How does switching a car into sport mode work?
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My Mazda has this. I use it for on-ramps and passing. Works great when you need it and
saved gas when you don’t.
A lot of components of a modern car, including engine, drivetrain and chassis – the things that dictate how a car behaves – are controlled by computers these days. The engine may load a different power profile giving it a bit more spunk, the shifting may favor speed over comfort, the suspension may get firmed up so the car can corner harder and so on.
By default every setting will be a compromise of all aspects. Sure you want the car to be quick but it should also be comfortable, not too thirsty and maybe not needing a service every 500 miles. The sport mode shifts all the knobs it has towards a more performance oriented approach, compromising at the cost of other aspects of driving.
It’s one of two things:
i) Flame decals on the side of the car. Try to start just behind the front wheels, and go back over the doors.
ii) Rear wing/spoiler. No matter what kind of econobox you may have, putting a wing/spoiler on the trunk definitely screams ‘sport mode’.
Switch to sport mode make the hamster in your car run fast on the wheel by putting the flame behind its tail
The only thing I don’t like about sports mode on my Rav is that I can’t make it the default mode. It’s annoying to have to turn it on every time I start my car. It’s well worth the slight reduction in economy to have a car that’s pleasant to drive.
I can set sport mode in steering and suspension, and have it on by default. Things are firmer, steering is tighter and you can feel the road. There is also touring mode that I don’t use. My transmission can be switched to manual without sport mode on by moving the shifter stick to the left, I don’t have paddle shifters, just the stick. That little button that says sport mode is basically gas guzzler mode, and it will have higher RPMs before shifting and it shifts more often, the throttle is more sensitive, and much quicker acceleration. It is a leave your tummy in the back seat type of acceleration. My nephew made fun of his mom’s car because she has a gas saver mode, and I have gas guzzler mode.
With it off I still have very good acceleration to jump out in traffic, and I don’t need high RPM’s on my drive to work. Either way it sounds the same, it is very quiet because it has resonators.
Mechanically I have no idea what happens, but it does something and you notice it. I swear my car is more computer than engine. I have a Challenger.
In my little Jetta it just changes the shift points. The difference is most noticeable going uphill. It also lightens my wallet a bit
it can means tons of different things from all the different manufacturers, but for the most part you have the transmission, steering, suspension, and engine that can all be modified electronically. the steering and/or suspension may tighten up, some cars even physically lower themselves closer to the ground for better center of gravity, the transmission a lot of times is tuned to shift quicker and hold higher rpm for longer, and sometimes the computer will change the engine tuning to give it a little more power, which is probably the least common feature as far as “sports mode” goes. Sometimes it’s just one of these, sometimes it a combination of them, all depending on the make and model usually.
EDIT: I forgot to add that sometimes the exhaust is muffled intentionally for a quiet ride, but this can be opened up electronically giving your exhaust a louder sound, (not necessarily better) but typically you wont see any kind of performance increase from this.
Adding sport mode to a shitty economy car is like saying Vtech is basically a turbo. It’s sad marketing garbage.
Once you dyno tune and remove all that safe factory garbage you’ll learn what real sport mode feels like.
Usually you turn a knob, or press a button. Often they’ll be labeled “Sport” or “S” and may be located near the transmission control. A light or some other sort of indicator will tell you it’s enabled.
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