Smart vs Comfort Mode-what do you use and why?

[FeGee3]

I came from a 5-speed manual hatchback before my growing family size/adventures brought me to my Telly. My previous two cars were in fact manuals and it was the most heartbreaking thing about moving to an SUV, giving that up. I value control and the driving concentration that a manual gave me. I now have 17k miles on the Telly and have tried all modes extensively and use all of them, except one: Smart Mode. The unpredictability of this mode drives me crazy to the point where I feel anxious doing anything except cruising with no traffic (which rarely happens). I am an environmentalist so wanted to love Eco mode, but find I only use it when cruising or on highways. Around more traffic and with family in the car it's 90% comfort mode, 10% Eco. When I am alone I get to use Sport mode but only when conditions call for it, otherwise its Comfort mode. I live in NH so use Snow mode as needed.

 

[RogersMJ]

have tried all modes extensively and use all of them, except one: Smart Mode. The unpredictability of this mode drives me crazy

100% this. I tried Smart mode once on the test drive, before we even bought the car, and never touched it again. I get a really good feel for how a car drives -- every noise, shift point, input rate, etc -- and having that invisibly change all the time was incredibly disconcerting.

 

[M.Mason]

Found this really helpful on the drive modes:

 

[ernysan]

SPORT MODE all the time 100%

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[Christi]

I do love sport mode as it is more responsive and fits my driving style. Comfort is my default. As many others have stated, smart mode doesn't seem to shift, respond, or accelerate the way you want when you want it. Personally I felt that eco mode needed more braking time (might have been in my head but didn't seem to slow down as easily as other modes).

I did a thing where I stayed in one mode for a full tank of gas to compare their drive and mpg. After breaking in my Telly (700 miles), I quickly racked up 4500 miles on a cross country road trip in a two week period. After getting home, drove to empty, filled up, drove to empty again, then started my experiment. I only use Marathon 89 octane gas from the same gas station. I reset all trip and mpg at each fill up. I haven't managed to get sport mode as I haven't remembered to turn the dial on two parts of my drive this week. Smart mode got the worst mpg! My round trip commute to work is 50 to 60 miles a day on a variety of roads. Neighborhood 25mph, school zone 20mph , residential 35mph, 45mph, 55mph, farm roads, well paved, and badly paved. I drive all these every day. The only thing I don't drive on is freeway (only because it isn't on any routes to my school).

I will be sticking to Comfort and Sport mode.

 

[vinylhaircut]

Interesting. I did a comparison of Eco vs Comfort MPG for a few tankfuls as well. I did the calculations with an app, using actual mileage and gas used, rather than relying on the Telluride-provided data. I found no negligible difference in MPG between Eco and Comfort. Perhaps those results were impacted by my driving style or routes, but my default is Comfort as a result.

 

[Jaggrey]

I do love sport mode as it is more responsive and fits my driving style. Comfort is my default. As many others have stated, smart mode doesn't seem to shift, respond, or accelerate the way you want when you want it. Personally I felt that eco mode needed more braking time (might have been in my head but didn't seem to slow down as easily as other modes).

I did a thing where I stayed in one mode for a full tank of gas to compare their drive and mpg. After breaking in my Telly (700 miles), I quickly racked up 4500 miles on a cross country road trip in a two week period. After getting home, drove to empty, filled up, drove to empty again, then started my experiment. I only use Marathon 89 octane gas from the same gas station. I reset all trip and mpg at each fill up. I haven't managed to get sport mode as I haven't remembered to turn the dial on two parts of my drive this week. Smart mode got the worst mpg! My round trip commute to work is 50 to 60 miles a day on a variety of roads. Neighborhood 25mph, school zone 20mph , residential 35mph, 45mph, 55mph, farm roads, well paved, and badly paved. I drive all these every day. The only thing I don't drive on is freeway (only because it isn't on any routes to my school).

I will be sticking to Comfort and Sport mode.

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I’m interested to see the results you get with Sport mode. I was thinking of doing a similar kind of test to see the results as well.

 

[Christi]

I’m interested to see the results you get with Sport mode. I was thinking of doing a similar kind of test to see the results as well.

Used a bracelet on the steering wheel to help me remember to put it in sport mode all the time. I also manually calculated my mpg. I got 18.5 mpg vs the computer 18.8 mpg.

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[dsmclone]

For those trying to compare MPG from one tank to the next, please stop. It proves pretty much close to zero

Did the temperature stay the exact same for every mile you drove on both tanks?
Did you accelerate the exact same in all modes?
Was the traffic the exact same in all modes?
Did you drive the exact same route for all 300+ miles?
Was there the same amount of weight in your vehicle the whole time?
Was the tire pressure the exact same between both tanks?

People are getting 1mpg difference between two tanks in two different scenarios and declaring "*** is so much better". I would pick whatever mode feels most comfortable but these tests are ridiculous.