What's your drive mode of choice?

[Snakebitten]

and if you so much as breathe on the gas pedal it will snap your neck. Not a fan

You say that like it's a bad thing. ??

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[BRDVPRA]

I live in a residential neighborhood in a suburb of Raleigh, work from home and most of my trips are 5 miles or less during the week. Most of the time I'm in Eco and take it easy trying to get the best MPG I can. The entrance to my neighborhood is downhill towards my house so the PB kicks into electric and I can easily drive around the neighborhood without the ICE kicking on. Because I'm usually in moderate traffic I can't really use the trucks power so I just slow roll it everywhere. I haven't owned the truck long enough to determine if there are any real benefits to driving in Eco vs Normal. I have used Sport a few times to try out 0-60 runs but don't see myself using it much. I have done some gravel driving but left it in Regular with traction off so I could have some fun but that's about it.

I should add that I have no idea if Eco mode is doing anything to help MPG's as I haven't tested Eco vs Normal in similar conditions....and probably never will.

With my PB, I really think the Eco mode allows us to stay in electric longer. It seems like the EV Coach graph gets larger when I switch to Eco Mode. It also seems to deaden the throttle a little allowing it to not kick in the ICE as easy as it does in Normal mode.

 

[Pedaldude]

ECO for the drive to work, getting about 20-22 MPG with a V8...

Which final drive ratio?

 

[tmdaley]

I have a hybrid Lariat and use tow when towing a 4000 lb trailer. Most noticeable in tow is the transmission tends to stay in 8th gear at freeway speeds, and also that when going downhill it runs up to ~3500 rpm (instead of ~2000 normally) to allow transmission braking and, presumably, save the brakes. This surprised me at first (is something wrong?) but I think it makes sense and I like it.

In normal driving I tried using eco mode to save gas (over $4/g here in Ca.), but got tired of switching it, so now I use normal. Still assessing the difference - its not real noticeable to me. I'm getting 18-22 mpg (city-freeway).

 

[ttnuagmada]

I'm surprised so many folks consider "Sport" aggressive or too much of something.
Sure, that shifting strategy is less determined to save you fuel, but judged just on shifting alone, to me the transmission is both far more "normal", since it uses the 10-speed as a 10-speed, AND it's far LESS uncertain about what it intends to do.

My only complaint for so-called Sport Mode is Ford takes EV off the table. Completely unnecessary, in my opinion. If I could have that shifting strategy AND EV cruising available, I'd be in Sport mode most of the time.

The issue I have with Sport mode, and Normal mode to a degree, is the low-speed behavior.

Example: im creeping out of a parking lot onto a road. I ease into the throttle to roll over the gutter, the jostling around from rolling over the gutter causes me to not be able to keep my gas foot 100% still (I have big ol sized 14 feet), and the slight movement of my foot causes the truck to surge forward and immediately engine brake all herky-jerky because the throttle tip-in is so damned aggressive and there is no slack in the transmission. It's stupid sensitive in sport mode, and bad enough to make daily city driving feel awkward in Normal mode. It's not a "problem" with the transmission, it's a problem with Fords philosophy on programming a transmission.

Sport mode I understand, that's the way it should be, but there should be none of this going on in normal mode. I shouldn't have to set my truck to ECO every time i get in it just so i can run errands without having to worry about aggressive tip-in/shifting.

Once i started driving around in ECO mode, i stopped thinking about the transmission.

 

[Bigtwin]

Sport... Less shifting

 

[TexasTrash]

Which final drive ratio?

3.15

 

[xtraman122]

I really wish they had something between normal and sport. Sport is so touchy on the throttle response and so aggressive with the downshifts and high shift points it’s a little much for average driving, just something fun to engage when you want to do something stupid or show the power of the truck to someone. Eco is pointless on the PB, I think almost everyone has said the get the same or better mileage on normal.

I agree half of them are complete gimmicks and useless. Normal, sport, and maybe one for slippery/loose conditions are all you really need.

