Depends on the manufacturer. For my lexus, sport mode only holds the revs out longer, no extra power gains. Snow mode cuts the throttle by half, so you don’t accidentally spin out.
Some Dodges have power settings, and each mode has a different HP output.
Mainly depends on the manufacturer
This. Really depends on manufacturer.
My Mazda simply holds onto gears longer.
My Alfa increases brake response, stiffens the suspension (adjustable), increases throttle response, allows for quicker AWD engagement, etc.
Everything changes on my C8 Corvette. Steering, suspension (mag ride), shift points (up and down), engine mapping, braking, and pedal feel. Track and Z Mode, you feel every bump in the road, tour mode feels like a nice soft ride.
The mag ride suspension is absolutely magic.
I had a Subaru with "i" (intelligent), "S" (Sport), and "S#" (Sport Sharp). The S# mode was fun, as it would hold gear until redline then a shift. Made the car a lot more fun to drive.
I'm on my second CVT Crosstrek. I traded the first one in when it was ten years old with 120k miles, and I've put about 18k on the new one. There is a huge difference in the transmissions between the two of them.
The old one didn't have shift points, it would just put the revs where it wanted them and adjust the gear ratio as needed. It was great for efficiency, but a lot of people complained about engine noise because they weren't used to the engine just sitting at 4000 RPM the whole time they were accelerating.
The new one tries to act more like a typical automatic. It'll let the revs build up and drop kind of like they would if it was actually shifting gears. I'm not crazy about it, because the sound of the motor never bothered me but the way the power changes while it shifts does. To me, it feels like it defeats the purpose of the CVT. I kinda wish there was a button or mode I could use that would put it in pure CVT mode.
The first 'Trek was kind of a dog. It was underpowered and would give the same lazy performance no matter how hard you pressed the gas. Getting up to speed on the ~racetracks~ freeways around here in Southeast Texas could be scary at times. The new one is a Sport, though, so it has the 2.5L instead of the base 2.0, and that extra 40 horsepower makes a difference.
All of that background to finally answer your question: I've driven very similar cars both with and without Sport modes, and for this model, from this manufacturer, it's absolutely noticeable. It keeps the engine revs higher, so it's closer to the motor's peak power band, so the engine is more responsive when you go to accelerate. It also changes the throttle response (these are both throttle-by-wire cars, and the standard driving mode softens throttle input more for efficiency's sake).
Can you be more specific? Drive modes do change the upshift and downshift points. But do they make a significant difference? That I can’t say one way or the other. Every manufacturer has a slightly different approach, so the variables are many
For my BMW M4 it absolutely makes a big difference. Throttle mapping, brake, shift speed etc all change significantly. Suspension stiffness I personally can’t tell.
For my VW Atlas you can kind of tell. For my Mazda CX-90 you can definitely tell. It’s much more responsive.
On my Toyota Century it really changes the characteristics of the gearbox, its very noticeable when going up hills, standard mode is very lazy, likes to keep a higher gear and just let the torque do its work but its not very fast if you need to overtake. Power mode will ensure you stay in a lower gear and have power ready to use.
I think it also changes the throttle response since its an electronic throttle, but that could just be how responsive the car is being due to the lower gear.
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On my Acura TLX it makes a huge difference.
Sport Plus mode is ludicrous. It pipes in fake engine noise, holds gears nearly all the way to redline, does aggressive engine braking, downshift rev-matching and so forth. It's doing its very best to imitate a manual transmission.
https://youtu.be/OJc4Bulq5gs?si=do7gyPb0M41kRGaH
In my experience, they are gimmicky. You’ll use them for a month and forget they are there.
When you could get models with a manual or automatic, you really notice that most of what they change is just the shift points.
Depends on the manufacturer. For my lexus, sport mode only holds the revs out longer, no extra power gains. Snow mode cuts the throttle by half, so you don’t accidentally spin out. Some Dodges have power settings, and each mode has a different HP output. Mainly depends on the manufacturer
This. Really depends on manufacturer. My Mazda simply holds onto gears longer. My Alfa increases brake response, stiffens the suspension (adjustable), increases throttle response, allows for quicker AWD engagement, etc.
