ezryder

Hey all,

Kind of a rookie when it comes to rolling in a GS, so I wanted to get some other's ideas/suggestions on this as I feel as though I don't take advantage of all my GS has to offer.

What gear are you in most of the time?
I assume its drive, but when do you use 4 and/or lower gears?
I click it over to 4 sometimes when I want to be sure that I'll beat someone off the line, but what about the sport switch? How often do you use this switch and/or when is it a good time to use this?

Any suggestions and/or driving advice you have is really apreciated!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

usuall you put it in D and it will goes up to 5th whenit's about 40mph. you have gs400 or gs430? if you have gs400, you can put it into 4th and use the eshift to race. but if you have gs430, you should gate shift from 1 all the way up. putting it in 4th won't help your off the line drag speed at all.

ezryder

I apologize rominl I should have mentioned that I'm driving a 300. So when I wrote that I click it to 4, its going from D to 4.
How about the 'pwr' switch, when do you use that and/or when is a good time to use that?
Thanks!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

no problem man, somehow i immeditaely assume you had a gs4 anyway, still, putting it in 4 means you allow the car to go up to 4th gear. yes it will allow better accel in higher speed, but from 0 it's still the same as putting it in D. put it in 1, when redline put it in 2, etc... that's the right way to race the car.

putting the switch to pwr is good too, coz' it allows the car to shift at higher rpm. but if you use gate shifting i dont' see how it will help that much coz' you control your shifting yourself

mooretorque

Welcome, ez. All that romini said is true, but there are a couple of other things to keep in mind.

WOT produces redline gear shifts until you back out of the throttle, so there's nothing to be gained by manually shifting (and something to loss if you are a little slow on the upshift and hit the limiter). Manually shifting to stay in a lower gear is helpful when you want more acceleration available in part throttle situations, however. Lexus has programmed the tranny to upshift as quickly as possible in part throttle settings to maximize gas mileage but this of course minimizes the acceleration capabilities.

Ah, the PWR setting, don't we all wish?? It's just a different shift program that delays upshifts (hold a given gear longer) and downshifts sooner (at lower throttle openings) so that the car FEELS a bit like it has more power. But, remember, at WOT the car is going to shift at redline even if it's in SNOW mode!! I'd leave it in PWR position all the time. But I've come out of a long string of manual transmission cars, so I tend to gateshift a lot because, even in PWR, the tranny will upshift to 5th by about 40 mph; I prefer to stay in 4th or even 3rd (bwaahaha!!) much of time in the traffic I'm usually in. It doesn't do much for fuel economy, but then, I didn't buy my GS hoping for Civic-type gas mileage!!!

ezryder

thanks mooretorque and rominl.
not sure if it changes anything that I don't have e-shift, but if I understand your comments correctly I should just leave it in D and have the PWR switch on to get the best acceleration?


thanks again guys

rominl

iTrader: (4)

well couple of scenarios and you will understand.

if you don't put your foot ALL THE WAY on the gas, it won't shift at redline but earlier, if you put it on D. if you put it in D and press the gas all the way down to the bottom, yes it will shift at redline.

that hardly happens coz' you always have to let go of gas, turn, brake, etc.... so think about this. you put it in D, red light, gun it all the way, it shifts at red line. but then you come to a curve, you have to let the gas go while you are in 3rd. BOOM it shifts into 4th and 5th and you started crying. however if you are using gate shifting from the red light, 1st, 2nd, 3rd... you come to the curve, if you don't move anything, it wil stay in 3rd all the time until after the curve, you gun it and you are in 3rd already (no downshift). or better yet, gate downshift it to 2nd, more powerful turn, and a lot more powerful out of the corner whe you gas it