Interesting mileage experiment.

[Blowndodge]

I've been experimenting with different drive modes and realized that the ECO mode does absolutely nothing. At least for me and I drive fairly conservative. No difference taking the same 500 mile loop in ECO and NORMAL. Both loops I get near 24 mpg's. Not enough to play with the dial and find the ECO mode.

I never drive in sport mode except when the truck was new just to feel the difference. Yep! quite a difference!. This route I take goes from 5000 ft. elevation to 10500 ft. I told myself to try it in SPORT just for fun and to see how bad mileage tanks.

No joke I got almost 25 mpg's and the truck run up the mountains with far less throttle input from me. In NORMAL mode going up the mountains the transmission hunts a lot and tries to take the highest gear possible. Settling at 1700 rpms most of the time. At that rpm the truck has little power. In SPORT mode the truck seemed to find a sweet spot at 2300-2600 RPMs and stayed there up the mountain and down. When I chopped the throttle coming up to a curve it downshifted without me touching the brakes! Cruise control was not used.

I was surprised how responsive the truck was running higher RPMs. I had to really work not riding upcoming traffic's rear bumper. Any small press at 2500 RPMs the truck JUMPED, not hunting for the right gear as it was always in the right gear. It stayed in 8th gear up to 65mph then shifted into 9th. 9th was turning 2000 RPMs at 70 and 75 on the highway (our speed limit is 80 in Utah) went into 10th gear. About 2100rpms.

Running at this higher average (500 RPMs+ over NORMAL) made a big difference in how the truck ran and the mileage was up well over 1 mpg almost 2. Yea I know not much but I"ve done this route so many times I saw and felt the difference. Truck ran like a V8 in that slightly higher rev zone. I'm going to leave it in SPORT mode for everyday city driving (like I said I'm not a hot rod) and see if small throttle higher RPMs make a difference. It sure drives nicer!

I could only conclude that higher volumetric efficiency was occurring as the torque rose with more RPMs. At 2500 RPMs the truck is running much more efficient and it takes less throttle to hold the same speed.

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[1996-to-2025]

Which engine do you have? I have the 2.7 and just finished a 1,000 mile stretch in Eco mode that averaged 25.1 mpg. Most of that 1,000 miles was going to and returning from the mountains to the plains in Colorado. I think I will switch to Normal mode for the next 1,000 miles and see what happens.

 

[Blowndodge]

I have the 2.3 engine. I started thinking about this because I took a 3000 trip to the Pacific Northwest where speeds ranged from 75 to 85 mph. 85 is 2300 RPMs. I averaged 25.5 mpg's and double checked it. Driving 65 in ECO has been less than hoped for.

 

[stuartmunto]

The modes change the throttle mapping. So when you say you need less throttle to maintain speed, it might be less actual throttle input, but the percentage of how open the throttle will be the same.

for example, 10% throttle application might be say 50% open throttle in sport mode. Where as the same 10% throttle application might only be 5% open throttle in eco mode. The throttle is drive by wire, so it’s fully electric and the modes change the amplification of the pedal feel.

this is why it feels so much more responsive in Sport over Eco. The modes also change the gearbox mapping to hold gears for longer in sport over eco. The gearbox will upshift a lot sooner in eco but sport will hold gears for higher rpm.

And yes, lower RPM doesn’t always mean more fuel efficient

 

[Blowndodge]

Yes I understand the modes and how they affect the progression of the throttle input. Several months ago I drove up the mountain in manual mode and paddle shifted keeping the RPMs up and I noticed better mileage. that why I wondered what SPORT would do on its own. I was pleased that going downhill at 55 and lifting the throttle getting ready to brake for the turn and the truck downshifted for me and I never had to touch the brake. It did this the whole way when coming down the mountain. I usually had to put it in manual and paddle downshift with the buttons. SPORT did most of that for me.

 

[TommEyBoy]

Wow i have a 2.3 and drive back roads around 60mph and the best I get is 21.9 in any mode.

 

[purdyd]

That’s an interesting result. I think the downshifting behavior would be worth it. I’ll have to try that out.

I travelled through the sisikyous recently so only about 3200 ft of max elevation gain and got almost 26 mpg in eco mode.

i got over 30 mpg on a stretch from portland to Eugene at a little over 60 mph which is what the traffic was moving at.

it seems to me that you don’t want the truck to hunt for gears or accelerating quickly if you are looking for good gas mileage,

thanks for posting I’m going to try sport mode more! Just in the name of science…

 

[superj]

Its too windy where i live to get great gas mileage so i normally get 23ish. Going to san antonio yesterday and cruise set at 78, i got 26mpg

 

[Blowndodge]

That’s an interesting result. I think the downshifting behavior would be worth it. I’ll have to try that out.

