yes...it's on demand i do it while accelerating etc..no biggie

 

Yes I too have much enjoyed and burned many gallons playing with the PWR button. Also, I've learned that using the Snow button is helpful in traffic jams on the interstate. Much less sensitivity, and is good when i need to move a bit faster than coasting.

 

Great suggestion...I'll have to remember that one.

 

I have driven w/the PWR button on since I noticed the car had it.. (bout 2 days after I bought it) and I really like it especially coming from an S2000. It holds gears longer, and is always ready to go..and when you brake it downshifts and it doesn't go unnoticed! My boyfriend turns it off when he drives my car cause he thinks it's too jumpy, lol.

 

Pretty smart...I'll have to try that (plenty of chance on the 405)..

 

Ya, great suggestion. If PWR = low mileage and normal = better, then SNOW should = even better mileage! The aggressive tuning just doesn't make sense for all driving conditions... Maybe they should rename the modes sport, normal, and economy, or something like that...

 

I played with this a couple of weeks ago. The car is more Jekyl than hyde when its on. I like on better I only saw a 1mpg difference over a week (1 tank) average... Not bad.

 

I would suspect the difference between on/off in this case may have something to do with how you broke the car in. For instance I followed the manual's recommendations pretty closely, very little heavy acceleration for the first 621 miles. So in the auto mode, my car upshifts almost every 700rpm, when I hit the ect/pwr button this thing holds HUGELY and it's like day and night!

 

Does it also change the valve timing? I haven't played much, but when I have, it seemed to me that it *cough* VTEC*cough* ed earlier.

 

Maybe it's just my bad memory, but doesn't the manual state that the snow mode disengages once the car reaches 30 MPH? Seems like you'd need to be in a real parking-lot traffic jam to take advantage of it.

 

perhaps you are thinking of traction control. I always thought Snow mode just means you start off from a higher gear (second, for example).

 

If you turn off TRAC, it re-engages when you hit 30mph (verifiy the speed, I'm quoting from memory).

Snow mode would, I imagine, make more use of traction control to limit wheel slip, and probably also makes VDIM more sensitive, but that's conjecture on my part. It may just start things off in 2nd gear and call it a day.

 

I have played with the power button before, but just here and there whenever I wanted to race someone or something. But I was doing a lot of driving today and figured I would leave it on all day and see what happens. All I have to say is damn!!! It's a big difference in the way the car reacts to your actions. Like when I brake on the interstate, it will downshift to 4th to help me slow down and also to have that power already there when i'm ready to speed up again. It feels like there is more power standing by all the time when you are cruising down the street. But I did see the gas guage drop faster than usual too...... I'll wait until I fill up again and see how much of a difference it was.

 

Yikes, tell me about it, I swear I've watched the gas guage MOVE! But it's OH so fun with the ect/power button on!

 

Does the IS "learn" your driving style? I've had several vehicles in the past that were able to learn your driving habits and adapted to them. Does the IS have such a feature?