Yet.
And yeah.
As a follower of Top Gear, seeing some of the crap the Brits do in the name of safety is…disturbing.
Try and put the car into a gear manually to where the engine RPMs are higher and see if the CC works at 20mph.
This has become way too difficult…let’s return to the original scope of the question:
Can the cruise control minimum be adjusted?
Answer: No. Let’s close the thread and move on.
Some cars (don’t know which) come with “speed limiters”, too. An adjustable “governor” for the top speed. I assume yours do not have it, since it’s not discussed, but that could be another handy feature to watch for in future purchases if this is important then, too.
Here is a (bad) video of one in action
IF anyone reading this has one, start a new thread to dicuss how coo it is, and how you use it all the time for things like not speeding in school zones. Inquiring minds want to know…
Ehh… My last 2 company vans had governors at 75. I’m sure there is a chip/programmer manufacturer that may have something. The 7.3 super duty’s had programmers/chips that you could have a rotary switch to switch modes. That option may be possible.
2 Likes
Slowing down to a safe speed and paying attention at the same time is easy. Having to watch carefully to make sure that you don’t accidentally drive through a school zone at 21 MPH while going down a hill because the police are ridiculous can be a distraction.
Cruise control systems aren’t gear-based, just vehicle speed. They’re all set around 35mph minimum for a number of reasons.
Re: Governors. Some makes have them, but they tend to set minimum speeds of 45mph. Aftermarket governors, apart from being a pain to install on a modern car without pissing it off, will vary widely but I don’t know of any that set as low as 20mph. (Vehicles designed for fleet sales often have provisions to cooperate with addons like governors; Subarus do not)
I maintain that your best bet in a late-model Subaru is to coast in the CVT’s facsimile of 3rd gear. If you get busted for 22mph, contest it. (Though, I’ve never seen anyone busted in a school zone for any less than 25, and I spent a long time driving through a half-mile school zone in Arlington every day)
You’re talking about commercial vehicle governors.
I’m talking about driver adjustable non-commercial vehicle “speed limiters”. Apparently, they’re much more popular in Europe, but I swear I’ve seen some cars sold in the USA with them. I’d think Subaru, in trying to bolster their current “love, safety, and big brotherdom” agenda might offer it.
1 Like
My VW wasn’t 35. I could set it indiscernibly close to 20. My F150 will set at 30, but not 20. Haven’t tested the low limit.
My MX-5 is comfortable cruising 20 in a school zone with cruise. 
A reflash could likely do it, if the tuner knows where to tweak it and the tuning solution developer has enabled it.
A Unichip can be used to remove the limiter on a few older Subarus. '07 FXT & 09 WRX. Owners said they went beyond the maximum speed indicated( 280kmh/~174mph) on the speedometer by a good margin.
May or may not be worth it to you to use as a means to limit top speed under certain conditions.
1 Like