03-07-2014, 10:57 AM | #1 |
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Forgotten how much I dislike EcoPro
I bought my X1 Nov 2012. I tried out EcoPro and pretty quickly decided to only use it at freeway speeds, because it made the X1 feel sluggish on city streets. However, several months into ownership I had a "low coolant" warning. There's a couple different theories about that, but one is that using EcoPro can sap coolant faster. Using that as my excuse, I stopped using EcoPro altogether. Didn't even find any significant difference in MPG, so was happy with my decision.
Well today after getting in my X1 after the gym, I decided to stuff my wallet and IPhone in the cubby hole at bottom of the dash, which I usually don't do. Then as I drove away, the car felt so heavy I thought, "oh, no, what's wrong..." I was afraid I would hear a chime and get some engine warning light. There was no oomph at all. Then I finally noticed - I had bumped the EcoPro button when I was putting those items in the cubby hole, and never noticed the message that must have flashed on my iDrive. What a relief to turn EcoPro off and feel the engine come back to life. Think I might put a piece of tape over the EcoPro button or something, to prevent any future occurrence... |
03-07-2014, 01:01 PM | #2 |
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The first time I got a microsoft multimedia keyboard back in the day, I super glued the "sleep" button just to make sure I never accidentally pressed it.
Now that I think about it, I've never actually tried out eco pro lol. I've only had the car 10 months. |
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03-07-2014, 03:13 PM | #3 |
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'Eco' does make the car feel sluggish. I've been experimenting with it on lightly traveled Interstates, where I suppose it works well enough.
Wonder if the EPA numbers were done with it engaged? Moon |
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03-07-2014, 11:22 PM | #5 |
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eco pro wasn't designed for the highway. It's designed for heavy traffic and lots of start/stops to keep you from using the throttle and brakes. It's garbage, because even a smart car will out accelerate an X1 using eco pro with your foot to the floor. That and the ASS button can die in a fire.
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03-08-2014, 12:49 PM | #6 |
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Depends on how you drive, let the car roll out in citytraffic and slipsteam behind trucks will make your car a lot more economical, even without ecoshit
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03-09-2014, 10:15 AM | #8 |
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03-10-2014, 09:48 AM | #9 |
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X1 s28i with AC on: 215 f at cruise with ScanGauge II.
When you accelerate (putting heat in engine) the coolant temp will start down from 215 f, so on the track it will sometimes run less than 215 f. If you cruise without AC or put on Eco Pro if will get up to 234 f. I'm pretty sure different driving conditions change the amount of electric water pump flow. |
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03-10-2014, 10:33 AM | #10 |
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Tried it yesterday in city driving, maybe ten miles of total driving, never above 40 mph, with tons of stops and starts. Throttle response was dangerous, shifts were sluggish and I saved exactly 0.0 miles. Awesome!
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03-10-2014, 10:44 AM | #11 |
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IMHO, features like EcoPro and Start/Stop are only included to fool the CAFE bean-counters. In real world driving, they detract from the driving experience that the designers hoped to achieve and should not be used.
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03-10-2014, 11:34 AM | #12 |
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And in the 35i, the button's weight being carted around probably displaces any fuel savings gained...too bad it's not just a blank, like where the aptly-named ASS button is in the 28i.
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03-10-2014, 03:35 PM | #13 |
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I've never understood why BMW included that MPG gauge in X1. Kind of silly. Having any model of BMW and worrying about MPG is a huge contradiction IMHO. If someone wants higher MPG go buy a hybrid.
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03-21-2014, 10:45 PM | #15 | |
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Quote:
Moon |
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03-22-2014, 09:08 AM | #16 | |
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Quote:
I feel I get good MPG for the weight and engine output when comparing to other models on the road with a fraction of the power. I get better MPG than a Tiguan which has 100 less hp! The 6 cylinders have it. Sill that the 4 cylinders don't also have a temp gauge. The MPG gauge I experience on my loader was silly. |
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03-23-2014, 10:43 AM | #17 |
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Agree with the comments about the MPG gauge. I accelerate and change gear based on traffic and road conditions, not when the gear change indicator tells me.
I have tried the ECO Pro mode this week. I can't say I have noticed any less performance but for my normal daily commute (a short stop start stretch followed by a couple of miles 70 mph dual carriageway and another couple of country lanes), the indicator varied between 0.0 and 0.1. Yesterday, after a bit of town driving this rose to a whopping +0.7 but this soon dropped back down once I got out onto some country lanes and started to enjoy myself. The most annoying part is having to remember to turn it on every time. It would make more sense to me to default to the last setting. Maybe once the engine has run in (I've only done about 400 miles so far) it might get better, but so far I'm underwhelmed by it. |
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03-23-2014, 11:53 PM | #18 |
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I just leave the car in sport mode all the time now. Even the regular setting has a lag when you press on the accelerator. Sport Mode eliminates that. As my gas mileage was already comically bad I don't see what the non-sport mode accomplishes. Never have tried the eco-pro.
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03-24-2014, 07:14 AM | #19 |
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Tried it once... immediately felt sluggish, never used again. I recently found a NO ETHANOL gas station that has 91 octane and gained a 1.5 MPG increase with the e0...so that is my MPG fix.
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03-24-2014, 09:08 AM | #20 |
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Agree with many of the comments regarding Eco-pro. It is primarily for city driving and improves MPG by tempering the throttle response when you accelerate which is where the greatest loss of MPGs occur. But it also helps during freeway driving where you might not notice the softer throttle response and thus be annoyed. It reduces the compressor workload by not heating air before cooling it and it allows some slippage of the cruise if you are climbing a steep hill. The combined effect can be significant and I applaud BMW for making this little hotrod fuel efficient compared to most of the competition.
On a recent ski trip to the UP of Michigan I was forced to drive more slowly (55mph -60 mph) up and back due to icy road conditions and my average MPG for the trip (one full tank of gas) of gas was 36.1 MPG via the gauge and 35.4 based on calculation of fuel used and miles driven, the best MPGs I have ever gotten thus far. So it is nice to have the option of getting good mileage when you drive like a blue-head. I did not use the Eco-pro for what it is worth. I have found the 91 Octane no-ethanol fuel to give me 2 to 3 MPGs better which makes using non-ethanol as good as using eco-pro. |
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03-24-2014, 09:16 AM | #21 |
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Would love to have the option of not having ethanol in our fuel.
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04-29-2014, 08:39 PM | #22 |
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EcoPro is awful ... period. It is dangerous in city traffic because acceleration is significantly compromised. Normal mode isn't much better, so I always default to Sport mode. That was my only critique on my initial satisfaction survey. Otherwise, I really like the car. A more Mini-like exhaust note would be nice, but it is a great car.
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