This may be a silly question but is it safe to change modes e.g. normal to comfort whilst the car is in motion? It doesn't say you can't in the manual so I assume it's ok but I haven't tried it yet as there is a slight doubt in my mind.  Do the different modes really make that much difference?  Do people generally just use normal mode?

It is perfectly safe to change if my experience is anything to go by. Nothing falls off, or makes funny noises, even going from sport to off road.

Edited 27 October, 20196 yr by bigiainw

Reasonably safe unless you have to take your eyes off the road to do it, e.g. in my car I need to find the mode button which is low down in front of the gear selector and then select the required mode on the infotainment touchscreen. Alternatively, as I have DSG, I can switch between the previously selected mode and sport mode simply by pulling back on the DSG selector lever, which is very easy to do. So I can have the car in normal or eco for most of the time, and just pull back on the lever if I need an extra burst of acceleration.

 

 

Unless you have the high end suspension - extra - then the only things that get changed are electronic behaviour - traction control / ABS / Haldex / Throttle - so perfectly safe to do on the move.

 

Even with the suspension - I imagine it is also totally safe - as its not like the car changes height 125mm or something when you select off road - like in a Discovery - even on those you can do that while driving (slowly)

 

 

Totally safe even with DCC. 

Does anyone notice the difference?

 

Can't say I do much.  Sport makes it slighly less floaty, and makes the steering less responsive.

 

Not noticed any difference in acceleration though.  Maybe as I have the manual and control this more anyway?  

 

Not sure.

Thanks for  the replies.  Safety when changing on the move is a good point.  What prompted me to ask the question was that my wife was driving and we had a long stretch on a motorway and I wondered whether I could change from normal to comfort as the passenger. We've got a 1.5TSI DSG so I'll try switching to sport using that method  but will it have much effect on acceleration particularly from a standing start.

40 minutes ago, xspartx said:

Not noticed any difference in acceleration though.  Maybe as I have the manual and control this more anyway?  

You are in control of the gear changes which would be happening at higher revs if you were accelerating with a DSG in sport mode, but I would expect there to be a difference in throttle response. 

54 minutes ago, xspartx said:

Does anyone notice the difference?

 

Lots of difference.

 

Sports mode:

Engine revs higher at gear change ca (4000 vs 2000 rpm).

Throttle more responsive.

Steering stiffer (adaptive steering)

Suspension stiffer (DCC)

Louder noise (sound booster).

 

 

4 minutes ago, Lorian said:

We've got a 1.5TSI DSG so I'll try switching to sport using that method  but will it have much effect on acceleration particularly from a standing start.

In the 2.0 TDI 184 DSG Octavia Scout the difference is very noticeable, especially going from eco where the throttle response is very sluggish to sport where it is comparable to the diesel VRS. It may be less noticeable in a big SUV with a less powerful engine, but why not give it a try? It is easy enough to do.

 

I don't find much to like about eco mode apart from the ability to coast that comes with the DSG. Compared to normal the difference in economy is not massive.

 

14 hours ago, OldBoyScout said:

.... Alternatively, as I have DSG, I can switch between the previously selected mode and sport mode simply by pulling back on the DSG selector lever, which is very easy to do. So I can have the car in normal or eco for most of the time, and just pull back on the lever if I need an extra burst of acceleration.

 

 

 

I don't think that that fully changes the mode.  It moves the gearbox into "sport" mode (which will give you the burst of acceleration), but doesn't affect all the other aspects (steering, aircon, headlamps and more) that are associated with the previous mode.

2 minutes ago, DaveMiller said:

I don't think that that fully changes the mode.  It moves the gearbox into "sport" mode (which will give you the burst of acceleration), but doesn't affect all the other aspects (steering, aircon, headlamps and more) that are associated with the previous mode.

I guess that's probably correct, but it's good enough for me.

 

19 minutes ago, DaveMiller said:

I don't think that that fully changes the mode.  It moves the gearbox into "sport" mode (which will give you the burst of acceleration), but doesn't affect all the other aspects (steering, aircon, headlamps and more) that are associated with the previous mode.

 

I think it takes only the engine and gearbox to sports mode. And definitely sound booster.

8 hours ago, linni said:

 

I think it takes only the engine and gearbox to sports mode. And definitely sound booster.

Not as of MY20.

4 hours ago, ZacDaMan72 said:

Not as of MY20.

Interesting. Has the MY20 also sorted the problem where the car doesn’t fully remember what mode it was left in, after switching off?

6 minutes ago, DaveMiller said:

Interesting. Has the MY20 also sorted the problem where the car doesn’t fully remember what mode it was left in, after switching off?

I should clarify that the MY20 RS does not change the sound booster when in sports transmission mode, otherwise the functionality is same as before.

 

The car defaulting to Normal drive mode is intentional due to WLTP. Apparently now the car has to default to the drive mode it was tested in. You also can't reset it via double tapping the Off Road mode button anymore - previously, you used to be able to quickly reset the transmission mode to whatever mode you set it to (i.e. E/S) if you didn't want it in normal D mode.

Edited 28 October, 20196 yr by ZacDaMan72