Does anyone else think it was idiotic to remove the E shift on the 430s? I wouldn't buy one for that reason.

Zach

 

I've had a '98 GS400 and now I have an '01 GS430. Prior to that a 5-speed 300ZX TT. Frankly, I found the e-shift on the GS400 rather useless. It was fun to play with but a pain trying to find the buttons while turning the steering wheel. E-shift is no faster shifting than gate-shifting and on pure throttle starts letting the auto upshift by itself is faster than manually shifting with e-shift or gate shifting.

Is e-shift a fun idea? Sure, it's cool to have buttons on the steering wheel...and it's kind of a sexy feature. And if it were there I'd probably use it sometimes. But, I find I use gateshifting on my 430 more than I did the e-shift on my 400. Once you get used to the gateshift pattern it's really easier to use and more natural after having gotten used to my 5-speed.

 

And I agree with Marty. Granted I'm biased as a result of having driven manuals most of my life (including the last 7.5 yrs prior to my GS with SC300 5 speed), but gate-shifting my GS is easy, simple and intuitive.

I understand those who are a bit put off by the syrupy shifts which Lexus provides and I agree that having a torque convertor that bangs your *** into the next gear provides a slightly quicker acceleration time. But, since I don't race per se, for normal or even aggressive street driving, I can usually anticipate what gear I want to be in and make the thing happen that I want to happen, eg, "I think I want to be in that gap.." and almost magically, thanks to gearing and that deep wellspring of Lexus V8 torque, I am! Smoothly, quickly and unobtrusively, disturbing not a hair on the heads of surrounding drivers.

And that was a long sentence. Sorry.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

 

Isn't a problem with gateshifting that those gears are not held individually?

i.e. with e-shift, when you choose 3rd gear, that's all you get. If you choose 4th, you stay in 4th.

with gateshifting:
D5 = gears 12345
D4 = gears 1234
D3 = gears 123
D2 = gear 2
D1= gear 1

am I off base here?

 

Don't even THINK about it!

 

Gateshifting implies active use of the gearshift in similar sense to what we would do if there were a third pedal called a "clutch". It is used to manually (pedally, really) disengage the drivetain from the transmission whilst changing gears, wither up of down. Autoboxes remove the use of the foot for clutch work and place in it's stead something called a "dead pedal". The short result is that we can also select any gear in the box at any time. I just no longer have to the the three step,double tap dance to get them, but God! it is fun

But these Lexus gates are Ok esp since I'm no longer a fan of clanking/cgrucnching departures and the whine of all those straight cut gears either/


It's Christmas and as the Bailey's bottle grows more empty (and here's SHE WHO KNOWS AND MUST BE OBEYED BRINGING ME JUST ONE MORE BUMPER!!!!! WHY, any luck and I might continue for far too long in this vein; some may argue that time passed long since, since little dancing pixies seems to surround the quartiles of the screen for me......quick they are, like a second gear pass around one of those bumbling semi-conscious wheel holders whos attempting to perform some morning ablutions whilst parparticipating in the dressing/battlepaint rituals whicht are the comparative response to the predators. What's this to do ithis Birtday,ya say?? None much, except that it did delayyoiur atention until I could indeed create a world of freedom where I can type such drunken frivel and inspire no more that ridicule. I and I all th pixies floating around te screen are almost to it
Well. All I can really say is that Baileys and Moet et Chandon workwell when I'm late adn just want to say
Meery Christmas to all you daft individuals I've met on CL. I suspect that a significant number are cribbing at home,kwim.