i drive it like i stole it

 

Wait ... Did you steal it?

 

@Kurtz

The book I was talking about is not the Lexus guide that come with the car, I mean I've read that in my 2007 year car book. A book with all the different brand and models with notes and reviews of each of them, don't know the exact name of this book in english.

They just say that the automatic mode is a little bit slow and hopefully with the sport mode the gear shift faster. But what they say in this book about all the cars is not always right.

 

When left in "D" mode for everyday driving (not racing), I find the IS250 sluggish and lazy. When accelerating, the transmission upshifts way too early, robbing precious torque. All this causes you to have to apply more pedal force, which is actually less efficient and wastes time. To make the most out of regular driving, you are better off keeping it in S, which enables you to keep the rpm's up a bit higher where more torque is. Drive both ways back to back and there is no comparison.

 

1) Doesn't make that much of a difference, and it's been proven on the boards that its actually MARGINALLY faster if you just leave it in normal mode for straight line performance. Either way you would be just wasting gas. If you're fine with that then by all means, since placebo is kicking in hard for you.

2) Downshifting saves on brakes? it may, but I'd rather wear out my brakes more than to wear out my engine anyday, again if it makes you happy go for it. Replacing brakes is a lot more cheaper than fixing engines. Shifting with paddleshifters makes shifting annoying since it just limits the top gear and shifts makes the car slower since you're delaying the transmission from upshifting (the ecu knows exactly the most optimal time to shift since it's an automatic)

3) Makes no difference for you doing that since we don't have an actual manual transmission. You're probably damaging the tranny/powertrain more by constantly using the paddle shifters since thats equivalent to repeatedly going L-2-3-D on a regular automatic car.

Hope this helps

 

Totally agree. Normally the Lexus transmission can coast in gears 1, 2 and 3 like most automatics. But if you use the paddles or S mode, it will lock up parts of the transmission so that it does not coast and you get engine braking instead. This will place wear on these parts. Furthermore, it does not rev match placing more stress on these parts.

To me the paddles are just a gimmick and I never use them. The transmission kicks down plenty fast enough in auto for me, and ECT PWR mode works well to keep the revs up during aggressive driving.

 

I drive it normally in D. Best way to preserve gas and not beat up my car. I agree paddle shifting is just pointless. If i wanted to shift at all I would've bought a manual.

 

Usually auto-ect regular. For fun just switch over to S-mode. The ecu doesn't shift correctly on its own, People say it knows "exactly" when to shift. but thats pursuant to the perameters set down by lexus who are more concerned with longevity than performance.
ECT-power is sport driving for the guy who doesn't know how to sport drive in my opinion. Anything that doesn't let you control (at least partially) the shift points as well as the throttle issn't worth using. That said, I hate shifting and having my 350 tell me to F*&% off and shifting almost a full second later. 'It's fine for stoplight runs and some highway games but its a ***** when I'm chasing my buddy's 335i through the twisties.

And merry christmas!

 

[QUOTE=Stevoe88;6903684]1) Doesn't make that much of a difference, and it's been proven on the boards that its actually MARGINALLY faster if you just leave it in normal mode for straight line performance. Either way you would be just wasting gas. If you're fine with that then by all means, since placebo is kicking in hard for you.

1) Marginally faster at wide open throttle, yes. As I said several times in my post, "normal, everyday driving conditions," not during wide open throttle." The waste of gas comes from having to dip your foot more into the gas pedal while driving in "D", because the transmission upshifts too soon, robbing the engine power's meatier spots. It has been said on this forum dperessing the pedal more uses up more fuel, not higher rpm's (which is what you gain when in S"). The difference in power between these two ways is real and not a placebo effect. There is more torque at certain rpm levels and keeping the rpm's there brings forth more power.



