Arty101

I've been driving on my current tank of gas in the Sport mode with about 1/3 tank used so far. I've been playing with the steering at freeway speeds and in the City. Even though the link previously posted says there's more power and tighter steering, I don't feel the steering different between Eco and Sport. However, I do feel the power of the Sport mode and need to keep it under control to maintain my mpg, which i'm getting around 1-2 mpg less than Eco. I also suspect there's no difference in ride, since there's no dynamic suspension mechanism in the 300h as far as I know. I would be nice if it had it.

Time for my nap.

bhammer

I don't know if there is a change to steering as I can't feel a difference.

I think a lot of the factoring is how you accelerate normally. I tend to be a little heaver footed and the eco mode saves me, on average, 1.7 MPG versus the sport mode. This is averaged across two tanks of gas each mode.


When I was real light footed my GPS screen showed the save averages with MPG in either mode. I only tested this for an hours drive though....

ALIGN

I think this can be done with the dealership only using their computer. They can overide the default settings. Of course this depends on the dealership sometimes they won't do this because of liability issue, warranty and among other things.

I'm sure there's a ton of settings that can be modified for this vehicle. I used to ask my old MB mechanic to do this for my E500.

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

^^^^The ISF has had a Sport Mode since it's introduction in 2008. Many of us have wanted our cars to default to Sport Mode and much has been written about it. But AFAIK, it's can't be done

Lou

UncleBen

I have been away from this forum for a while. Albeit late, since I'm the one who started this nonsense, I thought I should post an update.

In terms of mileage efficiency, as I expected, ECO mode is better than sport mode by about 2MPG; but I haven't seen much difference between ECO and Normal.

As for acceleration, it's a lot more aggressive in Sport mode, and I think we have a consensus on that point.

As for the steering, I agree with LexVince and Midedege - it is a noticeably more responsive and tighter in Sport mode. I'm actually surprised that other posters would find otherwise.

Last but not least, ride comfort. I rode a rough patch in my neck of the woods, about 2 miles long, three times, each time testing it with a different person (neighbor) in the passenger seat. This is in a school zone, with a 30 MPH speed limit, the lights are synchronized, so it's a clean 2 mile stretch with no stops as long as the 30 MPH is maintained.
Unless Uncle Ben and his passengers are all going senile, the car rides noticeably BETTER in Sport mode. Not just one, but all three passengers found the ride better in Sport mode; and this, without any hesitation.

As to why, I don't have a clue, I'll leave it to the experts to chime in. I'm driving an ES350, on 18" Michelin.

Cheers guys and thank you to all who have commented on this. And again, my apologies for being so late in getting back. I was having a nap!

amphipri0n

Ok so this has piqued the Mythbusters part of my brain... Could it be that in Sport mode you're reaching a higher speed than in ECO so that it's a function of your speed over the rough patch that accounts for the ride difference? If you need an excuse to drive around, you could repeat the same experiment making sure the speed is a constant.

Arty101

I think it all depends on what UncleBen considers smoother or more comfortable. It seems counter-intuitive that the Sports mode would give a softer or smoother ride, no? I thought the Sports mode would tighten up the suspension and give it a firmer ride to better handle the curves. I also think speed is a factor too. Going faster should make the rough patch smoother, so amphipriOn may have a point there. Or I may not be feeling it cause of my hard butt becoming desensitized.

es300h

I agree sports mode is best acceleration feel..

UncleBen

On that particular stretch, we have about 3 or 4 synchronized lights which you will miss unless you keep your speed at about 30 mph. So speed was constant.

I don't know about an excuse to drive around, but this was certainly a nice excuse to show off my shiny new Lexus. And by the way, all three of my passengers were REALLY impressed with the car; one of them is actually thinking of trading in his 5 year' old Benz.

I took it for a spin on a 7 miles stretch of country road, where the speed limit varies between 30 and 50. There's one segment within the 50 mph zone that includes a pretty rough patch due to a new housing development. Going over that patch at 50 mph. I still think that the ride was smoother in Sport mode; but much more so when driving over the same rough patch at 30 mph.

So I think you might be on to something here: Speed might indeed be a factor. Bumps on the road, at low speed, are much better absorbed than at high speed, I think.

Anyway, I didn't want to start a myth or a quarrel over this. I just wanted to share my perception and see if anyone else felt the same way.

Cheers!

UncleBen

By smoother and more comfortable ride, I'm referring to the way the car absorbs bumps on the road.
I think speed is definitely a factor; but unlike you, I feel that bumps are much better absorbed at low speed than high speed, no matter what driving mode you're in.