rominl

iTrader: (4)

oh man, thank god he hasn't crashed his car. disengage the clutch when turning, worst possible idea, the car has no control at all. but seems like a lot of people TEND to do that when they learn though. my wife she did that on the is3 when she was learning stick too. i forgot how many times i yelled at her and forced her to take 10 15 more turns and make sure she down shifts before the turns.

i guess it's a common thing for people who learn driving with authomatic, you brake and turn. that's very bad. they don't understand the whole idea behind down shift and turn...

you should definitely warn your friend about it before anything happens to him. i bet it has become his "habits" already, that's even harder to change

darden

my friend drives an automatic now...thank goodness. he's not that good of a driver to begin with anyway, even with an automatic. hopefully, for the his and our safety, he won't ever get another manual shift.

yeah, many people learn to drive manuals by pushing in the clutch and coast to turn and never get out of that dangerous "habit".

flipside909

Yeah, one of my biggest pet peeves is how some of my friends ride the clutch at a STOP or braking to slow down. And then they wonder why they're replacing their clutch every 30k.

crazeazn

if you downshift too high you put alot of wear and tear on your engine.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Gee, this is interesting discussion, but does anyone actually have any e-shifting "tricks" ?


Trick#1
Using E-shift to downshift before entering a turn ( Example: a freeway cloverleave).

I shift down after braking the car adequately to the entry speed of the turn and before actually turning into the turn. (This is an important note and must be practiced to do it right)

It takes practice to match the downshift to the appropriate speed, since unlike a stick, you can't ease the clutch in. You also have to compensate for the delay that e-shift has.

If performed correctly the car is now in a lower gear when you turn into the cloverleaf (usually second gear or 3rd if it is a fast turn)

This has basically accomplished the equivalent of downshifting in an automatic car. I'd say a key difference is that I am not using the downshift to help slow the car, rather to just match the gear to the speed that I am entering the turn.

What has this accomplished?

Basically it has set you up for a quicker exit speed out of the turn.

You can now begin to accelerate as you reach the apex of the turn and do it with the tranny already in it's correct gear and the engine in the stronger power band, since it is already running at a higher RPM than if you had the tranny in drive.

This also minimizes the chances of the tranny from downshifting automatically as you accelerate hard out of the turn (since it will already be in the ideal gear). The tranny shifting down while you are accelerating out of a turn is not a good situation, since it can upset the chassis and your handling when you are pushing the limit of adhesion.



Trick #2

Let's say you have successfully accelerated out of the cloverleaf at optimum power. Now what to do for the next shift up?

The trick? Don't wait to hit the shift UP button by waiting to see the tach hit redline.

Hit the upshift button a little early. As long as you have the gas pedal floored the tranny will not shift up until it's time.

You are basically letting the tranny determine when to shift up at the optimum point.

As was said earler, the auto tranny will shift "UP" better than a human can do it in e-shift mode. So when in e-shift mode, just shift up early and let the tranny do it's thing.

It was commented that some stick shift drivers do not know how to optimize their shifting. I'd bet there are even less drivers that can downshift into a turn and upshift out of a turn as well as I could with an automatic using e-shift.

Rominl,
you need to come by and I'll take you for a ride in my GS and show you how I do it.


The other cool thing (especially on the GS, because of all the torque) is if someone is on your butt going into a turn, try performing the downshift operation. Even if they gain on you coming into the turn, don't sweat it. Just focus on getting downshifted and accelerating out at the apex. You will have a pretty good jump on them as you go on the straight, so unless they are ready, you will pull away from them.

Note: Most common drivers do not have good practice accelerating hard out of a turn. By the time they realize you are already accelerating out of a turn, they will just just be starting to punch it. Of course, Lexus drivers are not just common drivers, so most of us already know this right?

JustinK101

RMMGS4:

Thanks for your insight, appreciated.

Yah I have already messed with E-Shift downshifting coming up to red lights and around turns. It seems to work well as far as saving the brakes. Also it’s kind of fun to hear the engine RPM kick up as you shift down through the gears.

I actually enjoy the E-Shift because what I have noticed is in automatic, the transmission has a tendency to be in a higher gear then it possibly should be. The reason it tends to stay in higher gears is obviously to save gas and reduce strain on the engine.

Unfortunately if for example I am cruising at like 40MPH in automatic it is probably in like 4th gear. If you want to really punch it; there is a delay of throttle and seems anemic and very jerky downshift to 3rd gear and then up-shift back to 4th to really wind out the engine. On the flip-side if I am in E-Shift and controlling the cruise in 3rd at like 40MPH, sure the RPM is higher, but I feel like I have more punch on the throttle. Then if I want to punch it, the engine doesn’t have to downshift. I just simply rev it out to red line and shift into 4th. Basically what is comes down to, with E-shift I personally feel like the car feels and has more torque and power because there inst a delayed downshift and jerky feeling. You have control of the lower gears and torque at these lower gears, where the automatic tends to cruise in 4th gear for fuel economy.

Now obviously 0-60 is a different situation because there is no down-shifting involved, and probably leaving it in automatic is the best bet. Let the computer shift in that situation. I raced my friend who has a Mercedes E 430 and needless to say, it was disappointing, but a fun time. Yah the E- Beast has its power in higher gears, it really took off in 3rd and 4th. Whopped me senseless!

Please everyone comment, this is getting interesting!

darden

Thank you, RMMGS4 for getting us back on the subject...i have the tendency to get off subject.

To continue from RMMGS4's last post...

Trick #3: passing with an attitude.