"2) Downshifting saves on brakes? it may, but I'd rather wear out my brakes more than to wear out my engine anyday, again if it makes you happy go for it. Replacing brakes is a lot more cheaper than fixing engines. Shifting with paddleshifters makes shifting annoying since it just limits the top gear and shifts makes the car slower since you're delaying the transmission from upshifting (the ecu knows exactly the most optimal time to shift since it's an automatic)"

2) All myths. Has there ever been any evidence documented of IS transmissions regularly failing? None at all, in any Lexus forum. Nor has there been any documentation of modern manumatic transmissions regularly failing in ANY brand of car. There is zero evidence to support manual shifting wears out transmissions. I've talked to three different Lexus technicians about this same concern and none of them have said they've seen failed auto transmissions from manual shifting. As mentioned, these are modern times, where gearboxes are built differently than they were twenty years ago. They are designed with manual shifting in mind, if the owner chooses to utilize that feature over the longterm (his words).

Further, the majority of us owners will not keep our cars for 150k miles to even see what happens to the transmission. Yet we will all face new brakes several times by using them more. No cost advantage there for the average amount of time we keep our cars.


"3) Makes no difference for you doing that since we don't have an actual manual transmission. You're probably damaging the tranny/powertrain more by constantly using the paddle shifters since thats equivalent to repeatedly going L-2-3-D on a regular automatic car."

3) Today's transmissions are designed and tested to withhandle manual shifting. See #2 above. This fearful thinking is like the old myth of having to change your oil every 3000 miles. Thankfully, times have progressed.

 

I dunno dude. ANY sort of shift-breaking is going to stress the transmission. While the is line isn't heavy nor fast enough for that to be a MAJOR worry, constant shift-breaking will definitely cause damage over a long period of time.
The transmission isnt designed for break-shifting, The cars simply aren't haus enough to need a transmission built with shift-breaking in mind. It's an entry level exec. sedan and thus ists comonents (while wonderfully made) aren't meant to deal with stress past certain levels. While 90% of drivers will never come close to the limits of the transmissions strength, constant, repetitive shift-breaking has the potential to cause damage. Are tghe fears in theis forum legit? Probably not unless someones running the dragons-tail every other day. But the potential for long term damage is there.

 

S mode does not change the shift points far as I know... if you have something from TIS showing otherwise please post it...otherwise it's a placebo effect if you're putting it on that. S mode does turn off the "learning" mode of the transmission until you put it back into D though.

ECT-Power does change the shift points (though they're actually higher in normal)... but I agree in part-throttle driving it'll make the car more responsive overall (though slower for WOT driving).


You can't manually shift a 2IS, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.

You certainly put more wear and tear on both engine and transmission by engine braking though, which is what was actually being discussed here.

Lobuxracer and others have gone into some technical detail about it... (sucks oil up past the rings when you paddle down a couple gears and pop your coasting rpm up from 1500 to 4k for example....and overall higher rpms=more friction).


Sure....if you only plan to keep the car for 50-100k miles and don't care what happens to the next owner you can, indeed, save yourself 50 or 60 bucks on a set of pads or two.

Again, you're never, ever, manually shifting your 2IS.... so no, you won't hurt it by "shifting" it with the paddles, because you're not shifting it... ever.

You certainly are putting more wear/tear on the whole powertrain by using engine braking instead of the actual brakes to slow down the car though.

 

Well they don't fail by all of a sudden blowing up. But there are clutches and brakes in the transmission which will eventually start slipping like this guy's:
But sure, most people will not keep their cars this long, so they should not worry. Other people may like to care for their cars in the best way possible regardless of how many miles they put on it, so not using the paddles to downshift is one way of being gentle on the transmission.

Also, I think some people don't realize that in the 'S' mode, the power route through the transmission is different than in Drive for gears 1, 2 and 3. I have attached the documentation explaining this. Basically, there are one-way clutches that prevent power flowing back from the wheels so the engine can coast, like a bicycle. This also allows smooth downshifts even to 1st gear without rev matching. When you use 'S' mode to select gears 1, 2 or 3, brakes in the transmission will stop the function of these one-way clutches, so now you do have power flowing back from the wheels, through the transmission, and engine braking. This power flow will put additional stress and wear on the transmission clutches and brakes when shifting.

 

Just curious, your attached doc is for the 250 (rwd) transmission... do you have the one for the 350 (A760E) or can you say if it's the same?

 

Unfortunately I don't have the one for the A760E but I would expect it to function in the same way.