Is the car dealer in the wrong here?

I agree! Why shouldn't OP enjoy cruise control if she wants to? I bloody love cruise control and use it all the time. It's like a holiday for my knees after twenty years of manual cars. I get why others might not want to use cruise control but I'm never giving it up.

Not sure if it's been asked as only read ops posts.

Are you absolutely sure it doesn't have cruise control? My car has the limiter on the same arm, but there's a button to press to swap between the two, so it may be a case that it does, you just haven't switched from the limiter.

I can’t see the harm in going back as soon as possible and saying to the dealership I specifically asked for cruise control and it doesn’t have this feature. It doesn’t need to be a shouting match or complaint, just explain what happened and see what they come back with.

Write an email to the Manager. A lot of 'older' cars have features that new cars don't have, partly due to the global shortage of components which held up manufacturing during/after covid.

"approx 150k miles a year on average" surely this is a typo? 410 mikes a day, every day?

Surely you googled the spec of the car and any known recall / faults?

Do you really need to be committing to a long term debt just to drive a car that's a bit newer than the car you already have with cruise control?

I hope you had it in writing somewhere and you got it sorted somehow, OP.

I love my cruise control, makes a massive difference when driving a lot.

what on earth 😳 who wanted that feature how odd!!

FGS why can't people read and actually put the posters request first rather than their need to bang on about they don't need something?!

@StripyZebraa go back today and complain otherwise it will bug you forever. Take your dad to hang around if you want back up. He can step in when they start to treat you like you're stupid. Or fussy.

I don't use cruise control as I don't like it but does it mention it in the handbook? sometimes things are not apparent unless you look them up. I'm sure you have done that though. Go back to the dealer and ask for the cost to be reduced. Depends on if you like the car or not x

I drove to Wembley and back on Saturday and I absolutely HATE cruise control, having used it a couple of times, it’s never in operation long enough before I have to put my foot on the brake and regain control of the clutch. It’s properly grim!

Go back and speak to a manager. Cc can be retrofitted.

@StripyZebraa
Did you actually look at the car? Even just photos as dealers tend to put photos of everything, including the control sticks? Didn't you test drive it? I'm trying to understand how you bought a car from a dealer without looking at it and seeing whether it had what you needed since you clearly know what cruise control controls look like. And how you asked the dealer if they had it and he went and looked, why didn't you go and look? I know if you buy from Cinch or whatever you wouldn't have seen it, but they have a returns policy, so different from what you are saying.

I would contact them and explain and go from there.

I would go back to them. They have a reputation to uphold and will want to deal with this.

You have a minimum of 14 days (some contracts offer longer) to cancel the contract without charge - so if you feel like you've been mis sold you can go back in and say you want to cancel the contract.

Go into the garage and complain. Maybe take your Dad with you for moral support. In my experience car dealers will tell you anything to get you to buy a car so always double check the facts that are important to you yourself. Think about what you want before you go in there. Check if you realistically going to be able to find a car that has everything you want within budget or is this the closest you're going to get? There is a 14-day cooling off for new car purchases including the finance agreements so you could write this all off as experience, return the car and walk away.

Probably because most people use limiters now.

That's adaptive cruise control and I use it all the time - I wouldn't have a car without it.

Exactly, I use the limiter all the time. I have tried cruise control a couple of time, but couldn't see the point.

If she's driving through a lot of average speed roads, it may be what a PP said about the speed maintenance she wants. When she's only young and with insurance prices sky high atm, esp for younger ones, it may be a safeguarding measure that makes her feel safer. She's young and won't have been driving long, give the lass a break!

Cruise control is vital to my driving. I would never buy a car without it.

If I had asked specifically for it and they said it had it, I would go back and swap the car. I would be annoyed.

To me it is not about whether or not you like cruise control or speed limiters, it is your requirement.

I view it as deception, which is a criminal offence.

Hopefully you can get satisfaction without having to resort to the cooling off period or indeed the criminal law.

I would google the exact model and see if it has cruise control before doing anything. The buttons/controls really vary.

then complain to dealer if it hasn’t, see if they have another car you can swap to

of course you go back and politely and firmly point out the issue. I mean what's the worst that can happen?