This is where anticipation comes into play, if you’re looking around you and identify where you’ll need to change lane you can drop it down a gear or two, or it’s a quick flick back into normal / sports mode if you really need it.
I haven’t done a really long journey in mine for a while, I did go to Manchester a week or so ago but the amount of traffic there was just everywhere I stayed in normal just incase I did need to speed up quicker / change lane.
Not to say you (or others) don’t anticipate on the road, but personally I’ll stick it in eco if I’m cruising at 60-70 and just change it depending on the road conditions at the time.
Ha... none taken!! 🤣
Cards on the table. In my former life I was trained above and beyond civilian advanced driver level, I'm fully aware of the need for the application of observation and anticipation 😉
Its
reacting to the unexpected that Eco prohibits.
Sorry, I didn't just mean routine lane changes I meant extreme lane changes, very infrequently necessary but immediate throttle response absolutely is necessary.
In civvy street i'm talking things like...
- Lane 1, a lorry a safe distance in front but preventing a view of the road ahead, suddenly brakes and swerves right to avoid a stationary queue THEY hadn't anticipated. You need to get to lane 3 PDFQ.
-Debris in your lane to avoid but with a biff far too close behind to slow/stop safely but a rapidly closing opportunity to take an overtaking lane before a faster moving vehicle in that lane gets there.
- For the above see also those smart motorway 'car in front swerves to avoid stationary vehicle' nightmares.
These aren't everyday scenarios, but sudden unexpected emergency action drills are what occupy my thinking.
In these specific instances you need not only a quick steering input but an instant acceleration to get you from point A of danger to point B of safety.
When I used the Eco mode in our Focus in regular motorway driving the lack of any immediate 'oomph' if required disturbed me.
Take the middle example I gave. In Eco mode you risk either being hit by the car driving too close behind because you had to do a semi-rapid stop, or in trying but failing to get up to speed quickly enough for an overtaking lane you risk get hit by the car behind you approaching rapidly in that lane.
That's why I'd only ever use it again in crawling motorway traffic or, at a push, a totally empty motorway... but standing by to switch back if two or more cars appeared.
Non motorway roads or dual carriageway though... forget it. Try pulling out into traffic from a side road in Eco, a terrifying lack of progression.
See also the speed limiter function BTW. Like all the pants gizmos cars now come with, I tried it once, never again. They are rare but there are short instances where exceeding the speed limit (
very briefly) is far less dangerous than staying where you are at the speed limit. I digress.
But hey, as with all things in life, I do what I feel is right for me, other people can do whatever feels right for them.
But on your point about anticipation, that alone does not mitigate the unexpected, things can and do happen that can't be anticipated. Its your
reaction that counts.
You need quick and instinctive reaction and Eco mode does not have enough 'quick' for what has become my default (
once occupationally necessary) level of reactive response. You see once trained you can't be untrained, my situational awareness and my reactions are now so instant and instinctive I need my car to do what I need it to do, WHEN I need it done.
NB - that wasn't intended to come over as Billy Big Spuds as it did, the intention was to explain why, for me anyway, Eco is potentially dangerous in all but 'Mrs Miggins' conditions... in order to do that I had to disclose more than I wanted to 😔
