Sport mode vs. MPG

[unluky]

Will sport mode on or off affect gas milage on the highway with the cruise on and just cruising?

Seems like it might with the increase throttle sensitivity, but I was not sure.

Opinions? Facts?

[Huz-Z]

For sport-equipped automatics, the car is likely to run in a lower gear than otherwise, so mileage would be affected that way.

[Rick F.]

unluky,

You probably lose a minor bit of fuel mileage in sport mode, with a manual transmission. The cruise control responds more aggressively in sport mode, with greater throttle openings to regain the set speed. However, I expect that the difference would be slight during continuous CC operation. If the CC is disengaged frequently (e.g., because you catch up to a "left lane bandit"), when you reengage it the acceleration back to the set speed would be significantly faster, with a greater fuel mileage penalty.

With an automatic, the sport mode CC would sometimes prompt a downshift, which would make a significantly bigger difference in mileage.

It's an interesting theoretical question, but in practice I wouldn't think it would be worth worrying about.

Having said that, if you do a test sometime, let us know the results!

Rick F.

[unluky]

My GF lives about an hour away on the highway and I tested this the last few times I did the round trip. It actually seems like I am seeing 3-4 mpg better with the sport button off. Kind of surprised me. The times I go at I rarely have to turn the cruise off and I was doing them round trip so going one way was not uphill more or anything. I will keep testing, but that was after a couple of trips both ways.

[Rick F.]

unluky,

Kind of surprises me, too! But data are data…

Rick

[GeorgeT]

Originally Posted by unluky

Will sport mode on or off affect gas milage on the highway with the cruise on and just cruising?

Seems like it might with the increase throttle sensitivity, but I was not sure.

Opinions? Facts?

Going down the highway with the cruise control on defeats the purpose of engaging the Sport Mode.

[Phishman]

Originally Posted by GeorgeT

Going down the highway with the cruise control on defeats the purpose of engaging the Sport Mode.

I agree. Why even turn it on if you are just cruising?

[psygnosis]

Originally Posted by Phishman

I agree. Why even turn it on if you are just cruising?

On a non-M it makes the steering heavier.

[3point0]

As others have said it will make a difference especially if the car is automatic. On mine (I always use the tiptronic shifting, never just D or S) I never drive without sport on anymore and the fuel economy is still outstanding at 11.2 l/100km (21mpg) mostly spirited driving in the city and rush hour commuting. Without sport I was hovering around the 9.9l/100km (23.75mpg) for the same commute. The car feels so much better in sport mode that I don't find it's even worth driving in D. The marginal increase in cost is eclipsed by the perma-grin on my face

[unluky]

I don't purposely turn it on for the highway cruise, but I click it on when I leave my house for the twisties before my town and the highway and just do not think to turn it off when I get on the highway and set the cruise. I started noticing my milage going to pot and remembered I rarely used the sport mode when I got the car before I got in tune with it and could feel the difference. I have squeezed 34 mpg out of it before, but 30-31 is about normal, but 26-27 seems to be where it falls with sport mode. But since my SUV only gets 14-15 and my 300 about 21-22 - even with sport mode on it is the car to take when I want to save some gas.