Test drive - Eco light, lack of power, and questions

[Darkshines629]

So I test drove a Limited this morning. The gas was low and the center console said I had 13 miles left. Car felt very underpowered. Was pushing the gas pretty hard and couldn't get to over 2500 rpm.

1. Is there an automatic default to eco mode with low gas? Both the salesguy and I couldn't find a button to undo the annoying green eco light.

2. Is the lack of pickup related to the eco mode or is this just the way the engine is for the 5th gen? Currently I drive an 09 MDX (V6, 300 hp) and an 06 Sorento (V6, 190 hp) and both seem to have the 5th gen beat by a lot, in terms of pickup.

3. On the nav, the there seems to be a delay of about 1 sec on the touch screen? How have current owners not shoved their fists into the touch screen?

Thanks.

 

[My 4R]

ECO light is just an indicator. It illuminates when the ECU calculates you are getting the best mileage and you can turn it off using the odometer reset. I think you press it until you reach ECO "on" then hold it down to turn off the feature. HP picks up after around 3000 RPM. Its kind of a slug before that, but you can get 18+ mpg around town. Keep in mind, this is a heavy vehicle with an actual frame. Its not going to be as peppy as your Kia.

I only have 1300 miles on mine and it does seem to be more responsive in the lower RPM than when I first drove it home.

 

[oldsweng]

Just to confirm, the ECO light is just an indicator of how you are driving, not any computer setting. If the ECO light is on then you just need to press the "go pedal" a little harder to turn it off. This might be the reason you didn't see the responsiveness you were expecting. It took me a while to realize I could press the pedal much further than I expected. After that the truck became much more responsive. It just gets better as the miles grow.

 

[Darkshines629]

It took me a while to realize I could press the pedal much further than I expected.

yeah I think this was the problem. I was pushing pretty hard down but I guess there was a lot more room to push.

 

[jhawk]

If you put the indicator/trip meter on the 'eco'/gas mileage mode, you're still only barely pressing the gas when you get out of eco mode - stomp about 2in past that (about 1/2 the travel) and past 4k to get a feel for the vvti.

 

[homeyclaus]

Pretty much what everyone else said. Ours also got better with time, either because it's breaking in, or we stopped caring.

The throttle input on the 4R is probably not truly linear, which means it will respond very differently than non-drive-by-wire vehicles used to, and those dbw vehicles tuned to drive like them. 30% pedal on the 4R is probably 15-20% throttle, and they only match when you're somewhere around the 50% mark. Combine that with the transmission wanting to get to 5th as soon as possible, and yep, it feels poky.

Why?

* Prevents peel-outs.
* Better take-up modulation, especially in slow traffic, parking lots, off road, etc.
* Better mileage much of the time.
* Probably the sudden acceleration lawsuits.

Stomp on the throttle, and the car mags say a 4R will make 60 in 7.3 seconds, which is actually very impressive for a 5000 lb body-on-frame SUV.

Set it to "3" or "4" on the sequential shift mode, and it also shifts a bit later and is a bit more pleasing to the butt-dyno. The eco light will also turn off when you do this, because the computer deems you uneconomical when you're shifting yourself. Just like it's always on when cruise is on, because the computer can do no wrong, even with the throttle wide open because the cruise control dozed off on a hill climb.

 

[dennisnky]

On my 2015 4Runner I can turn off the eco light by turning off economy mode.
It's under display settings.

 

[1engineer]

On my 2015 4Runner I can turn off the eco light by turning off economy mode.
It's under display settings.

Dude this is a five year old thread.

 

[jrandom]

Got to get up to 15 posts to start a thread! :laugh:

In their defense better to be helpful than a troll for 15 posts

 

[Antman]

Dude this is a five year old thread.

The Dude searched though...:withstupid:

 

[FrontRange4Runner]

We have officially run out of things to talk about.....

 

[ArthurHawk]

I want another post count eace:

 

[jrandom]

We can always talk about superchargers... and Stifler :madgrin:

 

[oljedi11950]

Veeerry interesting !

 

[homersapien]

1. Read the manual. You can turn off the eco light in the dash settings.
2. It's an extremely slow vehicle. You simply have to live with it.
3. Hasn't been an issue for me.