ECO Mode

[Michael L]

I've just completed 300 miles in my new Touring Sports 1.8. I've been in Normal Mode throughout and am getting about 66 mph including a fair numnber of short runs. I'm not clear what ECO Mode actually does so would be interested in hearing people's experience of it. I tried it today and didn't notice any difference in the way the car drives.

Thanks

[Roy124]

Throttle resistance is one thing. 

[Cyker]

TBH they don't really do anything - Just change how the car responds to accelerator input.

If you take Normal as the base, consider that a 1-to-1 relationship between how much you push it and how much power you get. The others are curves that blunt/sharpen the response but they all meet at 100% anyway.

Say you push the accelerator 25% - In Normal you get 25% power, in Eco you get maybe 12% and Power mode you get 50%

Push it more to 50% accelerator, Normal you get 50%, Eco you get 30%, Power you get 70%.

Push it all the way to 100% - All 3 give 100%.

So they just change the accelerator response, but don't increase or decrease the maximum power available (At least in current models - I don't know if they will change this later!)

(NB: The numbers I give here are all totally inaccurate flagrant lies, and just serve to illustrate the idea as I CBA to draw a graph)

[Chippy01]

Eco mode will also 'mute' the climate control a bit too. It will still work as it should, but at a less energy using way.

That, along with the slowed down throttle response, is supposed to help increase your mpg.

As Mr Tesco says - 'Every little helps'

[Kental]

58 minutes ago, Chippy01 said:

Eco mode will also 'mute' the climate control a bit too. It will still work as it should, but at a less energy using way.

That, along with the slowed down throttle response, is supposed to help increase your mpg.

As Mr Tesco says - 'Every little helps'

The climate control has a separate Eco setting on it so does the drive mode still blunt the climate control yet further? 

[TonyHSD]

2 minutes ago, Kental said:

The climate control has a separate Eco setting on it so does the drive mode still blunt the climate control yet further? 

Owners manual perhaps can enlighten us, older models yes, for Corolla not sure. Eco mode what does the most is a fatigue to your right foot if you are regularly travel on long journeys. Normal mode for me works the best. 👌

[Kental]

Just now, TonyHSD said:

Owners manual perhaps can enlighten us, older models yes, for Corolla not sure. Eco mode what does the most is a fatigue to your right foot if you are regularly travel on long journeys. Normal mode for me works the best. 👌

In our Yaris we generally drive in Eco mode as it makes the adaptive cruise smoother.  You can always assist with the throttle if necessary.

[Hardy888]

Interesting to hear that eco mode makes the cruise control smoother. I take it that means it accelerates more gradually when a car moves out of the way or something? 

[Kental]

8 hours ago, Hardy888 said:

Interesting to hear that eco mode makes the cruise control smoother. I take it that means it accelerates more gradually when a car moves out of the way or something? 

Yes that’s how it feels, maybe it is placebo effect, however when driving into London on the A2 it means people pull into the gaps you leave more readily in stop start traffic so not ideal.

[clix]

I also noticed ECO/NORMAL/SPORT modes having an effect on ACC.

It accelerates harder in SPORT mode and more leasurly in ECO. I use SPORT on motorway, so if person in front moves away or accelerates, it accelerates faster. But I have 1.8, maybe with 2.0 even normal or ECO in motorway is enough. 🙂

[Obsidian Estate]

I drive mine in eco mode all the time, for some reason 🤷‍♂️

[Bozz]

Yes the selectable ECO drive mode also puts the climate control in ECO so reducing that demand on the hybrid system and saving a bit of fuel in the process. The compressor is electrically driven on these too.

To be honest I've driven the car for most of the winter in ECO but have just gone back to NORMAL and can't honestly see any difference in the economy (it's probably fractional) but I do prefer the sharper throttle response 

[TonyHSD]

 Normal mode for me all the time. 👍

[50p]

6 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

 Normal mode for me all the time. 👍

Me too .. unless pulling out into fast moving traffic, then Sport mode untill I can safely go back to Normal

[forkingabout]

I just leave my C-HR in normal mode - it's quick & economic enough as it is.

Can't really see the point in the 3 different drive modes, just let the car sort itself out.

[AndrueC]

I'm a relaxed driver who's rarely in any kind of hurry but I found ECO mode to be too much. The car feels dead and I end up flooring the accelerator pedal all the time.

[TonyHSD]

7 minutes ago, AndrueC said:

I'm a relaxed driver who's rarely in any kind of hurry but I found ECO mode to be too much. The car feels dead and I end up flooring the accelerator pedal all the time.

Same with me. We had to exactly same cars and they feel very different. My one is the dead one and in normal mode feels like my gf car in eco mode, very strange but been like that ever since, she always make a joke that her car is faster. 😉👍

[Cyker]

The HVAC has an Eco button which does the same thing as if you put the car in Eco mode, so you can be in Eco mode and turn off the Eco HVAC, or be in Power mode and turn on Eco HVAC. You can't have 'double-Eco-mode' as it were for the HVAC (At least not in the Mk4 and I assume Corolla)

I must admit I haven't figured out what the HVAC Eco mode really does - The only noticeable effect I've seen is it ramps the fans up and down slower than in not-Eco mode. If there is an energy saving it's too small for me to notice. Then again the first thing I do in the car is turn the HVAC off until the engine has warmed up so that might be skewing things!

I tend to drive my Mk4 in Eco mode all the time as it gives greater low-speed control and allows me to finesse it to stay in EV mode a bit more instead of spinning the engine up for a second.

One handy side effect of this is, when I'm carrying a full load of people in the car, I can put it in Normal and the car feels the same  

I get what people mean about the extra pressure needed on the motorway being more fatiguing, but it's not been an issue for me so far as if I'm doing a long boring constant-speed run on the motorway I immediately turn the ACC on (I love cruise control so much!  )

 

[Big_D]

Normal mode for me. I tried ECO mode, but didn't see any benefit. 

[Spo2]

Normal mode, tried Eco but felt very slow

[Big_D]

My thoughts exactly. 

[twintopp]

like i have said before on this subject, i use eco around town, normal on motorway etc. and sport on country /moor roads enjoying using the paddles and the car responds great. in eco on main roads the power tends to fade on upgrades, in sport the car is better cornering, sharper pick up and feels more agile but remember to use the paddles as you would with a manual box.

[Spo2]

My car doesn't have paddles but I assume paddles in hybrids are simulated. 

[Hybrid21]

Manual gearshifts including paddles are all computer simulated in the hybrid, a bit pointless using them.

Better just leaving it in sport mode 👍

[dee123456]

Eco mode for me is far too slugish. Normal mode is what i use the most, though i do love sport mode and often use it on motorways.