The_Judge

My 2018 E400 Coupe is equipped with ECO, which among other things shuts the engine off whenever the car comes to a compete stop, restarting it when I take my foot off the break. I find it annoying and sincerely doubt that it saves much if any gas, so I always press the button to turn it off.

Is there a way to configure ECO to be off when I start the car and to stay off until I turn it on?

ItalianJoe1

Nope, it defaults to on every time. Gotta be on for the car to hit it's quoted fuel economy targets, so federal regulations require it be on automatically.

The_Judge

Thanks. Makes sense, but still annoying!

ItalianJoe1

Agreed, I hate the feature, but that's the way things are going unfortunately.

elp_jc

That ECO automatic thing is annoying as hell indeed, but at least on my 2016 car, if I turn *** (auto start stop) off, it stays off (2017s don't do that anymore). Having said that, I have a suggestion in case your cars behave like the C63 I recently rented: By turning SPORT on, it automatically deactivates ***, plus tranny starts in 1st gear (instead of 2nd). In ECO mode, it starts in second, and the engine stops. I'm used to hitting the sport button on my cars every time I get in now. Two buttons would be more annoying. But hey, at least we still have the option. My brother's SRT switches to 4 cylinders making a horrible droning noise (plus it takes about a second to deactivate when mashing the gas), and there's no way to get rid of that, even in sport mode and TC disabled. What a drag.

pepmyster

Go points, If you notice, when you come to a stop, the brake pedal is a 2 stage switch, lightley pressing it will not turn off the engine. When you come to a complete stop, lift your foot abit and you will see what I mean. Hard, engine stops, light, engine runs.

advocado

I went through this with my CLS and E Cab. Gotta live with it and actually, like someone pinching the end of your nose, you eventually get used to it. It's all part of the manufacturers attempting to lessen emissions and increase mileage. There was a lot posted on the forums a few years ago when it all started. Of special concern was whether the feature would prove to be a long term impairment on the starter motor. The conclusion was that it does not effect the starter.

The_Judge

Thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't work on my 2018 E400 Coupe the *** is on when the car is started no matter which setting is selected.

Also, with my car set to Sport or Sport+, it starts from a dead stop in D2, not D1, according to the indicator on the dash. Only by switching to manual can I get it to start in M1. But I haven't tried really punching it from a dead stop as it's still new and I want to break it in gently. Maybe doing so would kick it down to 1st.

Flypenfly

I believe there's an ECO defeat kit somewhere that might work.

elp_jc

Yeah, but selecting sport doesn't deactivate it? It should. That's what I meant. At least for me eco is too lethargic, so always drive in sport on any car such equipped. What I didn't expect is the tranny starting in 2nd, even in sport, and even worse in sport+ (C63 starts in 1st with sport). Yes, it should kick down if you prod the throttle, but how annoying. Car obviously starts slower, and then the 'bang' on the downshift. I'm used to always driving in manual mode on my PDK Porsche, but I can perfectly hear the engine all the time. On a quieter car, it's probably better to use auto mode and use the paddles when needed... but if it always starts in 2nd, I'd prefer to always drive it in manual too, but need to drive one to find out how it feels. What I HATED on the C63 was the stupid paddles being super close to the wheel, therefore I couldn't slide my fingers between wheel and paddle, making that hand position all but unusable; super annoying, and a huge detraction on a sporty car. I'm used to driving at 3 and 9 o'clock positions, which is the correct way. Don't expect the E400 to be any different, since I can't even see the paddles in most pictures. Thank you for your input.

The_Judge

Nope, neither Sport nor Sport+ deactivates the aptly named ***.

I'm babying it for the first 1,000 miles, staying in the Comfort setting per the manual. I'll probably use the Sport mode once I get beyond that point.

Interesting info here on the gear ratios of the car's 9-speed automatic tranny: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercede...c_transmission

2150john

I have considered this solution. http://www.midcityengineering.com/pr...s-benz-eco212/ However I wouldn't want to tackle the installation myself. Also I haven't found anyone who has tried it so I don't know if it works seamlessly.