I tried researching this 1st before making this post, but haven't had any success.

I was told by a couple of folks that your Max would get better gas mileage by driving it in manual mode vs driving it in automatic. Now I know in general manual cars are better on gas, but seeing how this is not a fully manual car has anybody ever seen a difference in the results??

I was also told driving it in Sports Mode constantly will decrease the gas mileage. Is this theory true as well?

Thanks for any help

 

Manual mode uses more gas. The engine and trans software work together to give you the needed rpm and load as needed.

 

I keep my car in sport mode 24/7 im pretty heavy on the pedal as well and get 19 mpg according to dash monitor. keep in mind that is mostly town driving and I have a r2c short ram

 

Even if its possible the amount of skill needed would not be worth the ~1mpg? in improvement.

 

leave it alone

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Manual mode is bad for fuel economy because YOU choose when to shift. The CVT is designed to make constant adjustments to the ratio and RPM's. One huge advantage to a CVT is that it optimizes fuel economy AND performance. By shifting manual, you eliminate the advantage.
As for sport mode, yeah - same kind of deal. Sport mode is always trying to get you on the power, so if you brake hard(ish), it will blip the throttle and adjust to a faster gear to provide hard acceleration.
Bottom line: if you leave it in D, you'll get the most efficient use of fuel (and you will accelerate faster).