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How does the 1.5 3 Cylinder Engine Do Up Big Mountains?

Stircrazy

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I'm kind of struggling with this 1.5 in challenging positions. I find myself having to kick in overdrive and it feels and sounds like laboring is happening.
can you explain how you "kick in overdrive?
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thomasm23

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I'm kind of struggling with this 1.5 in challenging positions. I find myself having to kick in overdrive and it feels and sounds like laboring is happening.
I am very confused with what you are saying. If you firmly press on the accelerator pedal the transmission will downshift to a lower gear to allow the engine to perform at a higher RPM. The transmission is an 8 speed unit. It is irrelevant if higher gears are “overdrive” or not.
 

Quashish

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He's saying he feels at times the 1.5l is lacking lol. Not that complex. Overdrive maybe means using sport mode. Which almost became an instant reaction after starting the car for me. Probably why I got terrible fuel mileage. Don't really ever use sport mode in the badlands.
 

Stircrazy

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He's saying he feels at times the 1.5l is lacking lol. Not that complex. Overdrive maybe means using sport mode. Which almost became an instant reaction after starting the car for me. Probably why I got terrible fuel mileage. Don't really ever use sport mode in the badlands.
depending on how you drive sport mode or economy mode don't make much of a difference from normnal mode. for me its a 2 hour comute on the highway up and down the mountians to work and home. so I put the cruise control on at 120kph and listen to tunes, very little city driving. when I first got it I did economy mode for a week, normal for a week and sport mode for a week. it this kind of driving there was no significant difference in fuel milage, same as using premium gas. didn't make a difference. what I did notice was the amout of speed drop off going up a hill before the transmition down shifted to make the speed back up. in normal it is a bout 3kph, in sport it is 2kph and in eco it is about 4kph.

I would imagin if you do most of your driving in town then thoes modes would make a lot more of a difference.
 

Quashish

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depending on how you drive sport mode or economy mode don't make much of a difference from normnal mode. for me its a 2 hour comute on the highway up and down the mountians to work and home. so I put the cruise control on at 120kph and listen to tunes, very little city driving. when I first got it I did economy mode for a week, normal for a week and sport mode for a week. it this kind of driving there was no significant difference in fuel milage, same as using premium gas. didn't make a difference. what I did notice was the amout of speed drop off going up a hill before the transmition down shifted to make the speed back up. in normal it is a bout 3kph, in sport it is 2kph and in eco it is about 4kph.

I would imagin if you do most of your driving in town then thoes modes would make a lot more of a difference.
well for the 1.5 L eco mode keeps you running on 2 cylinders with early shifting at low rpm, and in sport mode, the shift points are higher in the RPM range and you're lucky to get into 8th gear. they are very opposite ends of the spectrum so you should notice a difference.

I've always ran premium chevron fuel in all my turbocharged vehicles. I'm not going to save a few dollars at some no name fuel station and have to pick the leaves out of the fill pipe.
 


Stircrazy

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well for the 1.5 L eco mode keeps you running on 2 cylinders with early shifting at low rpm, and in sport mode, the shift points are higher in the RPM range and you're lucky to get into 8th gear. they are very opposite ends of the spectrum so you should notice a difference.

I've always ran premium chevron fuel in all my turbocharged vehicles. I'm not going to save a few dollars at some no name fuel station and have to pick the leaves out of the fill pipe.
actualy it doesnt keep you on two cylinders, it does slow inputs fromt he gas peddle and change shifting patterens for the transmission. mind is always in 8th gear on the highway when it doesnt need to downshift for a hill. I don't get why you guys don't think it goes into 8th gear. I will be doing 70 to 75mph (which ever 120kph is) at under 2000 rpm all the time, when you hit a hill it will down shift then it will go back after the hill. some times it will down shift more for a big hill.

what I was sayign when you leave your house and speed up to 120kph and set the cruse control, there is virtualy no difference between the three modes. fule milage is almost exactly the same. sports mode only move the shift points higher if you are putting your foot into the throttle, if you drive it nice it will still shift at the normal points. city driving it is noticable if you are the kinda guy who always has to be first to the next set of lights, but if you are driving like your trying to get good milage it doesnt make that much of a difference.

as for premium, it makes a difference if you are heavy throttle higher rpm aplications. but I don't understand why you can't get regular fuel from a reputable station, instead of some no name place that keeps their hoses on the ground, do you not have real gas stations where you live?
 

