juguryan

Hi! My 2002 sc430 accelerates in weared way. Like when I hit the acceleration pedal all the way I can hardly feel a downshift, the RPM needle jumps up like by only 1000rpm isn't this weared. The other cars I had before I was feeling the change and the rpm was jumping up at least by 2000 rpm when I was downshifting or accelerating. And when I hold the acceleration it changes the gear from 5000RPM, instead of 6000RPM. (I have even tried it with power on)

Does my car has some kind of a problem or all sc's are like this.

How can I fix it so it will feel like a normal car when I drive aggressivly.

Thanks

Max707

Normal. It's not a muscle car or a dragster. It is known for its smooth performance and smooth transmission.

JCtx

Normal, but I have a different take than Max: it has always been known for crappy performance. My biggest beef is with the delayed response, but after its response, it sometimes doesn't pick the right gear indeed. And also that you need WOT for that response. My car upshifts well short of redline as well, but a bit higher than 5K rpm.

We all know this is not a sports car, but there's no excuse for not having a good responding transmission on an expensive V8 car, when almost all other cars respond instantly to downshifts. It seems to be corrected on the newest SCs, but all we have left to do is to row the shifter manually.... even though it's not a sports car .

juguryan

I agree, this is a smooth car, but when you dounshif you should feel the tourqe and see the change in the rpm. Like when I downshif manualy I feel the change and the car goes. But when I am on D it ssucks.

That's bad

TopDown

I drive around town with the car in 4 not in drive. It helps the performance alot. When I am on the freeway I move it to drive. Try that it works for me.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

it's "norma" for any of the lexus 430 5 speed auto setup. that's how the tranny ecu timing is programmed, nothing much you can do.

but you just need to adjust your driving to it. i am used to the pattern and all i need to do is to floor the car more and it will kick down a gear or two to let me do what i need to

Samanator

One thing I can mention is the newer 6 speed when in power mode addresses these issues. It is very responsive. As far as downshifting raising the RPM by 1000 that sounds more like gearing but Lexus my be burping the throttle a little to keep things smooth (Kind of like a double clutch downshift). From past experince I have found that people feel the more the car jerks and lurches when accelorating the faster it feels to them (Which generally is slower). Smooth is generally much faster. If you don't like this you will really hate the new generation of CVT transmissions. These are turbine smooth.

MBoom

I'm new to the SC world, but I think I'm getting a handle on the car's performance characteristics. First, it seems to me that a fair number of people buy this car and expect it to be a rip-snorting performance car. It's not. It's reasonably fast, but the only way to have a real bahn burner is to either spend some fairly big bucks on performance modifications or to trade it in.

Having said that, here are a few observations from a few weeks of ownership:

-First, the transmission's adaptive characteristics really do work. I'm a fairly aggressive driver and I've noticed a significant improvement in the responsiveness of my car since I first got it (it's a CPO 2002). It downshifts more readily and holds to higher rpms before shifting, to a much greater degree than when I first started driving it.

-Downshifts are a little lazy, in the sense that the transmission will select an intermediate gear (going from 5th to 4th, rather than dropping to 3rd) unless you give it a lot of throttle. Actually, though I'm still trying to get the hang of this, I find that, as I'm anticipating a pass, I can kick the transmission down one gear with a moderate amount of throttle, then drop pretty quickly to a lower gear by transitioning to full throttle at the right moment. As an alternative, you could always manually drop into 4th, which will achieve the same thing.

-The Sport mode does make a difference, though not a profound difference. I always keep it in the Sport setting.

I've owned a fair number of fast cars and, while the SC is not a rocket, it's pretty fast. Its quietness and smoothness mask its speed to some extent. But, admittedly, it is not going to lose a Carrera in the twisties. However, it really does seem to adapt to your driving style and is succeptible to performing to your demands once you learn the transmission's characteristics.

MBoom

[QUOTE=Samanator;2213342]From past experince I have found that people feel the more the car jerks and lurches when accelorating the faster it feels to them (Which generally is slower). Smooth is generally much faster. QUOTE]

This is worth expanding on a bit. I traded from a much different car--a VW R32, which had a six-speed manual, AWD, and a narrow-angle six that was modified to about the output of our SCs. It was pretty darned quick, but didn't "feel" as fast as some lesser turbocharged cars. Abrupt gear changes and torque output that increases rapidly with rpm increases yields a feeling of speed, but generally smooth gearshifts and flat torque curves don't do so. Smooth speed is good.

1NICESC430

If you don't mind shifting yourself, try using the gears manually.

I've had my 2002 since 2001 (15,000 miles) and I never drive around using only one or two gears. In town, I use second gear. Sustained driving around 45-50 mph which I must do often, I keep it in third. On short highway jaunts (55+), I use fourth. I rarely use first gear and use Drive only when I'm on a highway for more than a couple of miles or so. I always downshift manually when slowing down.

I like keeping the revs around 3000; when I release the accelerator, the car slows down nicely and when I punch it, I get an instant response. While it may be my imagination, I believe all that downshifting has made the exhaust sound a little more "throaty".