What is the ECON BUTTON for???

[Sandman1]

Hi everyone:

 

I own a subaru legacy 93 AT 2.0 There's a button in the gear shift called ECON. A "econ" display shows up when actioned. I can imagine that it must be there for gas economy reasons, but... How does it works? When should I really use it?

 

Thanks

[porcupine73]

Hello Sandman1 and welcome! I haven't heard of the ECON button before, but your Subaru is probably not a U.S. spec model.

 

My guess is it probably makes the transmission prefer higher gears. Like shift into higher gears sooner. And hold higher gears more often when it might otherwise downshift. It may also have something to do with torque converter lockup.

[91LegLS]

Hi everyone:

 

I own a subaru legacy 93 AT 2.0 There's a button in the gear shift called ECON. A "econ" display shows up when actioned. I can imagine that it must be there for gas economy reasons, but... How does it works? When should I really use it?

 

Thanks

 

I have collected brochures from around the world for the first generation Legacy (USA, UK, Japan, Germany and Australia) and according to them, the ECON button when lit forces the transmission to shift at lower RPMs to maximize fuel economy. Turning the button off allows the transmission to shift at higher RPMs if the gas pedal is pushed fast enough. The USA AT has a "Power" light that appears when the gas pedal is pushed rapidly, but not necessarily to the ground (kinda cool when the "Power" light comes on).

 

Do you have the owners manual that came with your car? If so, it might go into more detail about the function.

[Sandman1]

Thanks for the rapid response and the warm welcome

 

Well, I dont have the owners manual, but let me tell you that whenever I step on the pedal fast enough the POWER LIGHT turns on (and yeah, its kinda cool!)

 

Anyway, I will check out the RPM's with or without the ECON button. Then I'll let you know.

 

Thanks a lot