[m@rk]

This may sound an obvious question but the manual is of little use here.

Car is a 2014MY 520D manual with stock SE suspension.

When I press the sport button I can immediately feel a slight surge from the engine as the mode changes not too dissimilar to the surge you get from a kick down on an automatic so I am assuming a change is made at a fuel injection level or perhaps it's a throttle thing and certainly the car does feel slightly more responsive.

But is that it?

Does putting it into sport mode on a standard car do anything else?

I am guessing the suspension is unchanged on the grounds that the car doesn't have the variable suspension option and I am not noticing any change in feedback from the weighting of the power steering

So what does this mode do?

Thanks

[AP]

It changes the sensitivity of the throttle. So in Comfort you might need to press the pedal say 2 inches for brisk acceleration. Put it in sport and you might only need to press half an inch or so for the same effect. So it feels more aggressive and 'sporty'.
In automatic it will also hang on to the gears for better acceleration and if you have the active suspension , it will firm that up as well.
you may also notice the steering weight up although I personally only feel that at higher speeds. Others have reported not being able to sense that though.

[m@rk]

Originally Posted by AP

It changes the sensitivity of the throttle. So in Comfort you might need to press the pedal say 2 inches for brisk acceleration. Put it in sport and you might only need to press half an inch or so for the same effect. So it feels more aggressive and 'sporty'.
In automatic it will also hang on to the gears for better acceleration and if you have the active suspension , it will firm that up as well.
you may also notice the steering weight up although I personally only feel that at higher speeds. Others have reported not being able to sense that though.

So that really is it then.

I had a feeling that was the case but wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something obvious

Thanks

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by m@rk

This may sound an obvious question but the manual is of little use here.

....Does putting it into sport mode on a standard car do anything else?

I am guessing the suspension is unchanged on the grounds that the car doesn't have the variable suspension option and I am not noticing any change in feedback from the weighting of the power steering

So what does this mode do?

As AP says, it depends on what options you have. I'm surprised you don't sense a degree of extra steering weighting in Sport mode, you have servotronic steering and that is variable.

I know when testing demo F10/11 models there is a lot of difference between examples according to specification. I recall 'back to back' testing a 530d with a 535i, the only difference was the autobox and wheel size. The 530d with the standard auto didn't feel much different in Sport mode, obviously a different gearbox program, throttle mapping changed and a little difference to steering feel. The 535i with SAT gearbox option, made a huge difference to the car when toggling to Sport mode, even changed the chassis feel as the steering really tightened up. This change in feel can give the impression the suspension is firming up as well. Many users have thought they must have VDC (or some other active suspension influence) due to this change in chassis feel.

Once you get Adaptive Drive and SAT, then the whole car changes characteristic when toggling through the modes. Getting suspension, throttle, steering and gear change points all changing as you engage Sport mode sharpens the car's dynamics. I personally find Sport+ gives the perfect chassis balance for a bit of enthusiastic driving, handling is better balanced, DTC backing off ASC (rear brake intervention) at lower limits.

I had a few days in a 320d ED auto, I must say toggling to Sport and I was sort of "yeah..." waiting for discernible changes, just a few more revs and not much else.

Whereas with the full works in the 535i, there are so many ways to set the car up, particularly as you can separate chassis and drivetrain functions. I typically run with chassis checked, so that only the suspension and steering firm up in Sport mode. Leaves the gearbox in comfort/economy program and I do the changing myself with shifter or paddles, if I so desire.

HighlandPete

[m@rk]

As you say, on something with an auto gearbox then you get a quicker kick down etc and on adaptive suspension, again there are things that get changed to change the whole feel of the car. On previous motors I have had all of these and the existence of a sport mode made sense

But now I have a manual gearbox and fixed suspension etc so am sat thinking why bother? Thus the question as a sanity check to see if I am missing something and it sounds like im not.