Quashish

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@Stircrazy you misunderstood what I said. 8th gear was referring to while in sport mode.

I don't trust no name fuel stations. Or Costco gas. My Hondas liked shell, my ST didn't, so I've been getting chevron ever since. Except when I have my e30 Tune on, then I use 76 because it's the closest station to me that has e85. But I've noticed even not blending fuels in the past I've gotten less mpg with 76 than chevron.

California gas in general is crap.
 

Stircrazy

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@Stircrazy you misunderstood what I said. 8th gear was referring to while in sport mode.

I don't trust no name fuel stations. Or Costco gas. My Hondas liked shell, my ST didn't, so I've been getting chevron ever since. Except when I have my e30 Tune on, then I use 76 because it's the closest station to me that has e85. But I've noticed even not blending fuels in the past I've gotten less mpg with 76 than chevron.

California gas in general is crap.
ya I have heard some horror storries with gas and diesel in the US. here I can watch the delivery truck leave cheveron and pull into costco and fill their tanks. there is only about 3 different places they get fuel from and it is all pretty much the same standard. so places do get 94 with no methanol but that is becomming harder to find now.
 

Quashish

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ya I have heard some horror storries with gas and diesel in the US. here I can watch the delivery truck leave cheveron and pull into costco and fill their tanks. there is only about 3 different places they get fuel from and it is all pretty much the same standard. so places do get 94 with no methanol but that is becomming harder to find now.
i used to trust Costco a little bit, even though i was always skeptical about the price being lower. But that's wholesale, so makes sense. i would tell myself its fine because its probably the freshest gas around with the turn round time of refilling and being a "Top Tier" fuel station. but the lines are always so long not worth my time. i recently seen someone test the fuel from Costco and ethanol content where he tested was still only 10. which is normal range when i test places. usual 5 or 10. but it was super cloudy and you couldn't even see through the sample. NOT normal. his deduction is they are starting to add something else to stretch the fuel because of all this Iran nonsense going on.
 

Stircrazy

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i used to trust Costco a little bit, even though i was always skeptical about the price being lower. But that's wholesale, so makes sense. i would tell myself its fine because its probably the freshest gas around with the turn round time of refilling and being a "Top Tier" fuel station. but the lines are always so long not worth my time. i recently seen someone test the fuel from Costco and ethanol content where he tested was still only 10. which is normal range when i test places. usual 5 or 10. but it was super cloudy and you couldn't even see through the sample. NOT normal. his deduction is they are starting to add something else to stretch the fuel because of all this Iran nonsense going on.
costco treats fule as a lost leader, kinda like their hotdoog and pop. they make no money of them of very little and they are fine with that because most people who go up to costco to get gas are going to sshop at the store also. hence why you need a membership to get gas there, or to eat a hotdog. ya it can be bussy, I am in a city of 100K and early in the morning there is no one, during the day it can be a 10 min wait so you learn to tim your visits haha
 


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costco treats fule as a lost leader, kinda like their hotdoog and pop. they make no money of them of very little and they are fine with that because most people who go up to costco to get gas are going to sshop at the store also. hence why you need a membership to get gas there, or to eat a hotdog. ya it can be bussy, I am in a city of 100K and early in the morning there is no one, during the day it can be a 10 min wait so you learn to tim your visits haha
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Ford Bronco Sport How does the 1.5 3 Cylinder Engine Do Up Big Mountains? IMG_3468
 

RSH

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The 1.5 engine is tuned for economy.

With it's added gimmicks like economy mode, auto start stop which is rough and doesn't transition smoothly on restart and cylinder deactivation that cuts off 33% of the engines power in certain conditions it does what it's supposed to do and provides good fuel mileage.

Like most economy tuned vehicles you need to either constantly mash the throttle or develop your muscle memory to automatically switch to sport mode so it performs like a normal vehicle and improves the around town driving experience otherwise it's always wanting to shift into the next higher gear and sometimes lugs and makes it feel rough running.
Also to get the most out of the 1.5 you should run top tier premium fuel, it makes a difference.

As far as going up long grades on the highway, it will do it, depending on the grade you may or may not have to start a run before the actual incline which isn't any different for a number of other vehicles or semi trucks for that matter. There are always people that go faster or slower it just depends on your comfort level.
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