[Shaggy Wierdo]

I have been a proponent of keeping the ECO button OFF while driving as my experience has been that it does not contribute much.

Recently my driving habits have changed from a 80/20 mix of city to highway to a 95/05 mix. I am doing a lot more stop and go, and back roads driving on hilly and curving terrain. I have watched my MPG's decline from around 24 to a low of (my last tank before today) 20.42 (all calculations are according to Fuelly). On my last fill up, I put the ECO button on except for one 12 mile trip on the interstate. At first I was frustrated by the button but over the term of the tank, I have taught myself when to use more throttle and when to use less while in the ECO mode. Here are the results:

Miles traveled w/o ECO: 192
Gallons used w/o ECO: 9.4
MPG w/o ECO: 20.42
Cost per gallon: 3.129

Miles traveled w/ECO: 223
Gallons used w/ECO: 9.37
MPG w/ECO: 23.8
Cost per gallon: 3.139

This is only a single data point and I don't trust it all that much yet. Next tankfull will either help or hinder my analysis but I am beginning to believe that, in my situation, the ECO button may actually be useful. Go figure.

 

[tunder]

so far I've found out that the ECO button just makes it easier to get consistent higher gas mileage.

 

[The.Sheepdog]

I dont have but 1400 miles on Green Bean in the last 6 months, but all ECO ever did for me was balk when I tried to get out of a bad traffic situation. Safety vs mileage? I'll take safety myself.

 

[GuyNC]

I dont have but 1400 miles on Green Bean in the last 6 months, but all ECO ever did for me was balk when I tried to get out of a bad traffic situation. Safety vs mileage? I'll take safety myself.

My experience as well.

 

[Shaggy Wierdo]

I dont have but 1400 miles on Green Bean in the last 6 months, but all ECO ever did for me was balk when I tried to get out of a bad traffic situation. Safety vs mileage? I'll take safety myself.

You and I drive about the same, I have 1700 on mine in eight months. I also experienced this with mine but have found how to get around it and it has not been a problem most of last week. Once I learned to goose it a little taking off and hold the pedal down for some time, it behaves almost "normal". But that hesitation has been a concern with me. I don't know if it is me or the car but it seems to drive differently now than when I first got it (by that I mean acceleration).

 

[mattmc]

Shaggy , sounds like you need to go blow it out . With that low of mileage in 8 months , you need to go out and let her run , sounds like she's getting stove up .

 

[47065]

Maybe increase your fiber a bit..

 

[Neanderthal]

The eco didn't seem to have any effect on my 2013. It does seem to improve MPG on my 2015.

So it looks like someone did some program monkeying in the meantime.

 

[God Father of Soul]

I like to turn it on when sitting in stop and go traffic. It will shift quicker keeping the revs lower. With the button off, I would barely get out of first gear, no brake pedal required. Give it gas, get off the gas, give it gas and then off.

 

[TechnoMage]

My AT shifts beautifully with ECO OFF and gets really weird with it ON.
I don't like things that screw with my car, so I just leave ECO OFF permanently.

 

[SOUTH SOUL]

My 2013 AT has one of the best shifting trannies I've ever owned or driven.
Its downright seamless.
With the ECO on its not as good.
Hey,don't know about you,but I see the value of driving my Soul as a vehicle you can jump in
and get you where you are going in a pretty comfortable no frills fashion.
Got to stop off at Home Depot and get some stuff?Throw it in and you are on your way.
Uses regular gas.The ECO system is a waste of time IMO.
As I've said before,it does sound good coming out of the salesman's mouth when he/she is
trying to convince you to buy the vehicle while they are leading you over to the finance guy.
Just think of the money you will save by pressing that ECO button lol.
Saw one of those mini Flux Capacitors that plug into your power port.
Wow,one of these and and power chip...maybe add an electric supercharger.
No tellin the performance!

 

[TechnoMage]

Did y'all ever see that TV commercial, where a NASCAR driver disguised himself and went to a car dealer to take a test drive in a new car, with the salesman in the passenger seat. He scared the living crap out of that poor salesman.

Well that was me and my Kia salesman. That was two years ago, and he still shakes a little every time I see him.
When I test a car, I TEST a car! And that's pretty much the same way I drive it to Walmart. My car Dyno Tests out at 111.1 horsepower to the front wheels and I use every one of those horses! Old saying...."don't spare the horses!"

My little 1.6L engine is the highest performance engine I've ever owned and the matching 6 speed AT is the smoothest little AT I've ever owned and together they never cease to amaze me.
Gertrude did her thing today, when I got on I-75 for the ten mile run into town. She hit the top of the entrance ramp at 80mph and by the time I worked my way through traffic into the high speed lane (just a few seconds) she was doing 90mph and still accelerating like a Rocket Sled on rails.
Whoa Gertrude!!! I had to hit the brakes to keep from rear ending a BMW that was only doing about 85.

If you don't blow the cobs out of these little engines regularly, they won't run for SH**! They will carbon up and you'll have all sorts of problems.

And to combat the carboning up of the DFI's, Gertrude gets a full bottle of 'Chevron Techron' every 3k miles. She always runs a little bit better after that.

 

[ZCD1]

ECO button has never been turned off in our Soul. Keeps the revs down, which keeps the engine noise down. Th 2.0L engine has plenty of grunt to torque its way out of situations rather than relying on revs. Plus the engine just doesn't sound happy at all above about 4500 RPM.

IMHO, of course.

 

[TechnoMage]

Well, that's the old 2.0L engine.
At 4500 rpm, my little 1.6L isn't even taking a deep breath, yet.
Low RPM (constantly) on a high performance engine is a recipe for disaster.
Mine sees 6500 rpm, daily!!! It keeps her running great!

 

[mountain_soul]

I leave ECO on all the time, but I don't really do any real city driving so it's mostly sitting in 6th at two lane speeds.

 

[ZCD1]

...Low RPM (constantly) on a high performance engine is a recipe for disaster...

Guess I'll start worrying about that whenever the Soul GETS a "high performance engine".

Zing! ;-)

 

[47065]

Guess I'll start worrying about that whenever the Soul GETS a "high performance engine".

Zing! ;-)

Made my day. Ba da BOOM! :laughonfloor

 

[ZCD1]

Made my day. Ba da BOOM! :laughonfloor

Yeah, I couldn't resist. LOL!

My other ride has something like 425HP out of 3.0 liters - now THAT'S a high performance engine!

 

[OverCaffeinated]

Hey, if you feel the need to 'blow out' the gunk from your 2.0L HAMI, you don't need to run at 90MPH on the interstate. Just move the shifter to the left, and drive until it STILL autoshifts (it will about the time you're redlining).

 

[dmwagner]

I leave it on all the time, and besides, all you have to do put the throttle down some and ECO disengages. It's not that hard.