Eco mode
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Drawweight

Original Poster:

3,426 posts

136 months

Friday 28th November
quotequote all

Does it actually do anything?

On my latest car engaging it just seems to make it more sluggish. Is it just for motorway driving as on normal roads any benefit it gives must surely be outweighed by having to drive it harder?

Under what circumstances would it give increased mpg?

ScoobyChris

2,240 posts

222 months

Friday 28th November
quotequote all
Drawweight said:
Does it actually do anything?

On my latest car engaging it just seems to make it more sluggish. Is it just for motorway driving as on normal roads any benefit it gives must surely be outweighed by having to drive it harder?

Under what circumstances would it give increased mpg?
On my M140i it made the throttle pedal less responsive, switched off the air con so the windows kept misting up and put the gearbox into neutral to coast every time you were off throttle. It also displayed an "eco-meter" on the dashboard to tell you every time you accelerated harshly or went above 55mph.

I think I used it once so don't have any definitive data for the MPG saving, but it certainly sapped all enjoyment from driving biggrin

Chris

mmm-five

11,975 posts

304 months

Friday 28th November
quotequote all
On a run, my 335D gets 5-10% more miles if I use Eco mode...and I only use it when I'm doing long motorway runs where I know I won't need instant blasts of acceleration to overtake.

That's according to the little eco savings display on the bottom of the dash...so don't know if it's true or not, as I rarely do a full 600-700 mile run with it on.

It's about a similar saving between keeping it in Sport vs Comfort...but Sport holds gears longer and tends to stay in 1 gear lower all the time...so the extra revs will account for most of that MPG loss.

Zetec-S

6,562 posts

113 months

Friday 28th November
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It makes a fairly big difference on our Countryman Cooper S, but only on a long run on relatively quiet motorways, so rarely use it.

the-norseman

14,869 posts

191 months

Friday 28th November
quotequote all
I remember on my old Cupra it would turn of A/C, and would knock the gearbox into N when lifiting off, it seemed quite unsafe. Used it for about 2 minutes.

I've had a hire car this week (2025 Ford Puma) it had Normal, Eco and Sport, I just put it straight in sport.

AlphaDelta

336 posts

65 months

Friday 28th November
quotequote all
Drawweight said:
Does it actually do anything?

On my latest car engaging it just seems to make it more sluggish. Is it just for motorway driving as on normal roads any benefit it gives must surely be outweighed by having to drive it harder?

Under what circumstances would it give increased mpg?
On some recent Ford’s I’ve driven it dulled the throttle response and also deactivated a cylinder (going from 3 to 2) when driving at a steady pace. Stop/start at lights etc. Did return a better MPG but not something I was wild about using.

Konan

2,236 posts

166 months

Friday 28th November
quotequote all
On my Legacy it set the initial wastegate duty cycle to zero across the whole table. I assume to stop it boosting quickly on throttle applications.

Pica-Pica

15,733 posts

104 months

Friday 28th November
quotequote all
On my 335d, there are a few rare occasions when it may give a gentler drive. It does not do anything economically that you can't do yourself. It does have a coast function, but you can turn that off as it just feels wrong. I just use the normal comfort mode, and knock the stick left when I want sport mode. I use sport mode on some winding and undulating roads here in NW Wales, that gives more suitable control in those conditions. But Eco mode? - no I don't use it.

leef44

5,124 posts

173 months

Saturday 29th November
quotequote all
On my SLK55 I find it doesn't help on motorways. I get the same mpg in 4 cylinder mode or 8 cylinder mode.

There is so much torque that it's running very low revs at the speed limit on 8 cylinders.

In eco mode, the throttle response is sluggish and on a slight incline you have to use a significant throttle to keep the speed.

However, in town driving yes eco mode would help but I bought the car because of its V8 so I like to just run it in that mode biggrin

MikeM6

5,728 posts

122 months

Saturday 29th November
quotequote all
I haven't owned a car with eco mode yet, but in the rentals I have had (there have been many) the eco mode tends to reduce response, reduce Aircon power, reduce seat heating power, change gearbox mapping to stay in higher gears, display things on the screen to encourage gentler driving (gamifying eco driving) and sometimes closing flaps in the front of the car for aerodynamics.

It seems to make a tangible difference and it is not how you want the car to be set up all the time, so it's generally good to have it as a mode rather than a default.

Lo-Fi

1,253 posts

90 months

Saturday 29th November
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Eco works in my 300h because it keeps it in leccy mode as much as possible. On most of my previous VWs (all ICE) it would shut down cylinders and coast when able, but wouldn't interfere with AC.

Rough101

2,876 posts

95 months

Saturday 29th November
quotequote all
On Volvos it makes the displayed mpg rise markedly but steams the windows up.

Maserati ICE mode lifts the mpg by about 10%

Mercedes didn’t seem to affect MOG

All make it very difficult to pull out of junctions due to delayed throttle response and selecting too high a gear.

Does very little on manuals.

Lester H

3,820 posts

125 months

Saturday 29th November
quotequote all
Drawweight said:
Does it actually do anything?

On my latest car engaging it just seems to make it more sluggish. Is it just for motorway driving as on normal roads any benefit it gives must surely be outweighed by having to drive it harder?

Under what circumstances would it give increased mpg?
The first question reminded me of a Clarksonism He was testing a Bentley GT which had 5 mode settings for the driving style and said that none made any discernible difference.

QuattroDave

1,753 posts

148 months

Saturday 29th November
quotequote all
I'm a big fan of eco modes.

On my M140i auto I had it made decent savings on my motorway commute, often seeing north of 50mpg.

Of my current cars:

The i3 rex eco mode mainly softens throttle response which I actually think makes for a smoother ride and it has a soft limit to 75mph (which you can hard press throttle to override). This adds about 10-15 miles to the range which for me is the difference between getting to and from work on electtric alone.

On the X3 m40d eco mode again softens the throttle response and improves mpg only because it removes the fun! But on the long motorway commute I have that's no bad thing.

On my mustang..... don't be silly!

Huzzah

28,394 posts

203 months

Saturday 29th November
quotequote all
Overall performance seems the same, but you don't get the 'kick' from the turbo. Which makes it easier to drive smoothly.

-(Dacia Duster 1.0)

Earthdweller

16,803 posts

146 months

Saturday 29th November
quotequote all
QuattroDave said:
I'm a big fan of eco modes.
....

On my mustang..... don't be silly!
Good man thumbup

mikecassie

656 posts

179 months

Saturday 29th November
quotequote all
Drawweight said:
Does it actually do anything?

On my latest car engaging it just seems to make it more sluggish. Is it just for motorway driving as on normal roads any benefit it gives must surely be outweighed by having to drive it harder?

Under what circumstances would it give increased mpg?
It would appear it does something by making the car sluggish. There's probably more going on that you don't notice, but the acceleration is what you've noticed.