I've been playing with the available driving modes in my 2.4L TLX and here are my conclusions so far:
Economy:
Hate it - it's too lethargic to be practical even in freeway driving. The car feels totally unresponsive when you want to accelerate. Besides, the MPG gain in this mode is usually negligible. The only situation I would use it for is heavy, stop-and-go traffic, to smooth out the low-speed gear changes.
Normal:
I use this mode for most of my driving. Seems like you can get the car going if you need to, and at the same time you get to enjoy the quietness of the cabin when driving on a freeway.
Sport:
This is fun mode, it makes the car feel much faster. Besides, there is no significant MPG impact, compared to the Economy or Normal modes. As a matter of fact, I used Sport for a 40-mile commute from my work to home a few days ago, and obtained the highest so far average MPG reading (better than many attempts in Normal). Sport mode is also fun for open city roads.
Sport+:
Well, I'm still exploring what this one is useful for. It certainly makes your car go faster: I managed to get a 0-60 time of 7.4 s in Sport+, compared to about 8 s in other modes, using my iPhone app. So if you are going to race with 4-cyl Accord's or Camry's, this is a useful mode, but I don't do much of that. It is certainly fun to switch into Sport+ when climbing steep hills: you just floor the gas pedal, and the thing flies! Another potential use of this mode is for playing with manual gear changes because they seem to persist longer than in other modes. You also get a constant indication of which gear you are in, which is nice.
So what are your thoughts on this issue? How do you use these driving modes?
On a side note, I find the relationship between the actual IDS mode and MID indication quite confusing:
Economy ---- D(green)
Normal ---- D(gray)
Sport ---- D(red)
Sport+ ---- S(red)
Why couldn't they just call it E, N, S, and S+, respectively???
___________________
2015 2.4L TLX
2000 LX V6 Accord Coupe
Economy:
Hate it - it's too lethargic to be practical even in freeway driving. The car feels totally unresponsive when you want to accelerate. Besides, the MPG gain in this mode is usually negligible. The only situation I would use it for is heavy, stop-and-go traffic, to smooth out the low-speed gear changes.
Normal:
I use this mode for most of my driving. Seems like you can get the car going if you need to, and at the same time you get to enjoy the quietness of the cabin when driving on a freeway.
Sport:
This is fun mode, it makes the car feel much faster. Besides, there is no significant MPG impact, compared to the Economy or Normal modes. As a matter of fact, I used Sport for a 40-mile commute from my work to home a few days ago, and obtained the highest so far average MPG reading (better than many attempts in Normal). Sport mode is also fun for open city roads.
Sport+:
Well, I'm still exploring what this one is useful for. It certainly makes your car go faster: I managed to get a 0-60 time of 7.4 s in Sport+, compared to about 8 s in other modes, using my iPhone app. So if you are going to race with 4-cyl Accord's or Camry's, this is a useful mode, but I don't do much of that. It is certainly fun to switch into Sport+ when climbing steep hills: you just floor the gas pedal, and the thing flies! Another potential use of this mode is for playing with manual gear changes because they seem to persist longer than in other modes. You also get a constant indication of which gear you are in, which is nice.
So what are your thoughts on this issue? How do you use these driving modes?
On a side note, I find the relationship between the actual IDS mode and MID indication quite confusing:
Economy ---- D(green)
Normal ---- D(gray)
Sport ---- D(red)
Sport+ ---- S(red)
Why couldn't they just call it E, N, S, and S+, respectively???
___________________
2015 2.4L TLX
2000 LX V6 Accord Coupe