There's a 2022 XC40 in the extended family. While helping to restore previous vehicle preferences/functions after the displays all went to Mandarin (long & very weird story) I came across this in the owner's manual online:
Dynamic
- Dynamic mode is designed to help provide sportier driving characteristics and a faster acceleration response.
Gear shifting will be faster and more distinct and the transmission will prioritize gears with a higher traction force.
Steering response is faster and suspension is stiffer2 to help reduce body roll when cornering.
The Start/Stop function is activated the entire time the drive mode is used.
Maybe it's just me, but having auto engine stop as an obligatory part of sporty driving seems to make about as much sense as the Swedish Chef's recipe for Chocolate Mo[o]se.
Comments?
At the end of the day it's a cute ute and anything that adds a little more involvement to the experience is above and beyond...were you expecting launch control?
Nothing says performance like waiting for half a second for your engine to start.
theruleslawyer said:
Nothing says performance like waiting for half a second for your engine to start.
People seem to equate manual transmissions with performance, and it takes longer to put a manual trans in gear at a light than it does for a start/stop vehicle to restart.
Agreed... but while you're putting a manual in gear you're telling the car to do something and the car is doing it. The time it takes to complete the task is what it is.
By contrast, when I forget to turn start/stop off in the Odyssey there are a sickening couple of moments – usually at an intersection – when I have asked the car to do something and it's promising to consider my memo just as soon as it gets back from lunch.
A Type A personality I'm not, but I hate that.
So, you keep your left foot on the brake and give it a touch of throttle, should wake up the engine, non?
Stealthtercel said:
Agreed... but while you're putting a manual in gear you're telling the car to do something and the car is doing it. The time it takes to complete the task is what it is.
By contrast, when I forget to turn start/stop off in the Odyssey there are a sickening couple of moments – usually at an intersection – when I have asked the car to do something and it's promising to consider my memo just as soon as it gets back from lunch.
A Type A personality I'm not, but I hate that.
Yes, and a manual you can just put it in gear ahead of time. Its not hard to time the lights if you're not busy doom scrolling facebook or something. You hit the nail on the head that isn't not absolute time, but precieved responsiveness that drives me nuts.
Option packages are built by salesmen trying to get rid of stuff because profit. The B15 (?) Sentra Ser could be had with a lovely Brembo brake package, but it demanded a sunroof, sub woofer and several other things completely at odds with the sentiment behind big powerful brakes in a sports sedan.
Dumb.
mad_machine said:
So, you keep your left foot on the brake and give it a touch of throttle, should wake up the engine, non?
Given that they use brake pedal position sensors and not switches, you just twitch the foot that's on the brake and the engine will restart.
Using a sensor instead of a switch is how they are generally able to have the engine running before you can get over to the accelerator pedal.
Stop/start in my 2019 GTI with a dct is a non-issue.
For one thing if there are cars in front of me at a light, when that light turns green it frequently (nearly always) takes the other drivers longer to react to the change of light that it does for my car to restart. I guess finishing that text is really important to them.
The second thing is that the way VW programmed it's start/stop feature is that when I see the light change, all it takes for me to restart the motor is just the slightest twitch on the steering wheel or an equally slight twitch on the brake pedal. It's so slight that a passenger won't even detect it.
That's it. No waiting seconds or multiple moments. It's as seemless/unobtrusive as can be.
I wish other manufacturers figured that out by now, but from what is reported in car forums, I guess they haven't.
