It’s time for another episode of Carbage Time, where we here at The Autopian argue about our dumb takes. Because, like all humans, we have opinions about things, specifically car things, and we’re deluded enough to think that, bafflingly, you need to hear about these opinions! So if you’re pining to hear us opining, boy are you in luck. Last week, in our very first episode of the series, David and Matt discussed the largely disastrous Ferrari Luce. This time Matt and I are going to talk about something far more accessible than some poorly-designed and overpriced battery-powered Ferrari: drive modes.
Yes, drive modes. My suspicion is that it took you a moment to remember just what the hell those things were, because while it’s fairly likely your car has them – if you have a relatively modern car, made in, say, the last decade and a half or so, at least – I also suspect you probably haven’t used them in a while.
Sure, when you first got the car, I bet you tried them out: switching from Normal to Sport, let’s say, perhaps watching your instrument cluster dramatically change from a bluish color scheme to a more exciting, even angry red, and feeling your throttle response quicken a bit, the suspension stiffen a little, and so on. Maybe you kept it on sport for, oh, ten minutes before going back to Normal or even Eco, because what are you, made of money?
You should watch the debate, I think. It’ll be cathartic:
You can also just listen to it, too, if you’d prefer that. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to look at out beaming faces, but, you know, some people just don’t want to feel joy:
Oh, and to listen to more podcasts episode you can go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or you can use the RSS feed and point your favorite Podcast player at it.
Here’s What I’m Getting At
Now, I get that there are some drive modes that are genuinely useful: the OG sort of drive modes from vehicles with 4WD, for example, really do change the driving dynamics of a car, because going from 2WD High to 4WD Low of course changes things. Those aren’t the kind of “drive modes” I’m talking about.
I’m talking about the more recent sort of drive modes that are usually some variant of Normal, Sport, and Eco. Those are definitely not the same as activating a whole other drive axle. Besides, on all my old cars that don’t even have automatic chokes, let alone drive modes, you still could have all of the effects of drive modes by, you know, changing how you drive.
You stomp on the gas and crank that wheel hard, boom, you’re in “sport” mode. You coast down hills and treat the gas pedal like you’re using your foot to pet a cat whose pupils are the size of dinner plates, then you’re in eco mode.
A modern car, with all its electronics and sensors, could easily determine you’re driving and adjust things accordingly, no modality needed. That’d be fine! But you wouldn’t have that visceral moment of changing the drive modes, which I think is most of what drive modes are: a bit of theater.
Theater is, of course, just fine in a car. Cars are not rational, and will never be, at least I hope they’ll never be. But even with that in mind, I still think most of these drive modes are silly things that, again, nobody really uses, except perhaps the obvious, driving-condition related ones, like snow mode or tow mode or something clear like that.
But the others? I dare you to get in your car and, without looking, tell me the difference between “normal” and “eco” modes. And what is “Normal” mode, anyway? It feels like the chassis dynamic engineers couldn’t really decide how to tune the car and drivetrain, and so to get around having to make a hard set of compromises, pushed the problem to the owner, who could pick a an ever so slightly more efficient behavior or a slightly more sporty one or whatever. No one really cares.
Look, maybe I’m wrong here! Maybe I’m being a dismissive dickhead and you love love love your drive modes, switching between them like you were shifting gears! If so, tell me in the comments, make your case, and, what the hell, remind me I’m a dipshit! Can’t hurt!
On my Bronco Sport I use Normal 80% of the time. The other 20% is Sport mode because I prefer the throttle response and shift firmness of Sport mode, but once to speed I roll that knob back to Normal so I actually get to the lowest rpm needed. It’s annoying. Just give me the Sport mode settings for acceleration and allow me into the highest gear for economy. It’s simple really. I want Sport acceleration and Notmal for cruise conditions.
The only drive mode I regularly use is tow/haul, which I think doesn’t really count here.
I do also enjoy turning the knob for the adjustable suspension on my Corvette. It’s an early version of the system so it doesn’t make a dramatic difference, but it does get a bit softer in comfort mode vs. performance mode.
My main observations re: Drive Modes are 1. I’ve driven cars that default to an Eco mode which desperately need to be switched to normal or sport mode in order to behave the way you want. That is a fail on several levels.
