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What is your go-to driving mode?

W.O.T. Stang

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Just thought i would ask, having had my Mustang a month.. i've had a chance to play around with them a little bit and just wondered who uses each of them when and what your thoughts are on them.

Mine are as follows - Keep in mind this is for an A10 PP1 without magnaride, so i cannot comment on the suspension changes.

Normal - To me this is pure 'eco mode' It seems that the transmission wants nothing more than to shift through the gears as quickly as possible to get into 10th (it will skip 2nd and 4th a lot of times) and stay in it's current gear until you really dig into the gas. Its a great 'just drive and forget' mode, especially in traffic and if you want the best possible gas mileage, which is what i believe it was designed for. I really only use this when im just cruising slowly (sometimes with quiet mode exhaust). It's very comfortable and quiet (i call it 'grandma mode") - if i'm looking for that kind of experience.

Sport - This is one of my favorite daily driver modes honestly. Its a perfect mix of daily driver characteristics and fun factor. The transmission really wakes up in this mode, It no longer skips gears, even under light acceleration. If you get aggressive with the throttle, it will downshift multiple gears instantly, and if you get into the brakes a good deal, you'll be met with multiple rev matched downshifts. Its a night/day difference from normal mode, which will never do any of these things. It will also sometimes hold a gear if you command a strong downshift, but not nearly as much as the more aggressive modes.

Sport+ - I use this one with more aggressive street driving. The throttle is exponentially more sensitive (to the point where you can get the 'herky jerks' at low speeds because the car shifts so hard with your foot on the gas and will cause it to surge because of it (i'm sure i am not the only one that this has happened too.. something i thought was exclusive only to manuals). The downshifts are aggressive, the steering is tight, and a simple overtake procedure will give you at least 2 gears downshifted. Also it *loves* to revmatch downshift. Its a fun mode, but can be a bit aggressive for normal driving. Also, the exhaust mode changes to sport here, but i usually have it set to track all of the time anyway.

Track - First of all, you get track mode exhaust - so yes, its a lot louder than the other modes if you are not already manually selecting it. This mode i probably have the least experience in, as it really shines best on a winding road where you can really explore the higher rpm ranges. From what i have used of it, it is outstanding. It seems to know what you are doing before you do, it will hold gears based on your throttle and steering input, and i believe it even monitors g forces to know if you are into a corner or on a straight as to how long to hold a gear. The shift firmness seems to be very strong here, but not strong enough to upset the car in a corner.. overall, its fantastic and i cant imagine what it would be like on a road course.

Drag - This one makes me smile like a kid! I havent been to the track yet with it, but ive done some full throttle romps with it on the street.. The first i did a 30 mph punch with it, lost traction and had it chirp 3rd loud, i knew this mode was pure awesomeness. The shifts rival those of a manual powershift, the car is all about straight line acceleration under full throttle and i can only imagine how much goes into the launch portion on a prepared surface.

Snow/Wet - I played around with this one once or twice. But seeing as i live in a place where i hardly see rain - its never really used, even if i needed it. However, i do applaud the feature. It numbs throttle response to almost nothing. The transmission will almost never downshift unless you floor it.. the transmission will hold keep the revs low and in lockup to prevent any slipping. I can only imagine the stability/traction control are tuned to be exceptionally sensitive. Im sure people who have dealt with more treacherous driving situations can comment more on this one, but i'm glad to see it here for those who daily drive their cars in less the desirable conditions.

Overall, I love the customization characteristics of the driving modes, and how well they suit your particular driving style. Im sure its a lot more noticeable for the automatics than the manuals due to the shift characteristics being controlled by throttle input, but hopefully a few people will be able to share their own thoughts on how the driving modes work for them with both transmissions.
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Echo4papa

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If I climb into my baby before 9 AM, it's in normal/quiet because I'm not a dick to my neighbors. I think they appreciate it because one of them mentioned how quiet the car seems in the mornings versus later in the day. I said "you're welcome" then explained the active exhaust and quiet start. Otherwise, I default to dropping the shifter to S and setting the exhaust to Track. "My Mode" is set up for Sport + and Track exhaust, everything else is situational.
 

Hivel

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That’s a trick question. Driving mode depends on driving conditions.
1) Cold engine- Shifter in S. I don’t like how D lugs the cold motor.
2) My commute- Shifter in S. Track mode and exhaust quiet. I drive 4-miles through twisted mountain roads to get to work and prefer the Track mode response.
3) City/parking lots - Shifter in S. Steering soft.
4) Highway- Shifter in D.
5) Open track / AutoX- Shifter in S and Track mode.
6) Drag strip - Drag mode. Traction control / AdvanceTrac off. The shifter is in S for burn out, launch, and first gear. Push shifter to D after shift into second.

Cheers,
 

Andy13186

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Normal drive mode steering in comfort until the car is warm.

Then shifter into S position, paddles active, steering comfort, tcs off for normal fun driving.


For hooning rolling burnouts I put the shifter in S, Paddles active, Drag mode for the transmission, steering in comfort. Can keep the revs at like 7700 after hitting in 3rd then bust it into 4th while rolling a burnout up to like 80 + mph in cool weather.

I never disable stability control
 
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BrianGT2015

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2015 GT. 6 speed. sport. All assists turned off.
 

HiTekExec

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If I climb into my baby before 9 AM, it's in normal/quiet because I'm not a dick to my neighbors. I think they appreciate it because one of them mentioned how quiet the car seems in the mornings versus later in the day. I said "you're welcome" then explained the active exhaust and quiet start. Otherwise, I default to dropping the shifter to S and setting the exhaust to Track. "My Mode" is set up for Sport + and Track exhaust, everything else is situational.
Very similar... Quiet mode programmed from 4 am to 7 am, otherwise normal cold start, then switch to MyMode outside of neighborhood, with MyMode set to Sport with Track exhaust.
 

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Cueball

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2015 GT. TRACK mode every time except wet conditions. There was no active exhaust that year.
 

Hack

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2015 GT. 6 speed. sport. All assists turned off.
I used to own a 2015 GT and I would almost always turn everything off as well. I did drive it year round and on snowy days I would leave everything on. But if the roads were clear everything was off.

In my GT350 I would use weather mode in poor weather. Most driving was in normal. On track sometimes normal and sometimes sport. Yes, the nannies are less strict in the GT350.
 

Sivi70980

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Manual transmission here and always sport+ mode and sport steering. Drove to work in the snow today in sport+. Snow/wet is useless to me, I want to feel everything. Now I do leave nannies on because I rarely push the car THAT hard, but when I do, those are turned off too. I did some "tests" in an empty parking lot this morning too, was fun to see how the different levels of nannies worked when the car was tossed around and left to recover itself. I was actually impressed.
 

Zinc03svt

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Drive all nannies unplugged at the box. When I want drag mode pull it down into sport.
 

tcman54

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I don't see my preferred mode on the list, it is leadfoot. :crackup:
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