BMW "eco pro mode scam"

[Wills2]

Uncle boshy said:

The big benefit is coasting with the auto. You can only do that in eco pro. I reckon it’s worth 5mpg to me.

You can coast in comfort and comfort+ as well that might be down to the MHT though.

[Billy_Rosewood]

In the f30 330e it noticeably does the following (as others have already pretty much pointed out) -

-Changes to a lazier throttle map (night and day from the other modes, so can catch you out when pulling on to a roundabout/out of a junction)
-holds gears for longer and reluctance to kick down multiple gears.
-Ventilation recirc seems to cycle more often than usual.
-lack of hybrid battery recharging when cruising.
-regen only when braking / no regen when coasting
-coasting in general is far improved, it glides with engine off (and I assume gearbox disconnected) for what feels like 100s of yards without much loss of speed.

I see a good 10mpg bump in mileage on motorways, but you lose a lot of that when you come off the motorway with a flat hybrid battery.

Edited by Billy_Rosewood on Sunday 16th June 10:41

[Uncle boshy]

Wills2 said:

Uncle boshy said:

The big benefit is coasting with the auto. You can only do that in eco pro. I reckon it’s worth 5mpg to me.

You can coast in comfort and comfort+ as well that might be down to the MHT though.

On my f31 320i lci it only works in eco pro mode, the 330e might be different.

On newer cars, like the g20 apparently it works in both, but more often in eco pro mode

Edited by Uncle boshy on Sunday 16th June 21:32

[Wills2]

Uncle boshy said:

Wills2 said:

Uncle boshy said:

The big benefit is coasting with the auto. You can only do that in eco pro. I reckon it’s worth 5mpg to me.

You can coast in comfort and comfort+ as well that might be down to the MHT though.

On the f30 it’s in eco pro mode only

Sure but that's not the only application being discussed hence I mentioned MHT.

[Sofa]

Uncle boshy said:

Wills2 said:

Uncle boshy said:

The big benefit is coasting with the auto. You can only do that in eco pro. I reckon it’s worth 5mpg to me.

You can coast in comfort and comfort+ as well that might be down to the MHT though.

On my f31 320i lci it only works in eco pro mode, the 330e might be different.

On newer cars, like the g20 apparently it works in both, but more often in eco pro mode

Edited by Uncle boshy on Sunday 16th June 21:32

I know in the G20 you can also manually trigger it with a quick double-tap on the upshift paddle while off the throttle- if I remember rightly you can do it in any mode (it's been a while since I've driven one but I'm sure you can do it in Eco and Comfort at least) although it can be a bit hit-and-miss, I assume sometimes the car has a reason to keep the engine running much like with start-stop. Don't know if you can do the same in the F30?

[Pica-Pica]

Uncle boshy said:

Wills2 said:

Uncle boshy said:

The big benefit is coasting with the auto. You can only do that in eco pro. I reckon it’s worth 5mpg to me.

You can coast in comfort and comfort+ as well that might be down to the MHT though.

On my f31 320i lci it only works in eco pro mode, the 330e might be different.

On newer cars, like the g20 apparently it works in both, but more often in eco pro mode

Edited by Uncle boshy on Sunday 16th June 21:32

On my F30, you can turn the coast function off, I did as it felt weird, I could not slow down enough from 60 to 30 limits due to lack of engine braking.

[leef44]

Uncle boshy said:

leef44 said:

Would you save the same fuel if you changed your driving style without pressing eco pro?

The big benefit is coasting with the auto. You can only do that in eco pro. I reckon it’s worth 5mpg to me.

If you don’t use coasting in eco pro, then very little difference.

Ok that's quite a big impact. Also that would suit my driving style.

But my problem is that I don't use the brakes enough and they end up corroded. I've been told by mechanics from three different places on two cars who have replaced my brakes that I need to use the brakes more. The last set cost just over £1k. I do too few miles that the fuel saving doesn't even pay for that

Why I'm impressed with 5mpg saving? My SLK55 R172 could probably save max 3mpg using cylinder deactivation. It was a big technology step for MB at the time but not big eco savings. I can't complain, it has a relatively low VED for such a stonking engine.

[Pica-Pica]

leef44 said:

Uncle boshy said:

leef44 said:

Would you save the same fuel if you changed your driving style without pressing eco pro?

The big benefit is coasting with the auto. You can only do that in eco pro. I reckon it’s worth 5mpg to me.

If you don’t use coasting in eco pro, then very little difference.

Ok that's quite a big impact. Also that would suit my driving style.

But my problem is that I don't use the brakes enough and they end up corroded. I've been told by mechanics from three different places on two cars who have replaced my brakes that I need to use the brakes more. The last set cost just over £1k. I do too few miles that the fuel saving doesn't even pay for that

Why I'm impressed with 5mpg saving? My SLK55 R172 could probably save max 3mpg using cylinder deactivation. It was a big technology step for MB at the time but not big eco savings. I can't complain, it has a relatively low VED for such a stonking engine.