I travelled through the sisikyous recently so only about 3200 ft of max elevation gain and got almost 26 mpg in eco mode.

i got over 30 mpg on a stretch from portland to Eugene at a little over 60 mph which is what the traffic was moving at.

it seems to me that you don’t want the truck to hunt for gears or accelerating quickly if you are looking for good gas mileage,

thanks for posting I’m going to try sport mode more! Just in the name of science…

Now remember if you hot rod it you will get less!!!!!

 

[purdyd]

Now remember if you hot rod it you will get less!!!!!

I just drove to the store with my wife and on the freeway for a bit and sport mode in that driving scenario is using more gas.

even if you are gentle on the throttle it goes to a higher rpm before it shifts.

and it is harder to b e gentle…

it’s hard to tell from the instantaneous mpg display how much gas is being used at 60 mph with the sport mode at 2400 rpm versus the normal or eco mode which will a hang at 1700 or less.

because the mpg gauge wont go higher than 32 mpg and from the old scanner I know it goes higher

 

[Blowndodge]

I'm going to leave mine in sport mode for a week and see if the readout changes. Like I pointed out the extreme up and down in the mountains kept the truck from hunting for gears and stayed in 6th and 7th most of the time.

 

[TurboRanger]

I can only go 280 miles on a tank of gas 2.7 80 mph dash tells me 20 mpg

 

[395N]

Sport mode on the 2.7 is a hoot, but I never thought MPG would increase. Will try it next time on a long road trip and see.

 

[purdyd]

I tried sport mode out today and at least on flat roads at sea level, it uses more fuel.

 

[JR RANGER]

I've been experimenting with different drive modes and realized that the ECO mode does absolutely nothing. At least for me and I drive fairly conservative. No difference taking the same 500 mile loop in ECO and NORMAL. Both loops I get near 24 mpg's. Not enough to play with the dial and find the ECO mode.

I never drive in sport mode except when the truck was new just to feel the difference. Yep! quite a difference!. This route I take goes from 5000 ft. elevation to 10500 ft. I told myself to try it in SPORT just for fun and to see how bad mileage tanks.

No joke I got almost 25 mpg's and the truck run up the mountains with far less throttle input from me. In NORMAL mode going up the mountains the transmission hunts a lot and tries to take the highest gear possible. Settling at 1700 rpms most of the time. At that rpm the truck has little power. In SPORT mode the truck seemed to find a sweet spot at 2300-2600 RPMs and stayed there up the mountain and down. When I chopped the throttle coming up to a curve it downshifted without me touching the brakes! Cruise control was not used.

I was surprised how responsive the truck was running higher RPMs. I had to really work not riding upcoming traffic's rear bumper. Any small press at 2500 RPMs the truck JUMPED, not hunting for the right gear as it was always in the right gear. It stayed in 8th gear up to 65mph then shifted into 9th. 9th was turning 2000 RPMs at 70 and 75 on the highway (our speed limit is 80 in Utah) went into 10th gear. About 2100rpms.

Running at this higher average (500 RPMs+ over NORMAL) made a big difference in how the truck ran and the mileage was up well over 1 mpg almost 2. Yea I know not much but I"ve done this route so many times I saw and felt the difference. Truck ran like a V8 in that slightly higher rev zone. I'm going to leave it in SPORT mode for everyday city driving (like I said I'm not a hot rod) and see if small throttle higher RPMs make a difference. It sure drives nicer!

I could only conclude that higher volumetric efficiency was occurring as the torque rose with more RPMs. At 2500 RPMs the truck is running much more efficient and it takes less throttle to hold the same speed.

Interesting observation. I took have a 2024 2.3 XLT FX4 4X4 with the 2.3 ecoboost engine. After reading your post and noticed the same results as you did with the performance of my truck. I was thinking about the FP tune but sport mode seems to solve all the little issues ( turbo lag, hunting for gears, engine bogging down too low of a gear). My mileage seems to be about the same or .5 to 1 mpg better. Still waiting to calculate it. Going to keep it in sport mode . What a difference in performance. Thanks for your idea.
JRRANGER

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