sport button, i think i get it !!!

mad4slalom

Senior member
after having the m for a year, and now driving most of the time with dsc switched off.i have been playing more with sport on, I would hardly ever use it due to kangarooing on occasion. recently i posted several times that i was sort of convinced that even with dsc off ther was still a degree of electronics in play as excellarating out of corners there seemed a delay in the power coming in, everyone seems to agree that the dsc does eliminate all driver aids which left me thinking it is just me not on the power or even in the wrong gear.tonight i think i have started to get it, maybe exdos or beedud will confirm too if when at rhe ring and on a hot lap a) whether they have dsc off, and b) if they have sport on,and C ) what the difference to their lap time sport on or off would make. with sport off , i find driving sportingly on fast a or b road that when i rev match on a downshift , the revs drop back to quickly leaving me not on the power out of the corner, could be me of course, but this made me think there was still som driver aids behind the scenes. now however , with sport on the car really does as i have read from others on here, " come alive", way more useable power on tap out of the corners as the car is on the throttle , doesnt feel any more like the computer is sapping power or i am in the wrong gear, the throttle is transformed as is the whole driving experience. another thing , i was having trouble getting off the throttle in gear shifts, i find that you almost have to be right off the clutch befor you give any throttle at all, it takes some getting used to but it stops that riding of the clutch feel when you are shifting, after months of avoiding sport i am now really enjoying it, sport off is for normal commute and town driving but when you want a spirited drive that will change the whole feel of the car and put a huge smile on your face , press that button !! :driving: :thumbsup:
 
Once my car is warm I always have the sport button on, even when pootling ( is that a real word ?) around, there certainly a difference in throttle response
 
Can't comment on the wee thing. May press it one day. But I love the car the way it is. Don't think I drive it hard enough to realy notice. :o

If I switch DSC off, it's because I'm on track or planning to go sideways & I usually switch it on again, as soon as I'm done going sideways. I can think of at least one occasion, travelling across Exmoor single track bumpy road aquaplaned and starting to go sideways, very glad the DSC was on. It does its job very well, doesn't get in the way, unless the road is real bumpy crap anyway, so I trreat it as a good friend, who I can tell to shut up when I want a few moments of fun. :D
 
Darren Slone said:
Once my car is warm I always have the sport button on, even when pootling ( is that a real word ?) around, there certainly a difference in throttle response
Me too! Especially with my nice throaty deep exhaust! :D
 
I never use sport mode, for me it reduces the progression of the throttle and does nothing else. Here's a graph of the throttle sensitivity (ok, it's for the M3, but it's the same engine for all intents and purposes). All it does is bring in the throttle sooner for a given amount of travel, until you get to 100% throttle where they're both the same.

 
definately sounds a bit louder with a lovely rasp , pretty sure a lap time must be a bit quicker with sport on as it is so much more responsive when you get back on the throttle.
 
I always make sure it is in sports mode over speed bumps to stop the bounce. In comfort it bounces and scrapes but in sport the suspension stiffens.
 
bennyboysvuk said:
I never use sport mode, for me it reduces the progression of the throttle and does nothing else. Here's a graph of the throttle sensitivity (ok, it's for the M3, but it's the same engine for all intents and purposes). All it does is bring in the throttle sooner for a given amount of travel, until you get to 100% throttle where they're both the same.


^^^^ WHS

As that graph shows, even with Sport Mode on, you still have to depress the throttle to the floor to get WOT. The car doesn't accelerate any faster in Sport Mode.

I posted the graph below over 12 months ago on this forum which is a datalogged graph of 1-2-3 gear acceleration with Sport Mode on and DSC off, and the performance is no different than with Sport Mode off and DSC on! The ECU limits the fueling in 1st gear as a torque limiter. Sure, with DSC off you can break traction at will or by accident, but even with DSC on you can get sufficient slip angle to get the tyres performing up to their limits.


AFRwithDSCoff.jpg
 
mad4slalom said:
definately sounds a bit louder with a lovely rasp , pretty sure a lap time must be a bit quicker with sport on as it is so much more responsive when you get back on the throttle.

It's down to personal preference, even in F1 some drivers prefer a short throttle action and some prefer a long throttle action. It makes no difference to lap times since WOT (wide open throttle)is still WOT.
 
Quadracer said:
I always make sure it is in sports mode over speed bumps to stop the bounce. In comfort it bounces and scrapes but in sport the suspension stiffens.
Not on an e85/86 M - it's purely a throttle pedal map.
 
i was always under the impresion it also ignored the adaptive throtle setting as well so its much more noticable if you drive like a granny with it off as the adaptive throttle learns your slow throttle movements but switch sport on and its a fixed response
am i wrong?
 
I've never been able to find out much about addaptive throttle mapping on the M. Lots posted for other models but never found anything usefull for the M. :?

Can any one confirm for sure that it is present & if so, what it does?
 
Placebo effect :)

All it does is essentially push the throttle down further than your foot is doing - giving the effect of being faster whereas if you just smash the throttle to the floor there would be zero difference - I also find it makes the car harder to balance on the throttle as the response is anything but linear.

I use it on straightish roads but add in cross country and winding roads, off all day long.
 
M M M said:
Placebo effect :)

All it does is essentially push the throttle down further than your foot is doing - giving the effect of being faster whereas if you just smash the throttle to the floor there would be zero difference - I also find it makes the car harder to balance on the throttle as the response is anything but linear.

I use it on straightish roads but add in cross country and winding roads, off all day long.
I agree with the general sentiment, but there is one aspect you missed - which is that the rate of change of fueling/throttle occurs much more abruptly - especially at shut off/over run. I can't create the same pops and bangs with it switched off, no matter how fast i move my foot
 
On N52 engines it also adapts the power steering making it slightly heavier for more control and backs off the traction control a little.
 
is it just me or is it definately louder ,or just because its at higher revs more of the time ? must also in that case be a lot worse on fuel ? :?
 
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