Driving mode

[BTandSid]

5 hours ago, kodiaqsportline said:

Here's a tip for anyone who doesn't know how modes affect economy or think there's no difference. Set your display to show intantaneous fuel consumption and then change modes in various situations whilst you drive along and you'll see what affect it's has on economy.

 

What do modes do?  To take it to the extremes, ECO will try to maintain the highest gear possible without labouring the engine. Sport on the otherhand will change gear later without redlining the rev counter.

 

I'm not saying these figures are  true, just using it as an example -  If you travel at a steady 30mph on the flat, ECO may select gear 6 whereas NORM may select gear 5 and SPORT gear 4.   That's why ECO will be more economical in certain situations. However if you want to accelerate fast or get a heavy car moving, is it sensible to select a high gear and keep your foot depressed on the accelerator for what seems like forever?  In certain situations therefore, Normal or even Sport will be more economical.

 

Motorway driving? I get why someone would select ECO for around town ( as long as it's not a hilly area ) but why SPORT on a motorway? Irrespective of what mode you're in, each mode will have selected top gear so it won't make any difference. 

 

Bottom line is if you're looking to save fuel then use as light a right foot as possible.

 

Given what you’ve said about the car selecting the best gearing, the rationale about why or why not to chose Sport on a motorway makes sense.  I suppose the only obvious advantage of using Sport would be to give the car an extra ‘oomph’ when accelerating or overtaking at higher speeds

[croquemonsieur]

Regarding economy in the various modes, I regularly drive from East London to Bristol and back via the M25 & M4 in a fairly well laden 1.0 DSG SE Tech Karoq and typically get 50mpg in Summer.  The car doesn't have the 3 option driving mode feature as being discussed here, but it can be easily changed from Normal to Sport mode by pulling the selector back and revert to Normal by pulling it back again.  I suspect Normal is more or less equivalent to ECONOMY mode as the car does want to stay in as high a gear as possible most of ther time and I do find it better to be in Sport when going up hills and for overtaking.

 

Anyhow the point of writing is to note that my best ever Bristol run for Economy achieved 53mpg actual (55+mpg showing in infotainment) on the return leg, 2-3 years ago.  It was only halfway along the M4 that I realised the car had been in Sport position since the start of the motorway - the car was in top - 7th when I checked the speedo at 70mph.  Just to note, I did get the car up to 90mph a couple or more times to get past clumps of traffic, as I generally do on this journey.

 

There may be contributory factors - prevailing wind is Easterly and maybe it was a bit stronger than usual (return trip is usually a bit more economical than outward) + I do seem to recall there was a fair amount of M4 traffic that time, so a slight hypermiling effect maybe (Actually, economy on most return journeys starts to notch up a little more once I get onto the final busy M25 race track, I assume due to so many vehicles slip streaming me along) + the engine oil must be nicely warmed up by then.

 

It does point to the fact that being in Sport mode doesn't impact on economy, to say the least.  I keep meaning to try doing the whole trip in Sport - maybe this Summer.

[Rory]

On 01/04/2024 at 19:47, BTandSid said:

Following on from my initial posting I’ve been chopping and changing more frequently now across the modes, using eco for just popping around local streets, down the shops and then normal for most other everyday journeys. Sport I’ve saved for motorway journeys but have wondered how that affects mpg. For example we travelled probably 50 miles down the A2/M2 at the weekend, there was little traffic so pretty much managed 70mph for most of the journey, in sport mode. Would there have been any real difference in mpg had we run in normal mode? Without rerunning the exact trip, I’m not sure how we’d compare?

 

"Our" Karoq is really my wife's but I do drive it quite a bit.

 

This is unscientific, but to my mind you've got the mode the wrong way around.   In normal, everyday use, use "normal".   I took the Karoq for one long trip motorway trip and was a bit disappointed that the MPG seemed stuck at low 40's.  It then occurred to me to switch to Eco and slowly crept up to low 50's MPG.

 

Other than trying it for the heck of it, I can't think why I'd use Sport.

