Hey guys. So I've read on the forum mixed feelings about th PWR button. I wanna come to a final conclusion on it because some people are saying its better for the transmission since it keeps it stiff, while others are saying its bad for the transmission and uses a lot of gas.

What's the verdict ?

 

It does use more gas I can tell you that much lol not much though. maybe 2 mpgs depending on how you drive. I couldn't see Lexus putting in a feature that would increase the wear and tear on their car. My personal opinion is it probably helps the tranny. I dont leave my on because I dont have money for gas haha

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/weis11/8262313127/

 

That's it. Pretty much when you are trying to drive like a race car driver or just trying to have a more responsive pedal then this is your friend.. it hangs in lower gears thus increasing the response of the car, thus decreasing your MPG, thus causing stress on the vehicle's engine/parts.

I'm sure it would take a huge beating to really screw up your tranny so if ******* driver is on your mind, I am sure problems will occur eventually as do all cars (except that IS300 2JZ!!).

I use it only when driving long distances cause I drive like an a__hole or when I am just having fun. Sitting in stop-go traffic it is annoying. On the flip side, I use Royal Purple oil and constantly stay on top of any regular maintenance.

 

Its so gud i always leave it on better resonse faster from a dead stop but the gas kills lol

 

Nice info!

 

You were batting a 1000, until you said something about causing stress on engine/parts. ECT programming doesn't cause any components to operate outside their design parameters. Only the driver does that, and it can happen regardless of what setting ECT is at.

 

I've had mine on power now for the last 3 months and notice no difference in mileage. One thing I like is the engine braking under a quick stop at highway speeds. The downshifts under hard braking help stop the car much faster it seems.
Jeff

 

NORMAL = faster from a stop
PWR = faster on a roll, shifts faster

 

Yes, that is mainly correct, but it always makes me wonder how could the normal be faster from a dig? There is no sense in that. The PWR shifts faster so if anything the PWR should be better no matter what starting position you are in...

 

Because PWR shifts too soon during WOT, leaving out the tail end of the power band.

 

There's no evidence that PWR shifts "faster" but there IS evidence it shifts at a lower RPM when going WOT from a stop.

Which means it spends less time in each lower gear, meaning the car is slower in a race.




That would be physically impossible. The limit on how short/fast the car can stop is the tires... which the ECT switch has no impact on.

It might stop it with less brake input when not braking hard at all, but if you slam the brake pedal it'll stop in the same distance in any transmission mode.

 

Yeah I noticed when I am slamming on it, the pedal feels lighter in PWR mode, its like the engine is ready to accelerate rather than brake.

 

You stated the obvious, of course the ECT on its own doesn't hurt anything. I don't think that needed to be explained to anyone.

As stated in my response, the driver driving like an a__hole on ECT causes stress on the vehicle's engine/parts faster than not using ECT. The quickness of this occurring depends on how horrible you are at driving your vehicle. Constant punching the gas and slamming the breaks on ECT causes heavy jerking motions on the engine parts thus fu**ing up your engine mounts and other vehicle parts. But in the end, this can happen anyway without ECT on.... however ECT uses your engine to slow you down and also marks up your cars RPM's as stated above in the literature thus increasing possible issues. Higher RPM's means more combustion's, means more gas, means more engine wear.

Its like buying a standard vehicle from someone and asking them what RPM they usually shifted at. If you were buying a Honda and someone said they shifted every gear once it hit V-Tec all the time then you most likely wouldn't buy the car and you would call the guy an idiot.

 

I have had mine in this mode for about the last six months. I LOVE it, and haven't seen a change in gas mileage (good or bad). I find that the car is more responsive, and really like that it holds gears longer and downshifts when I slow rapidly. I really don't see any reason to turn this option off....