Econ mode has nothing to do with VCM technology that causes your 6 cylinder engine to run on 3 cylinders. With Econ depressed, it basically acts as a governor to prevent you from accelerating quickly, thus conserving fuel.

 

Yes. You can use ECON mode for all driving. We just prefer Normal mode. Econ shifts slower and it also adjusts your climate controls, less effective. We also felt our gas mileage was better in Normal. Maybe because we pressed the accelerator more to get the car to go in Econ mode.

 

...Econ shifts slower and it also adjusts your climate controls, less effective...

I had to fact check your remark that Econ mode adjusts climate controls. Sure enough it says,

"While in ECON mode, the climate control system will be less effective and the vehicle slower to accelerate."

Does anyone know what impact ECON has on climate control, that is, specifically? Does it change the temperature? Does it turn down the fan speed? I'm an engineer and don't like vague statements like this.

 

I drive in ECO mode all the time because it smooths out the goofy transmission for me.

 

Econ from mechanics advice are only for city driving and not highway speeds.

 

I would disagree with this comment. Like a few others, I drive in ECON mode most of the time and find it plenty acceptable unless I am driving in the mountains where climbing up hills feel easier in NORMAL mode. On flat roads, I think ECON is fine in either city or highway.

 

Just saw the 3 cylinder part. That only happens on low engine loads low rpms - high speed cruising.

My 9th Gen civic under 3800rpms, low throttle input, and low engine loads would fully open the throttle body, change cams to the i-VEC, intake valve stays open on the compression cycle and would push air back into the air intake to reduce how much air is in the cylinder to be able to use less fuel. So instead of the throttle body controlling the engine, the valves and ignition timing are. They were saying the 1.8 liter effectively runs like a 1.3 liter.

 

I've been driving mine in ECON mode since I drove it home from the dealership in August. That's what it was set at and I never even bothered to change it. With the HUD I rarely look down at the main display so I forget all about it. I'll have to tie a string around my finger to remind me to change it and see the difference.

 

I agree with boris2023. We run in Eco mode on our '21 EXL all the time, even thru the mountains. I see a slight difference between it on or off. To me the difference between Eco on or off shows up most with the AutoCruise on, where you slow down and it tries to resume. That annoys me enough I will sometimes turn Eco off then back on when it is up to speed. And I don't use Sport very often either, only when I am towing, or on a fast back road, as it holds gears tooo long.

 

pretty much agree with everything @jack63ss said - i tried sport mode and found it to be more noise that it was worth. . The other car in my family is Acura TLX, and the sport mode in that one makes it very fun and zippy, but in the Pilot, not so much. Maybe I need to try again under different conditions. On the other hand, the ECON mode on the TLX turns the car into such "old person mode" that it makes it completely unusable IMO.

 

Did you like Econ Mode?

 

Ren & Stimpy fan ? (although that was Mr. Horse) ...

 

I personally like the Econ mode. Smoothes out the jerkiness of acceleration and makes gear changes at a lower RPM making them smoother as well. It is great for when the kids are sleeping in the car. Normal mode is good too. Sport mode is obnoxious to me and I don't know why you would want it. It holds RPMs way too long and just feels like it is about to shift but never does. Seems like a waste of a setting, just put your foot into the pedal more if you want to drive faster

 

Sport mode is obnoxious to me and I don't know why you would want it. It holds RPMs way too long and just feels like it is about to shift but never does. Seems like a waste of a setting, just put your foot into the pedal more if you want to drive faster

Keeps the rpms up when your doing the 270* curve to get on the freeway then wide open throttle it towards the end and the back end starts to step out to merge so it doesn't kick down 3 gears when you accelerate🤣

 

Okay, I will defend Sport mode in ONE situation. If you are stopped and trying to cross a busy street it will make the vehicle launch MUCH faster. But once you cross the street it is no longer a help and is just noisy (and yup, it will not shift up). But BTW, if you want wasted features, Paddle-Shifters are my choice for #1. My personal driver is a 6-spd BMW, but paddle shifters on an SUV like this are a joke. The only time we use them is if we are pulling our boat out across the beach, as we want it to stay in 1st.

 

Agreed with paddles, only really used for downhill engine braking. Downshifts with paddles are so slow, and it auto upshifts at redline so no point using them. I know Honda has this in current gen Civic, but I think our Pilots too and makes sense in Sport mode (more noise doesnt make sense just saying the louder engine sound). There's a chip behind the dash and it plays engine noises to the speakers, I wondered why it sounds louder in Sport but rpms were the same...

I miss driving a manual and thinking about picking up a series 2 RX-8 - 4 doors and kids.

 

I stumbled onto this topic and thought I would add my $0.02. If my wife and I have one complaint about the Pilot we own it is the shifting of the gears. If I'm being honest if we had it to do all over again, we would not have bought it. Our test drive didn't reveal it as much as we it notice now (of course). I have found that "Snow" mode is the smoothest of all modes IMO but I'm not sure if it is a good idea to use it all of the time or not. It has the pick-up in some ways that Sport mode has without the high RPM shifting that some have mentioned. I wonder if Honda has a refresh for the transmission software like I had done with an Acadia we owned previously. It made that SUV feel like a brand new ride (for the good) after I had it done - improved pick up and shifting. I guess I will have to call my dealership and ask

 

How many miles do you have on the car?

 

My wife started driving in ECO mode and noticed a 3 mpg diffrerence in her fuel consumption

 

I run in Tow mode exclusively to avoid VCM. In winter here I hate the idea of running 3 cylinders cold when it’s constant - 20 to -35 C weather. I worry about fuel in oil dilution. I provably should just do an oil analysis to put my mind at ease.

 

does VCM deactivate only in tow or sport mode as well?

 

 

Tried econ mode. It should be called "limp mode" like when you have a bad solenoid... Because in the end you ultimately have to floor the pedal to get it up to speed which defeats the purpose. Hard pass.

 

I prefer to not use ECON mode. You can do the same by controlling your foot. Nice that Honda gives us a choice.

 

I use ECON mode mostly because I don't really give much thought to the mode unless I'm towing the boat. I do not drive aggressively and I drive far ahead, if you know what I mean. Don't have too much need to mash on the pedal and wind up the motor.

 

I use ECON mode when first starting my 2024 Elite. After about 5 minutes of driving, I switch to normal mode. Reason: the 10 speed transmission works better in ECON mode until its warmed up.