Econ or no Econ?

[GlennBA]

Originally Posted by FALCONSR

i dont have econ only manual...lol

the power and econ is in the right foot anyways

What he said..
Power mode holds gears longer in the autos, and uses more petrol.

[janddbone]

My old man has an EL Auto with around 400,000km on it now.

I drive it every now and then; and basically I look at it this way with his model. The button just says Econ... That means the function for economy is either on or off. It is not a 'Power' or 'Econ' function, just the one. As far as I know the Econ fuction works by locking the torque converter up in third and forth gears and by adopting a more laid back and labouring shift map. I use it on the open road, or generally when I am not needing ot change gear much, otherwise it is just pointless and puts more strain on the transmission. Other models are different to this. In the end it is your right foot that determines how much fuel you use, and selecting the correct gears to keep you moving along, that is what they are for!!!

Dad always used to drive with it in econ always, mainly because the button sounded cheaper!!! Now the car is getting on and worn out he only uses econ on the open road, he notices it is overall a more flexible car without econ on...

On a side note, the Auto is the original, nothing but servicing every 100,000km or so... No worries at all so far.

[Cooper69S]

I understand econ to be really a city-driving feature. afaik the only difference is earlier shifts and earlier lockup. haven't paid enough attention to the AU shifts lately, but in my EF in econ it locked in 3rd at 55kph, shift to 4th at 70kph. in power it shifted to 4th at 60kph but didn't lock the torque converter until about 80, so either way, once you're up to highway speed it'll make absolutely no difference whether you're in econ or pwr except for kickback when overtaking, so may as well leave it in power.

I always drove in power in the EF because otherwise it would always stay in 3rd until i got to 70, and most of the roads were 60 - always felt like it was wanting to change gear but couldn't. I think they fixed that in the EL so you could do 60 in 4th in econ...

Geoff

[GlennBA]

Originally Posted by FALCONSR

i dont have econ only manual...lol

the power and econ is in the right foot anyways

^^ what he said ^^

[Kenaz]

I only take it out of econ on 'special' occasions :

[FordFan86]

What does adaptive shift count as?
(econ in the NC)

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by ea_silver_ghia

I keep it in Economy for general, slow driving, but use Power if I want it to hold gears a bit longer. A lot of the time, I manually use the gears anyway, so it wouldn't matter what mode it's in

Well, now my car is a manual so I no longer have Econ. Therefore my vote is now wrong

[MoreHPformyXR6]

Im assuming the BA has economy mode (ie in anything but performance mode to left)

Around town 95% of the time (im in the regualr mode not performance made) Is this also referred to as economy mode?

Would it make any differance to economy driving in performance mode most of the time? (around town im talking 60km/ph or less)

[AK]

Pretty Much use Econ all the time but if im in a good mood it goes off...

[LOW 4RD]

I say, and yes! have preformed this too my trany,
drop the trany pan, crank the hell outer your line pressure
vavle and have the time of your life cherping the wheels into second
gear!!!!!!! : :
My au is stock engine, an yes i do have a spool!
but the best thing is getting the looks from everyone when your stock
bus AU kicks side ways down the road!! :hihi:
but!!! lol! i have been told that it its not really reckomened for trany
life..

[HOON69]

i use economy but i save no fuel as im a tad on the right foot side anyways :
though if diven correctly i have seen near nothing in the difference in fuel consumption and power etc

[XR6_661]

Originally Posted by LOW 4RD

I say, and yes! have preformed this too my trany,
drop the trany pan, crank the hell outer your line pressure
vavle and have the time of your life cherping the wheels into second
gear!!!!!!! : :
My au is stock engine, an yes i do have a spool!
but the best thing is getting the looks from everyone when your stock
bus AU kicks side ways down the road!! :hihi:
but!!! lol! i have been told that it its not really reckomened for trany
life..

Dude, Come again??

[Green X]

Economy is used for towing as it allows the transmission to run cooler than in power mode.

[dazAUSR]

Econ is good if you are in heavy traffic as it slows the car and saves the brakes. I flick it off when on the Nepean Hwy when I get towards 80kms...it is meant to save you at the bowser & helps you getting too close to the holden in front.. :eclipsee_

[Pouki]

i rarely take mine out of "econ" only if im feeling a little crazy which isnt to often, my mechanic has told me to drive it on "power" in the city and "econ" on the HWY it doesnt really bother me "econ" is good enough and gets me to places i wanna go!!

[ads]

I reckon it depends on which model you drive.

Kickdown response in my EB is pretty ordinary in econ and it's too keen to change up. My gf's EL on the other hand has much better throttle response and econ is better for a smooth ride.

Question: does the torque converter only lock in economy mode? If so I might use it on the highway more often, power is the default for me because you don't have to mash the firewall to get some overtaking grunt.

[CAMS290]

I use the economy setting 95% of the time in my I6 EL Ghia

[kaytonk]

Always power. something in my electrics is messed up. I have replaced the box, but still, if i go easy it changes quite nicely and quickly, give it a stab and it will hold out til 5500 rpm in each gear. Have decided against fixing whatever is wrong
Edit: EF 4.0

[Cooper69S]

Originally Posted by ads

Question: does the torque converter only lock in economy mode? If so I might use it on the highway more often, power is the default for me because you don't have to mash the firewall to get some overtaking grunt.

torque converter locks in both econ and power - locks earlier in econ though. easiest way to test it is watch your tacho when you pump the accelerator - when the torque converter's unlocked, revs rise before your speed does. once its locked, revs only rise as your speed increases

Originally Posted by ELmalaca

i rarely take mine out of "econ" only if im feeling a little crazy which isnt to often, my mechanic has told me to drive it on "power" in the city and "econ" on the HWY it doesnt really bother me "econ" is good enough and gets me to places i wanna go!!

pretty sure thats the wrong way around - if you want to use econ (personally i don't bother) then it works best around town, because once you're into 4th gear and over 80kmh or thereabouts, econ is no longer achieving anything - power would run exactly the same as well as giving you better kickdown response for overtaking

[Polyal]

Ive put it on power once, only to see what it was like. Since then its been in econ. Bit of a **** feature really.

[castek]

i hate driving with econ on. if i put my foot down a bit to get through a blind roundabout or something, it just stays in 4th, WTF?! atleast in normal i can use the kickdown and find that peak torque (around 2200rpm) and i know i'm gonna get out quickly.

[Joes_meat]

Normal.

In econ, the gear selector doesn't work. You can drive around all day with 1 selected, but it'll shift into 4th at 50kmph just the same.

[Falc'man]

I need to because I drive a VY (company car so don't hate me), no guts whatsoever IMO I need every bit of extra torque I can get.