Because I am a bit of a nerd and love playing with data, and because I love testing stuff, I did some testing of reported gas mileage with various drive modes. I travel to and from a couple different locations every month so figured I could use these to check how the drive modes affect gas mileage. I also thought this may be interesting since the drive modes actually do feel different on the Telluride. I tried out the various modes when I first got the vehicle and really liked the responsiveness of SPORT, assumed SMART could be a good all-around mode, and did not like ECO at all in town since it lugged the engine so much but figured it would be good on the highway. The only one I cannot figure out is COMFORT. I "think" it smooths out the shifting, but I really can't tell since I don't think the shifts are an issue in any other mode.
These are the vehicle reported mileage numbers averaged over several trips. I tried to drive the same way in each mode (e.g. not driving more aggressively in SPORT mode).
For all interstate driving (speed limit up to 70), ECO gives the best mileage (24.1). It is slightly better than SMART (23.8) and about 10% better than COMFORT (21.7).
For arterial roads (speed limit up to 55) and a few surface streets (speed limit 40 and below), ECO is still the best (18.8). Again, it is only slightly better than SMART (18.0) but a lot better than COMFORT (16.2) and SPORT (15.7).
For only surface streets, SPORT gave the best mileage but I need to do more of this testing.
Based on my testing for my vehicle with my driving habits, ECO is the best for mileage but I really do not like how it lugs the engine in town so will not use it there. I do use this mode on the interstate but will drop into SMART if traffic gets heavy just to get some throttle responsiveness.
SMART seems to be a good overall mode. I don't like the heavy bias toward ECO and it seems you really need to stomp on the gas if you want it to change to SPORT. I guess it has to use COMFORT, but I really don't see what that does. I would like to see it calibrated with less ECO bias and more SPORT., and maybe eliminate the COMFORT option
I use SPORT in town, especially when there is a lot of traffic. I don't think it really hurts mileage, and the throttle responsiveness is much more important to me.
As always, YMMV.
These are the vehicle reported mileage numbers averaged over several trips. I tried to drive the same way in each mode (e.g. not driving more aggressively in SPORT mode).
For all interstate driving (speed limit up to 70), ECO gives the best mileage (24.1). It is slightly better than SMART (23.8) and about 10% better than COMFORT (21.7).
For arterial roads (speed limit up to 55) and a few surface streets (speed limit 40 and below), ECO is still the best (18.8). Again, it is only slightly better than SMART (18.0) but a lot better than COMFORT (16.2) and SPORT (15.7).
For only surface streets, SPORT gave the best mileage but I need to do more of this testing.
Based on my testing for my vehicle with my driving habits, ECO is the best for mileage but I really do not like how it lugs the engine in town so will not use it there. I do use this mode on the interstate but will drop into SMART if traffic gets heavy just to get some throttle responsiveness.
SMART seems to be a good overall mode. I don't like the heavy bias toward ECO and it seems you really need to stomp on the gas if you want it to change to SPORT. I guess it has to use COMFORT, but I really don't see what that does. I would like to see it calibrated with less ECO bias and more SPORT., and maybe eliminate the COMFORT option
I use SPORT in town, especially when there is a lot of traffic. I don't think it really hurts mileage, and the throttle responsiveness is much more important to me.
As always, YMMV.