 

[Gazoo]

Just clicked over 5k miles since getting delivery July 16th. I have not seen a noticeable difference between Normal and Eco modes, given that the conditions are always different, be it routes of travel, highway vs. city roads and combinations thereof, what loads you are carrying, etc. From an acceleration standpoint, Normal mode seems to engage the engine quicker than when in Eco mode while in residential/city areas on electric. I did a long distance trip (450 miles) each way using the two different modes and ironically, each way registered 20.1mpg all freeway miles with lots of inclines with overall 2000 ft. elevation changes.
As for the other modes, I have used Tow/Haul mode while taking my Airstream trailer for approx. 3200 of the more than 5k miles driven.
I have a very steep (13% grade) dirt/shale road on our vacation property and used the 4L (granny) gears to control my decent. Very impressed with how you simply crawl downhill (no brakes). I'm used to 4L having driven large utility vehicles that basically crawl up and down hills this way and my F150 performed much the same way.
If anyone gets a clear answer from Ford engineering on the proper/intended use of the Normal vs. Eco mode, please share!

 

[Pedaldude]

...It's stupid sensitive in sport mode...

What you're describing sounds like the throttle mapping made possible by throttle-by-wire. It changes the sensitivity of the pedal, so that just tickling the gas has the same effect as pushing it down halfway, it's a trick used by some tuners to make you think that you picked up extra HP.

Back in the day, with mechanical throttles, a similar modification was to swap out the cam that the cable acted on. The big difference was since it also reduced the mechanical advantage of the throttle cable's pull against the return spring. So while the distance to push the pedal decreased, the pressure required increased.

I was reading an ergonomics study years ago, where they found that people really suck at judging distance with their feet but they are also very good at judging pressures, so the theoretical ideal brake and gas pedal wouldn't move at all but vary throttle opening and braking based on how much you press down.

Maybe in the future, the gas pedal module can vary its spring rate when changing maps.

 

[Snakebitten]

^^^ Well put.

It makes me think that if someone thinks Sport Mode is difficult to modulate smoothly with the throttle, it's likely just indicating that their foot is "trained" to a much different range of motion. (less tip-in, so to speak)

If that same person was to drive a Porsche 911 Turbo, or a modern sport bike, not only would their expectations be considerably different than what they are in their pick-up truck, but they might actually enjoy the throttle mapping. At the very least, given 30 minutes to an hour, they would "adjust" and be perfectly capable of driving the vehicle smoothly and at a normal public road level of control.

My point being, that "Sport" mode is just a label that someone at Ford gives to what is REALLY just one of the available throttle-map/transmission-strategies. But there's so much power of influence in the WORD "Sport", as well as the contrast to the default throttle-map/transmission-strategy. Add to that many folks have purchased the Powerboost for its Hybrid (fuel economy) attribute rather than the Generator or ~600lbs of Torque. Thus they are focused on driving it gently as possible anyway.

Me? It's my 3rd Ecoboost. I am addicted to how this platform yanks my RV's around with aplomb. And I ONLY traded my previous EcoBeast for the Powerboost for that boondocking marvel of the 7.2KW rolling grid. And as stated previously, Sport Mode seems like a silly name for a strategy that just so happens to reveal the 10r80 as a marvelous transmission!
And since I spend enough time in Sport mode, my foot knows how to drive the truck gracefully and with smoothness. Nothing Sporty about it.
But I SO wish that Ford didn't remove EV miles in that mode. I don't get it. If I have cruise control on and just running along steady-state, there's no reason to block EV from kicking in.
So I go through the effort to switch modes to get my EV miles when the road conditions warrant it.

 

[Bandito]

I’m an Eco mode driver. On my 2018 EB I got some improvement using it.

Where I really used it was on my 2017 Honda CR-V. There it definitely boosted the mileage by at least two miles per gallon.

I’ll have to do some experimenting with my 2021 PB to see if it makes a difference or not, but my bet is that it does improve mileage a bit.

I think that Eco mode is the most effective in daily stop-and-go driving, but I don’t think that there’s much it can do to improve highway cruising. It’ll be fun to test out at any rate.

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