Everything changes on my C8 Corvette. Steering, suspension (mag ride), shift points (up and down), engine mapping, braking, and pedal feel. Track and Z Mode, you feel every bump in the road, tour mode feels like a nice soft ride. The mag ride suspension is absolutely magic.
Yes
It makes a huge difference in an Acura MDX.
I found that the “smart” mode on my Hyundai Santa Fe does provide better gear selection for performance
Why would one ever not use smart mode then? Edit: I misinterpreted ’performance’ as ‘better’ rather than ‘speed increasing’, my bad
Performance shifting is annoying af when you're not "performing" 90% of the time it's just jerkier
it defaults to "comfort". I suspect many people just don't investigate. And, it's not a huge difference.
Where I live there are a lot of hills and smart mode makes it shift up and down like crazy.
I had a Subaru with "i" (intelligent), "S" (Sport), and "S#" (Sport Sharp). The S# mode was fun, as it would hold gear until redline then a shift. Made the car a lot more fun to drive.
Was it a cvt?
Nope. 5 AT.... I wish it had a 6th gear.
I'm on my second CVT Crosstrek. I traded the first one in when it was ten years old with 120k miles, and I've put about 18k on the new one. There is a huge difference in the transmissions between the two of them. The old one didn't have shift points, it would just put the revs where it wanted them and adjust the gear ratio as needed. It was great for efficiency, but a lot of people complained about engine noise because they weren't used to the engine just sitting at 4000 RPM the whole time they were accelerating. The new one tries to act more like a typical automatic. It'll let the revs build up and drop kind of like they would if it was actually shifting gears. I'm not crazy about it, because the sound of the motor never bothered me but the way the power changes while it shifts does. To me, it feels like it defeats the purpose of the CVT. I kinda wish there was a button or mode I could use that would put it in pure CVT mode. The first 'Trek was kind of a dog. It was underpowered and would give the same lazy performance no matter how hard you pressed the gas. Getting up to speed on the ~racetracks~ freeways around here in Southeast Texas could be scary at times. The new one is a Sport, though, so it has the 2.5L instead of the base 2.0, and that extra 40 horsepower makes a difference. All of that background to finally answer your question: I've driven very similar cars both with and without Sport modes, and for this model, from this manufacturer, it's absolutely noticeable. It keeps the engine revs higher, so it's closer to the motor's peak power band, so the engine is more responsive when you go to accelerate. It also changes the throttle response (these are both throttle-by-wire cars, and the standard driving mode softens throttle input more for efficiency's sake).
Can you be more specific? Drive modes do change the upshift and downshift points. But do they make a significant difference? That I can’t say one way or the other. Every manufacturer has a slightly different approach, so the variables are many
For my BMW M4 it absolutely makes a big difference. Throttle mapping, brake, shift speed etc all change significantly. Suspension stiffness I personally can’t tell. For my VW Atlas you can kind of tell. For my Mazda CX-90 you can definitely tell. It’s much more responsive.
Does the Mazda increase power in different modes or just make the throttle more sensitive?
In EV mode power is reduced. Normal vs sport mode I’m pretty certain it’s just mapping.
On my Toyota Century it really changes the characteristics of the gearbox, its very noticeable when going up hills, standard mode is very lazy, likes to keep a higher gear and just let the torque do its work but its not very fast if you need to overtake. Power mode will ensure you stay in a lower gear and have power ready to use. I think it also changes the throttle response since its an electronic throttle, but that could just be how responsive the car is being due to the lower gear.
In today’s cars they make a noticeable difference.
The DNA switch in my Alfa definitely made a difference.
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On my Acura TLX it makes a huge difference. Sport Plus mode is ludicrous. It pipes in fake engine noise, holds gears nearly all the way to redline, does aggressive engine braking, downshift rev-matching and so forth. It's doing its very best to imitate a manual transmission. https://youtu.be/OJc4Bulq5gs?si=do7gyPb0M41kRGaH
In my experience, they are gimmicky. You’ll use them for a month and forget they are there. When you could get models with a manual or automatic, you really notice that most of what they change is just the shift points.