[sussamb]

I use sport on approach to roundabouts and some junctions, and on some overtakes. Makes merging and overtaking easier.

[Rory]

2 hours ago, sussamb said:

I use sport on approach to roundabouts and some junctions, and on some overtakes. Makes merging and overtaking easier.

 

Ours seems more than iively enough in "normal" - I can't say it's never given me any concerns in such circumstances.   

 

I used to have a Merc that had Comfort and Standard settings - it was close to undriveable around town in Comfort, especially as it started in 2nd gear.

Edited 4 April by Rory

[BTandSid]

12 hours ago, sussamb said:

I use sport on approach to roundabouts and some junctions, and on some overtakes. Makes merging and overtaking easier.

Makes accelerating away at junctions just that little bit quicker, more responsive

[croquemonsieur]

Sport is particularly desirable with the 1.0 DSG due to the high gearing in combination with the small engine + it's tendency to want to stay in as high a gear as long as possible.  Presumably less of an issue with the 50% larger 1.5, which anyway seems to be somewhat differently set up with the transmission and how they behave together, that's from what I've read in Briskoda here before.

 

I never used sport mode on my previous 1.2 Yeti (not sure it had it, actually) as that car seemed lower geared with enough umph for overtaking, without having to think about gearing.  Still, I only use Sport now & again with the 1.0 Karoq, just enough to make driving a little more involving, but without all that dancing around with the gear lever and clutch I was so glad to leave behind, once I graduated to automatics.

[Ootohere]

Is everyone talking about the same 'sport' as in the shifter moved back from D to S. Holds the gear up change to a higher RPM.  Rather than settings using the centre display and a Sport setting there?

[BTandSid]

4 hours ago, Rooted said:

Is everyone talking about the same 'sport' as in the shifter moved back from D to S. Holds the gear up change to a higher RPM.  Rather than settings using the centre display and a Sport setting there?

Talking about the option settings 

[croquemonsieur]

Apologies.  I was talking about moving the gear shifter back from D to S as I don't have the centre display facility.  Likely to be a similar overall effect though I expect.  Thinking about this now, moving the gear shifter back seems to me a less distracting selection/deselection proceedure, whilst driving, than fiddling around with the centre display settings.

[Ootohere]

@croquemonsieur It does not have a similar effect.

And the 1.0 TSI and 1.5tsi ACT might have the same DQ200,s, their mapping is rather different though.

 

With a DSG you can get into anyone's car and drive and move the seat, the mirrors and get comfortable and if you want D, S or manual shifts there is the selector at your left hand.

No need to mess with any settings the regular driver might have chosen.

[Stonekeeper]

1 hour ago, Rooted said:

@croquemonsieur It does not have a similar effect.

And the 1.0 TSI and 1.5tsi ACT might have the same DQ200,s, their mapping is rather different though.

 

With a DSG you can get into anyone's car and drive and move the seat, the mirrors and get comfortable and if you want D, S or manual shifts there is the selector at your left hand.

No need to mess with any settings the regular driver might have chosen.

 

Driving mode defaults back to normal when the car is restarted?

 

[Ootohere]

That is good.  But you do not even need to know if the car has driving modes. If you wqnt it to hold on to gears longer then move the shifter to S.

If you are in slow creeping traffic and you do not want it shifting 1st , 2nd, 1st then maybe shift back to S. 

[NottsIan]

Quote

It does not have a similar effect.

In what respect are they different ?

Selecting Sport mode either by the Drive mode switch or shifting the DSG to Sport seems to do the same on mine, it sharpens throttle response, increases steering weight and increases the DSG gear shift rpm points.  Eco mode on the mode switch seems to do the opposite...

[Ootohere]

@NottsIan  since @croquemonsieur has no modes putting the DQ200 DSG his 1.0TSI has can only change that the RPM is higher before shifting up, none of the stuff your Sport mode does.

When you are in Sport MODE, and then go from D to S what difference is then happening with the DSG, is it no difference?

 

If you are in SPORT MODE, and sitting foot on brake pedal and in D, then move the shifter to S while still stationary what happens to the RPM?

Edited 7 April by Rooted