to my needs?
Regards Kemlo

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 20 May 2003 11:29 PDT

Kemlo --

Your odometer does not work in reverse gear either.  In order to
properly judge your gas mileage, you may wish to acquire a vehicle in
which the odometer also works in reverse gear.  Is that a 2nd
specification for this search?

Best regards

ag-sourovinmo

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Clarification of Question by kemlo-ga on 20 May 2003 17:53 PDT

To  omnivorous-ga 
I live in a qiet rural area of England, its six miles to the nearest
town.I find the journy so boreing that I have started doing most of it
in reverse hence the CC not working. I will be needing a new car soon
and wondered if you new of one that meets my critera?
Regards Kemlo

If I had to go so far backward that I needed a cruise control, I think
I'd look for a place to turn around.

tutuzdad-ga

Obviously, you need to find a car that has lortnoc-esiurc.

Maybe you can do what Ferris Bueller did and just put the car in
reverse and put a brick on the accelerator.  But be careful about
doing this just in front a glass wall overlooking a 30 foot drop like
Ferris.

Users sought this feature on the old Dodge Shadow. 

"The shadow always moves forward," Hezekiah replied. "Make it go
backward instead." (2 Kings 20:10 NLT)

The Ferrari Daytona does 70MPH in reverse
Maybe if you were to reverse polarity of the connection to the
electronic relay that controls cc would do the trick?
Then probably cc would not work in forward gears, so a pole reversing
switch would need to be connected in circuit.
Simple to configure, by using a cross-over manual switch, it would be
a whole lot more difficult to configure within the gearbox.

BTW I don't know if it would work, but I can't see why not.

Even with a car with an odometer that worked in reverse, (American, at
least) cars' cruise control can't be set to take over at less than
25mph (30 nowadays).  Going in reverse at that speed is certainly a
task left to a professional (probably stunt) driver, and some who are
very well schooled bodygurds, and the like.  Either way, none of these
skilled drivers would ever rely on a cruise control to maintain a
constant speed.

kemlo-ga...

Your question really caught my eye........... 
Only because I have trouble driving in reverse even at 3 mph...
Why on earth would one want cruise control in reverse????????
I do not mean to be sarcastic or anything like that but...
Please tell me why... my curiousity has got the best of me now :)

You should read _The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven_ by
Sherman Alexie. There is a character in that book who probably wishes
for a car that has cruise control in reverse.

Is the car less stable in reverse?  

I'm thinking a steering error would be more tramatic in reverse
compared to forward - perhaps resulting in a rollover or spin out. 
But is that because the car is unstable in this mode ?  Or because
most of us aren't used to driving this way and it just seems more
dangerous?

I think it's the former but an automotive engineer would be the best
judge.

me again - messed up last post - I think it's the *former* not latter.
 That is, a car is less stable driven backwards.