[rwjr44]

I am preparing for a road trip mostly on the interstate. Comfort, sports or Econ mode?

Thanks

rw

[Cyberdemon]

How fast do you want to get there?

I would just drive the car in comfort, if you have an automatic sport you will never shift into 8th gear (unless shifting manually). If you have a manual, then it really doesn't make a damn of a difference other than how you want your steering to feel and how soft you want the throttle.

Eco pro will save you a few mpg by discouraging you from ever accelerating or passing, but BMW's are designed to cruise at high speed - I would just keep it in comfort.

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by Robert Willis

I am preparing for a road trip mostly on the interstate. Comfort, sports or Econ mode?

Thanks

rw

If you're facing a few hours of straight and boring on the interstate, may as well set the speed control and drive in ECON to get the best fuel economy. You can see by scrolling through the small center display in the cluster the mileage improvement you are accumulating. Don't forget to kill the Auto Start Stop when you drive normally again, as running in ECON turns ASS on each time, but if you kill in while in COMFORT or SPORT, it will stay off again.

The other benefit of ECON or COMFORT for a long interstate trip is that it will reduce fatigue via reduced vibration into your body.

[overcoil]

You have the capability use all three.
In my manual transmission 235 you can use the economy mode info displayed in the iDrive screen and also between speedo & tach to squeeze out a few mpg and to observe regenerative braking - why not use it if your cruising.
It's fun switching between all the modes and it fun using the tire temp display.

[Cyberdemon]

My observations (Based on my F30 and this car) is that you don't stand to gain a huge amount in eco pro that you can't get by just generally driving lightly in comfort mode, especially on long high way stretches.

Eco pro becomes more valuable in stop and go traffic where the forced reduction of throttle keeps you from accelerating as rapidly and using more gas. Frankly, on the highway I find eco pro can sometimes be a liability - the car is very sluggish to respond and if you aren't paying attention and need to merge quickly it's a pain. It also reduces the output of the AC, and as a result you then have to turn your AC down more (Because you'll get hot) which negates the point in the first place.

[Zooks527]

Comfort. Having the AC decide the cabin needs to be a few degrees warmer to save 0.1 MPG is just silly.

But do the math. Assume a 1000 mile trip. 65 MPH in comfort gets you, say, 31 mpg. Assume Eco mode gets you to 33 mpg (it won't save you that much, but lets err in favor of Eco mode). Comfort uses 32.3 gallons of gas, Eco uses 30.3 gallons. So you're saving under $5 and turning your car into an overly warm ride that responds like a base engine Camry. Is $5 worth it to you?

[Sportstick]

Not starting an argument, but I tried and then continued to use ECO last Summer on a long trip....interior cabin temperature comfort was not an issue. I found no downsides for a lengthy speed control ride. Other than that time, of course, never go near ECO...always SPORT (unless SWMBO is aboard...then COMFORT).

[BMWZ4]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

How fast do you want to get there?

I would just drive the car in comfort, if you have an automatic sport you will never shift into 8th gear (unless shifting manually). If you have a manual, then it really doesn't make a damn of a difference other than how you want your steering to feel and how soft you want the throttle.

Eco pro will save you a few mpg by discouraging you from ever accelerating or passing, but BMW's are designed to cruise at high speed - I would just keep it in comfort.

^This. I regularly drive up to the cottage, about 5 1/2 hours, all highway. I stick with Comfort mode. I tried Eco and it was a PITA when I needed to pass and in the end the computer told me I'd only gained about 8 or 10 "extra" MPG.

[MikeT]

About 2 months into owning this car, I realized how poor the gas mileage is (in city driving) and I decided for one full tank to try Eco Pro mode. Yes, fuel economy improved and I may have saved $3. But, frankly, I didn't like it. Eco Pro sucked the life out of everything that made me love the car in the first place. Not worth it, IMO. I'd rather spend a little more on gas and enjoy the car.

[rwjr44]

Thanks everyone.

[kz1000]

Sport.

[BillD1953]

228i 6MT I run in Comfort all the time.
Car is PLENTY fast enough and 80 mph on the interstates arrives VERY quickly.

[Tpeterson]

Originally Posted by Robert Willis

I am preparing for a road trip mostly on the interstate. Comfort, sports or Econ mode?

Thanks

rw

You might as well use comfort if you're using the cruise control,which I assume you will be doing on an Interstate trip because the throttle response will be better if you need it. Your gas mileage will depend on the speed you set it at not comfort vs eco-pro. ie Driving 85MPH in eco-pro will get much worse mileage than 70 in comfort.

[2msport]

Sport+ of course. Or Sport if you must use cruise control

[pikcachu]

If you are going to be cruising it will make no difference if you are on ecopro or comfort, cause auto start-stop will never engage.... maybe car will turn off the AC more in eco but that's about it...

sport configured including drivetrain and sport+ won't let the car go into 8th gear... so you will get less mpg even if you go at the same speed

[dah]

For the record the AC throttling back in eco-pro is optional in the i-drive menu. I agree with the others - for cruising, comfort is no different than eco-pro, except power comes quicker the few times you might need it.

[dtcoff]

I often go on 500km highway journeys and noticed a few things. Sitting on 125kph in EcoPro using Cruise, I gain an extra 50km according to the computer. Not using cruise gives an additional 20km as coasting is not used when cruise is active. It's boring drive though.

[BentZero]

Eco. It has a pretty graph in the Efficient Dynamics screen.

[AlpsRider]

When equipped with the Auto 8spd EcoPro lets the car coast when going down hill, which comfort mode doesn't do, it works especially well with the cruise control. Personally I only use it on long straight freeway trips that have no fun factor, there are a lot of these roads in the desert. When I get in traffic or get in the twisties I switch modes.

[Zooks527]

Originally Posted by AlpsRider

When equipped with the Auto 8spd EcoPro lets the car coast when going down hill, which comfort mode doesn't do, it works especially well with the cruise control.

This is done because it gains them points on the European fuel consumption cycle for rating purposes and not for any benefit to the consumer. It actually increases your gas consumption IRL, as the torque converter is released with the engine consuming fuel to stay at idle instead of the torque converter being locked and turning the engine over with the fuel injectors off (thus using no fuel).

[Cyberdemon]

Out of curiosity have any of you validated the coast functionality in this car? My 235 Vert absolutely does not do it when in Eco Pro.

I had a F30 328 loaner and when I put it in eco pro and the cruise kicked in, you could immediately tell since the revs drop to idle. Not sure if that needs to be enabled in a setting somewhere else or they didn't include it for the 235.

[Zooks527]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

Out of curiosity have any of you validated the coast functionality in this car? My 235 Vert absolutely does not do it when in Eco Pro.

Definitely occurs in my '15 M235xi coupe if I enable it in the setup screen. I'll hit a long downhill on the highway and can watch the RPM drop to idle. You can select it on the screen for Eco mode that corresponds to the one used for Sport mode setup (driveline/chassis/both).