metrathon

I love the car. What bothers me the most is the peaky engine: I feel like I'm driving an 85 Civic where I need to wait for the VTec to kick-in in order to get smth out of it. This might sound great if you live on a track, but not in traffic where you want to have peak torque at 2k rpm.

Anyway, I tried sport mode and I think it's a keeper. I'm not impressed by the heavier steering, but it also increases the sensitivity of the gas pedal, downshifts faster, keeps the revs higher for longer. All this contributes to the illusion of more torque down the rpm range and makes the car more traffic-friendly. I just wish there was a way to keep the car in sport mode all the time without having the manually set it every time you start it.

Once you go turbo, it's hard to go back

jtrue28

Yes. But what also helped me was to manually shift it down a gear if you need a sudden burst of power. This is also why many people questioned why they installed an 8 speed transmission in it. Too many freaking gears.

Lakersfan

iTrader: (1)

I dont understand why the car will remember it was left in Eco mode, but not sport or sport+. I think a "Doh" on Lexus' part

JDR76

It's because of the EPA mileage. If they allow the car to start in Sport mode, then they have to incorporate Sport mode in the testing to determine posted fuel mileage, which will lower the rating. This is why it can start in ECO but not in Sport.

bclexus

It's not just Lexus! The fuel mileage of the vehicle to meet EPA draws its ratings from the Normal mode, thus it defaults to Normal mode, or if you are in ECO mode it will remain in ECO mode. Again, it's a requirement by the EPA. All vehicles do this. No Doh about it...

jjscsix

I'm curious as to which model you have. I have a Luxury. The steering in it only gets firmer in Sport Plus, not Sport.

Sevn86

From what I've read it seems like the luxury model sport mode compared to the F sport model sport mode is different. The luxury model has a slightly softer effect when used in that mode compared to having a F sport model and using sport mode.

jjscsix

That's why I wondered which he has.

BTW to the OP. I see you have an FZ 09. That bike gets lots of great reviews