Eco button in manual BP5 Legacy Gt

[jacksie66]

So my 03 manual BP5 Legacy Gt has an eco button by my left knee. Does it make any difference to fuel economy or performance even though it's a manual?

[boon]

My '05 Auto has one and it drastically alters the throttle behaviour.

It's a drive-by-wire electronic throttle, putting it in ECO makes it respond WAY slower and less aggressively.

[nztintin]

^^^

what he said, I have a 6 speed 3.0 and I leave it in eco 99% of the time unless I'm stop/starting on hills a lot ie going up to a skifeild in traffic etc.

[jacksie66]

Does it do anything for fuel economy? Would it have much effect in a manual car?

[Kiwi_Fozze]

Huuuuuge effect.

Eco limits you to effectively wastegate pressure or there abouts, very slow gentle throttle response.

Drive it for a week on eco, then a week with eco off... There will be a difference. Quite a big one.

[jacksie66]

Cool. I'm driving to Dunedin from Christchurch on Saturday. Gonna leave it on and see if there's much difference in fuel economy..

[boon]

Yup open road cruise it's a huge difference.

Just click it off if you're going to do an overtake though or you'll be sluggish as.

[Guitar_Guy]

^^Mine automatically disengages if I give it a bit of snot to over take, then re-engages once it settles down again.

It also disengages when I use cruise control which is kinda frustrating.

[boon]

Yeah mine behaves the same. It just takes a moment to disengage, and the lurch when it suddenly opens the throttle another 20% is kinda unsettling haha.

[GC8E2DD]

It makes a big difference over long distance; primarily from smoothing throttle response I reckon. As mentioned above, we have that button on 99% of the time; pretty much take it off for towing, overtaking, and silly driving. It seems to indicate that it isn't doing anything over ~3000rpm (the light), although I'm sure it is. Suffice to say if you're on the state highways under 3000rpm in 5th (up to about an indicated 110km/hr) with the little green light active the whole time, you're getting close to optimal mileage. Amazing what a little gamer incentive will do for your driving on a long journey.

[scratch]

the light just tells you when you're driving economically, the mode is still active. I had it in a GH8 impreza S/GT and if you're under boost (ie: going up a hill with rpm about 3500) and take it off it feels like a kick in the pants.

[knockoutgiant]

Am I the only one here that hasn't noticed a difference between eco on and eco off? I've felt no different in power, response or fuel economy....

Have driven a gen 5 and you can tell there's a whole lot of difference using the "SI drive" but I haven't seemed to feel anything with the eco button....

[GC8E2DD]

It would appear so.

[jacksie66]

It makes an amazing difference. Filled up to the brim in Christchurch and got down to Mosgeil in Dunedin and nearly back to Christchurch on 1 tank. Just pulled up in Rakaia to refuel. 750km from 1 tank in a 2.0 gt ain't bad. Got 12.6 km/l average consumption..