Had a search of the forums, couldn't find the answer, but I'm sure it must have been asked before. What do the different driving modes actually do? What is sporty dynamic driving lights, compared to eco driving lights???

 

The only option that I can detect a change in is steering weight, which is a bit too light in eco and std, and too heavy in sport, the feel of the karoq is heavier than my Octy VRs in sport mode....

 

I can't detect any changes in throttle response, there's not going to be any changes to the mapping for sure, so what does the mode setting do to the engine? Nothing is all I have concluded, or if it does change something, it's barely. I tried ECO yesterdya for about half an hour on the M4, and made no difference to economy, nor engine response. Maybe a slight difference in throttle response, but it was hardly night and day. Utterly pointless feature?

Eco definitely mutes throttle response so less acceleration for given throttle input. This is most noticeable with cruise control if getting back up to set speed. I don't use ECO on the motorway, due to the slow acceleration with ACC on, pulling out to overtake a slower vehicle.
If you have a DSG gearbox, then ECO changes the shift points to keep revs down. I'm not sure if this benefits a diesel's consumption overall as it can lead to increased re-gens which uses more fuel.

Also if you have a DSG, then the coast function becomes operative in ECO mode. This definitely saves me fuel as I drive to take advantage of it.

If using cruise control or ACC then the DSG gearbox works as if in Normal mode IME.

Edited 11 December, 20196 yr by Luckypants

You haven't said if yours is manual or auto?

Sport mode on dsg versions make an obvious difference. Much quicker "kick-down" into a lower gear when getting on the throttle to overtake for example. Also hangs onto a lower gear for longer to aid acceleration. Eco mode is largely pointless in my view as all it does is blunt the throttle and gearboxes responses in any given situation with no improvement in economy that I can see (my 20MY Kodiaq does the eco coasting thing in normal mode aswell as eco mode just less frequently in normal). I use normal mode most of the time with just the odd blip into sport mode or manual mode when required. 

 

PS. 

Just clocked on another post of yours that your karoq is an auto. 

Edited 11 December, 20196 yr by Gmac983

My mistake, it's manual; so the ECO mode pointless.