I have a question about cruise control. I currently drive a 2014 Jeep Patriot but have had this same issue on previous cars I have driven, both newer and older. After temporarily disengaging the cruise and then hitting resume, the transmission will downshift to speed up to the pre-set speed. It does this with even less than a 5 mph decrease in speed. Is this really a gas saving feature or would it be best to bring the car back up to speed gradually prior to hitting resume? It can really be annoying sometimes.
It is not a gas usage feature. That is just how some work. If it really annoys you then just bring the vehicle back to the speed you want and reset cruise . I doubt if the amount of fuel used or not used by the downshift is enough to worry about.
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The cruise control wants to get the car back to the set speed quickly so it can shift back to the highest gear to conserve fuel. I usually accelerate gently back to regular speed before resetting it myself so it doesn’t drop 2 gears for a few mph, but I’m not honestly sure how much fuel I save doing that. Overall, though, I would say yes, cruise control definitely does save fuel, especially driving long distances on the highway (like driving to vacation)