This trick is especially more useful in a two lane road with two way traffic. Generally, any two lane road will only have certain sections that allow passing. you know that dotted yellow line in the middle or the one dotted yellow line on your side.

In most cases, when driving on one of these roads, you will end up being stuck behind someone slow like a truck, bus, SUV, etc. You know there's a passing section coming up. So engage the E-Shift, downshift to 3rd Gear. When you poke and see nothing is coming on the other lane, hit the gas and zoom pass your obstacle.

note: if you are going really really slow (under 30mph), you might want to shift down to 2nd gear. I have found that 2nd gear can take the car up to about 45mph (close to redline); however, i usually do upshift to third at about 40mph.

note2: if you are already going 70-75mph, you do not want to shift down to third gear. the E-Shift probably won't let you anyway with its failsafe system. it will just start beeping. however, i do often shift down to third when i am travelling at 60mph and want to pass someone.

Trick #4: tricking the cops.

whenver anyone sees a cop on the road, what do they do? they hit the brakes to slow down even when they are not speeding.

well, the brake lights and the big jerk that the car makes when someone slams on the brakes to "slow down" is like telling the cops that you were speeding or doing something bad.

If the cop is behind you, this is even more obvious since the cop can see the brake lights.

SO, instead, I downshift to slow down so that my brake lights won't illuminate. I used to do this all the time in the manuals.

Maybe this is not a trick...just a habit. Cops do have to guess which car is travelling the fastest when they blast the Radar in the direction of 10-20 cars. When the meter registers a high speed, the cop looks for the car that is speeding. This is another reason why RED cars are more prone to being pulled over by cops. Studies have shown that humans tend to see "RED" first. So even when a RED car is not speeding, the cop thinks that it is in a crowd of cars.

When the cop is using Laser, it's a diff. case. he knows who is speeding b/c he is pointing the laser at a specific target.


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General Shifting Trick

After having driven manual for over 10 years, this is something i use to help me to downshift to correct gears at certain speeds and match RPMs. this works for E-Shift as well except you don't really match RPMs.

I usually test a car to find out at what speeds the car red lines (close to redlining).

This way, you know that you can downshift to certain gears at certain speeds as I mentioned earlier in Trick #3.

So drive the car in second gear and see how fast you can drive till it closes to red line and remember that speed for second gear. When you are travelling faster or close to the maxium speed of the second gear, you know not to downshift to that. and then do the same for third...

probably won't want to risk it for 4th b/c you will definitely be speeding.

for manuals, you will want to match your RPM at certain speeds to certain gears to reduce wear and increase the smoothness of downshifting. for example, in my old bimmer, to shift to second at 40mph, i would have to raise the rpm to about 5500rpm (can't remember the exact) during double clutching.

i think the automatic is "smarter" and will match the engine speed to the gear?? is that why there's a delay in e-shift? well, i dunno. hehe. maybe someone with more technical knowledge can answer that.

I am more of a "Cole Trickle" type of driver if you know what i mean?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

man why all the trouble, just get the damn 5 speed

but yes, i agree that if you want to master the e shift, to some extend it's harder than the stick shift, coz' you are dealing with computers and delay here. i have driven by gs4 with e shift, specially when you are punching it, response is sometimes slow. and i totally agree with rmmgs4 that when you are going into a turn, braking and down shift at the right speed is important. you don't want to down shift at too high of a speed which will jerk the car badly

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

K we're on a roll now,. Let's keep it coming.

As far as tricking the cops, I pull slightly on the parking brake to slow down. Try this at your own risk. I've been using the handbrake for many years, so I'm used to controlling the car this way. I usually keep my finger down on the release button so I can modulate my braking.

Just don't use the parking brake when you are on wet or slick pavement or you will lock up the rear wheels and spin. Also don't step on the foot brake at the same time or you may lock the rear wheels as well.

You might not wanna do this if someone is close behind you, but that goes without saying.

Again, perform this at your own risk.

E-shift trick # ? (who' s counting?)

In busy traffic and especially on a 3-4 lane roads / freeways, going between 35 & 55mph, I sometimes keep the car shifted down a gear, so I can accelerate quickly to change lanes when I see an opening. Again, this is all done so the car will respond quickly by eliminating the delay to downshift the car.

flipside909

Trick #5: Stop & Go Traffic

When using E-Shift/M-Mode, select the SNOW of your ECT settings to help modulate the touchy/jerky acceleration when you mash on the gas in traffic. Thus having your engine power retarded, those jerky stop-n-go situations go a little smoother. ECT PWR mode will only make the acceleration more touchy especially with the vague feeling of our fly by wire throttle control system.

This is something I regularly deal with every morning and evening with traffic on the 60 or 15 freeway.

darden

hehe, if sportcross had a 5 speed, that'd be my choice. hopefully lexus will continue to make the sportcross in the coming years and add a manual and four wheel drive to it.

mmarshall

Don't sell your Grandma short...she just might beat you 0-60.

mmarshall

Subaru gets around this by using the " Hill-holder " clutch that automatically maintains brake pressure at a stop. Then, when you release the clutch to start up again, it releases brake pressure at the moment the clutch engages so there is no rollback. This is not actually a new idea....Studebaker used it back in the '50s. Of course, keeping the clutch depressed at the stoplight doesn't do the throwout bearing any good.

_DAG_

Great tips guys. But wouldn't using the eshift mode give you worse gas mileage, esp. if you're cruising in a lower gear or possibly put more wear on the engine? Thanks.

flipside909

Only if you're running into high RPMs for long periods of time.