As I wrote earlier, I saw no benefit from eco-pro and its coasting mode. I switched off coasting mode, eco-pro does tell you when to lift off ahead of a roundabout, for example, but most people should be doing that.
I had the same issues with corroded brakes. After little use in, and after, lock down, and then salt gritters, my road side discs were corroded. I tried to ‘heavy brake’ them away, but still got juddering. As the fronts were low, I replaced the discs and pads. A bit better, but still there to some extent. So I replaced the rears and the juddering went. (I still have the MOT for that year besmirched with the advisory of ‘worn, corroded or pitted, but effective’ )

I make sure I use the brakes on long downhills now.

[Wills2]

Interesting the comments about turning it off, in the newer models that isn't an option that I can find, the car decides when to do it, just been out and watched the energy flow, it mixes it up between engine/battery or just one plus regen and then coasting, over 9.7 miles it coasted for 1 mile and returned 53 mpg which is pretty cold from a cold start. that was in comfort+ the eco pro mode has options but no option to turn coasting off.

I noticed it stopped coasting as I approached roundabouts and went into regen adding drag but the nav and systems are connected to the gearbox so it sees what is coming up.

[Pizzaeatingking]

leef44 said:

Would you save the same fuel if you changed your driving style without pressing eco pro?

Na, the coasting helps hugely but you have to drive with it too.

Magnum 475 said:

On my F30, it’s almost unusable:

1. The throttle map becomes awful, no response at all

2. It changes up way to early and lugs the engine - it will be in 8th by 50mph, doing about 1,100 rpm. On a petrol engine, this is not good. Then it really doesn’t want to change down for acceleration or getting up hill. You can feel vibration from the engine being under-revved.

And it makes very little difference to fuel burn in most driving.

I might have it a bit easier with a bigger engine compared to some but it's not unusable in my F30, ticks along nicely at 50mph no bother, no vibrations, if the hill is that steep it just changes down a gear.

[Pica-Pica]

Wills2 said:

Interesting the comments about turning it off, in the newer models that isn't an option that I can find, the car decides when to do it, just been out and watched the energy flow, it mixes it up between engine/battery or just one plus regen and then coasting, over 9.7 miles it coasted for 1 mile and returned 53 mpg which is pretty cold from a cold start. that was in comfort+ the eco pro mode has options but no option to turn coasting off.

I noticed it stopped coasting as I approached roundabouts and went into regen adding drag but the nav and systems are connected to the gearbox so it sees what is coming up.

Yes. I have just a 66 plate F30 335d, no hybrid, and that will read the road via GPS, and change down to negotiate and exit smoothly.

[joropug]

I've got a 2020 520d Mild Hybrid - I've added quite a big write up of the drive modes in my thread:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I only use Sport Individual (all setting set to comfort) and Eco Pro, comfort seems pointless.

I use Sport Individual as a way of turning off start stop. It does no coasting, no start stop. It's my default set by Carly, I then move to Eco Pro when I want it/when the car has warmed up.

On fast motorway driving, eco pro will coast the gearbox and turn off the engine down hills etc. It is better at this if not using limiter or cruise control. This can be pretty good, unless there is traffic. As soon as there is traffic, you lose the efficiency saving of the coasting (car detects traffic and turns engine back on) but you can also not take advantage of throttle control and engine braking. If there is no traffic, this is less of an issue.

I find that in sport individual I can get better MPG for this reason on the motorway, I can take advantage of the engine braking and modulate speed better to avoid touching the brakes.

On country & local roads however, Eco pro can be really good. It becomes a bit of an art knowing at what point you can release the throttle and coast to the perfect speed before the next turning etc. I have driven 2 miles with the engine off in one hit once, on a long gentle decline that kept the car perfectly at the speed limit.

[Wills2]

Pica-Pica said:

Wills2 said:

Interesting the comments about turning it off, in the newer models that isn't an option that I can find, the car decides when to do it, just been out and watched the energy flow, it mixes it up between engine/battery or just one plus regen and then coasting, over 9.7 miles it coasted for 1 mile and returned 53 mpg which is pretty cold from a cold start. that was in comfort+ the eco pro mode has options but no option to turn coasting off.

I noticed it stopped coasting as I approached roundabouts and went into regen adding drag but the nav and systems are connected to the gearbox so it sees what is coming up.

Yes. I have just a 66 plate F30 335d, no hybrid, and that will read the road via GPS, and change down to negotiate and exit smoothly.

Yes it's a good system on mine the suspension dampers/roll bars and air springs are also linked to it, clever stuff.

[rottenegg]

I haven't tried it yet but with XHP, it has an eco pro mode which turns off the lazy throttle response commands to the engine ECU, but you still get the other standard eco pro 'benefits'.

Worth noting: Engaging eco pro re-enables start/stop if you have coded it to be off by default.