2. For sporty/fun cars, the right way to do it is no modes. You drop into the drivers seat and the car is what it is with no concern about switching anything on or off or changing modes. After owning several cars with modes on top of modes (and thinking that was cool despite never changing from my preferred mode) I got a GR86, which has only one mode. And what a revelation it is. Just get in and drive.
Actually, I think if you need to know about drive modes, your car is kinda broken (except race car, etc). Case in point. Our Mazda CX-90 PHEV which you need to switch between EV and Sport constantly. EV is pretty obvious and is what you want when you’re tooling around town. It doesn’t kick the engine on and off all the time (which is not as subtle as it should be in the Mazda), unlike the “normal” mode. Then when you need to get on the freeway, and don’t want to wait upwards of a second for the gas to kick in to give you more than a snail’s acceleration, you need to switch it to sport mode which will run the ICE constantly and use the EV as a “boost” (the ICE is pretty efficient at freeway speeds, so it works OK). However, I HATE having to think about all this, and just want a pure EV or regular hybrid.
The drive modes in our ‘22 and ‘24 with S-AWC absolutely do work and work well but out of the 5 modes it has… ECO-NORMAL-TARMAC-MUD-SNOW it really only needs two of them, Normal and Snow.
Eco just numbs the go-pedal, normal is good for everything, tarmac does tighten the steering a little and keeps you in the fun powerband a little better and mud is pretty much the same as snow.
You can discern between them all but three is perfect, five is not necessary.
I have own several cars with a sport mode. Typically, those cars were sold as a sporty version of the standard car. For example, my current car is an Audi S5. The sporty model compared to the standard Audi A5.
I absolutely can 100% tell the difference between standard drive mode and sport mode.
My confusion and frustration comes from WHY is the non-sport mode the default in a sporty car, and why must sport mode be activated every time you start the car?
Shouldn’t sport mode in a sporty car be the default? Or at least whatever mode you had active with the last drive is still on with the next drive?
It’s like my grandpa pops into the car overnight and makes it tamer and lamer for my next drive.
It’s all about meeting mileage/emissions…like that damn start/stop.
On my 17 Escape, 2.0 ecoboost: ‘S’ mode disables the start/stop, snappier throttle response and revs higher before shifting. I my hilly area, I actually get couple MPG better in ‘S’ mode since it’s not ‘lugging’ up the hills in low speed areas.
My Clarity has the 3 typical modes (Eco, Normal and Sport) and on top of dulling the throttle response and tweaking the point at which the engine engages the Eco mode also dulls the AC, which is not acceptable to me. In a baffling twist, on top of frontloading the throttle response and engaging the engine faster, the sports mode changes the way the regen paddles work by making the regen braking stick rather than reset after a few seconds. Some prefer that, but since I got used to the normal way, I just won’t use the sports mode because it feels weird.
So both “special” modes stay unused for me. If it had been just the throttle response and the engine assist point, I might have seen some use. Stressful merges starting at low speeds, or letting someone else drive the car that wants an even more sedate, quiet experience, but I refuse to let the car decide that just because I want to use less energy and backload the response that I should also suffer more from the heat.
idk, I think modes are kinda dumb, right up until they’re not. As they generally exist now…yeah, dumb; but they don’t have to be.
The key: with the exception of special situation modes (launch, mud/snow/rain, creep, etc) they shouldn’t be pre-programmed.
Drive modes should be slots that the driver configures to their liking. The user names the program slots and within each they tune the parameters: display config, suspension firmness, steering quickness, rev range, shift points, traction control responsiveness, acceleration limits, etc. The only pre-programming should be some standard templates the user can select as a starting point – Eco, Track, Around Town, bumper2bumper, …
The Blazer EV almost got this right–you can configure drive modes…and then select them in a menu on the touchscreen. I want to configure them and then be able to hit a button or turn a knob to use the mode I want.
My RAV4 Prime stays in Eco for around town. I’ll throw it in Normal for highway driving and sometimes Sport to pass. I know it’s not significant, but the difference in pedal response is noticeable. Sport is way to twitchy for starting/stopping and driving lower speeds. Eco is excellent for 20 mph zones–the other two drive modes are a little too responsive for my taste at such low speeds.
I’ve got a 2018 F150 with the base 3.3, I use sport mode when I cross through the mountains, it holds it in lower gear longer when climbing and also for descents, it does make a differnce. I find it is annoying in Sport mode around town.
When I had a Sportsmobile E150, I would audibly say sport mode when I turned overdrive off. A good time was had by all.