Its kinda complicated at least in regards to his offroad mode thing.
In our Bronco:
eco get worse mpg than normal hwy.
Sport is IMO at its core basically the ziptie mod. 10% of throttle becomes 15%, if you hold the throttle as you activate it you can feel the car accelerate. Something like that will really effect perception on its own. Also plays with the shift strategy to run out every gear longer and hang in a gear so RPMs are on hand if you want to punch it which help too.
Mud/ruts: Engages the rear locker and supposedly plays with traction control. IMO it can only do so much with the TC with the rear locker engaged. Aside from being able to toggle the locker on and off on the fly it is kind of underwhelming. Have to manually shift the trans which is kinda hokey.
Slippery: not bad, activates automatic 4wd on ours and plays with the throttle, abs and tc. Great one stop shop for a novice in winter.
Rock Crawl: legit. Tightens the throttle and torce converter (massive improvement) , have to do the hokey pokey shift to 4lo and locker is mandatory engaged. If you want to turn off the locker like to turn sharp in close quarters you have to leave the mode. Which kicks you into high which is another hokey pokey range shift so you can do it all over again to get back into plain ol' low range. Supposed to tighten the steering but never noticed so either it didn't do much or it's so instinctive it just clicks. Also have to manually shift the transmission.
Trail Turn Assist: On grass or farm field residue the locked tire will easily slide and then it just kinda drags itself along like wounded duck. If you have too much traction it is kind of the same thing, the non locked wheels struggle to get enough bite to drag the locked wheel. When it works it works but when you need it it would be nice to know exactly what it is going to do
This is what I have learned so far, I am still learning. No way is this stuff turn key for a novice to just jump and run with an experienced driver. It has taken two trail rides and numerous experiments in my field to get where I am.
I might sound like a wimp fussin' over having to manually shift the trans. My '85 is a manual, so are all five of my tractors. They don't shift with a up/down rocker switch like your tv remote volume, it just isn't super user friendly for me.
I forget what the terminology is but the offroad cruise is kinda sorta neat, will run the brakes for you so you don't go too fast.
But it isn't lost on me that what this tech is doing to really improve things... makes it more like an older simpler rig. Tightening up the TC makes the driveline firmer like a manual trans. Offroad cruise thing with the brakes holding you back, engine braking with a manual.
Its hard to be subjective here too. It has changed a lot but I have driven my '85 for decades longer. I know what it is going to do every time. I ring the engine room for ahead one third, they ring back with "aye aye caption ahead one third" I tell the helm to come to course 272 and the helm responds "aye aye coming to course 272" Nobody screws with anything, it does what I tell it to. The throttle is always the same, the steering is always the same, the brakes are always the same thing shifts when I want to to shift. I kinda like that. I can pop from high range to low range in seconds. 2lo or even front low is even on the table for super tight turning.
And for modern 4wd's in general. Most are one failed wheel speed sensor away from being a 2wd. Trail Recon had that happen with his 4xe and we have had more than a couple come thru our dealership with the same. FWD like wheel offsets chasing better mpg are more prone to damage and filling with dirt/mud when offroad. Modern fluids are very expensive to change after dunking in water also.
And this can vary in importance a lot depending on your train of thought too. But like on my '85 I can service the wheelbearings before/after a trip. It is possible to actually know what the grease is like in there. The Bronco... you don't know until it starts making noise. And it is one of the super modern unit bearings that has to be pressed out of the knuckle... good luck doing that in the Autozone parking lot 500 miles from home. Same with u-joints, mine have been replaced so I can regrease them. Most newer vehicles (I know the Ranger is like this) you can not grease/replace the u-joints, you have to replace the driveshaft. My wife's old Edge was like that but with carrier bearings, the stupid thing had like 3 carrier bearings in the rear driveshaft and when the went you had to replace the driveshaft.
It just kinda goes on and on...
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Mixed thoughts on that.
