gkw

I don't think this has ever been discussed, but I may be wrong...

I almost always "shift" my car between 3rd and 4th around town and often downshift coming off the highway.

Does everyone do this? The manual seems to suggest that it is OK and the shift pattern makes it quite easy.

GW

MagusFuria

Thats what I've been doing for over a year now and everything still seems ok.

1NICESC430

I always use my shifter. Unless I'm driving over 65mph when I use the Drive gear, I always try to keep my RPMs at 3000 or above. I rarely use 1st gear, but use 3rd a lot - my primary access to civilization is a 45mph two-lane road which I usually drive at 50-55mph in 3rd gear. I like the torque and compression at that point.

I use 2nd to slow down (exhaust sounds nice) and shift to neutral at stop lights. The car creeps when it's in gear (service manager says that's normal) - no sense using my brakes to keep it from moving. I also always have the car in ECT mode unless I'm on a trip. I've been driving my SC like that for about 5000 of its 6000 miles.

In case you can't tell, I really miss having a manual transmission.

Roofless

Same here. 3rd and 4th get a lot of drive time. 2nd gear makes a strong appearance when I'm up in San Francisco.

Larry

I tried the manual shifting. The tranny is so smooth you don't even feel the gear changes. I miss that good old "thunk".

pvo

iTrader: (2)

Please excuse my ignorance but SC430 has manual shifting? Is that similar to the one they have on IS300? I was looking at the spec at lexus.com but didn't see anything about manual shifting.

I had IS300 (sold it last week) and one of the many things I like is the E-Shift. I still have the 1997 SC300 with 38000 miles. I'm debating whether I should get the SC430 now or wait a little longer.

dseag2

No. No E-shift or otherwise on the SC430, but it is very easy to do "manual" downshifts/upshifts using the stick for the auto trans.

As others have mentioned, I shift manually... from 5th to 3rd to pass on the highway and down to 2nd for some corners. I also downshift to decelarate off highways. Like 1NiceSC, I also keep my car in ECT mode.

Deanski

Yep, gotta love the way Lexus makes the transmission. They are silky smooth!

Always use 3rd/4th for all around town driving. Overdrive or "D" used on all highway.

Same here with ECT set to "Power".

I've always love Lexus transmissions!

Regards,
Deanski

APLUS

Yeah your safe doing this. Me and probaly 95% of the GS owners do it and my car has 80,000 miles on it. Hasn't had a problem yet. I love coming to a red light and down shift to 2nd. so the RPM is around 4,500 - 5,000. If the light turns green punch it, nice squeel and take off.

Cloud9

iTrader: (2)

Reviving and old Thread!!!

anyways, I have a stupid question:

I've driven tons of manual transmission cars in my past but never an e-shift.

From a stop, I put the shifter into the sports shift mode and into 1st gear. Green light - I punch the gas and as the RPM is on it's high end, do I let go of the gas then shift up "+" then step on the gas again? Or do I the hold onto the gas and keep on shifting up as I row up the gears? Not sure if this puts too much stress on the tranny.

Also, is this "+" "-" e-shift only on 06+ SC's?

here's a pic I found:

Shawn808

I never understood why manufactures make you press upwards to shift up. To me it seems more natural to pull back to shift up and push forward to shift down. Anyone else feel this way?

Pearlpower

iTrader: (2)

Only the 06+ models have the +/- shifting ability.
For those spirited sessions I also manually shift through the gate and have not experienced any issues. Very handy for keeping the car in 1st around a corner.
Keep the gas floored and just shift manually. No need to let off the gas.

Cloud9

iTrader: (2)

thanks Pearlpower

My wife's old 98 prelude was the same way...shift up for + and pull back for -

bfigard

Seems backwards.

Reason racecars are backwards (pull back for +, push forward for -) is inertia of your arm. When you are standing on the brakes it is extremely unnatural (even difficult if braking at 3G's) to pull the lever backwards to downshift. Likewise, if you have several hundred horsees pulling you, not so intuitive to push the lever forward while your body is trying to keep up with the car.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

definitely no need to let go of the gas. this is NOT manual, still an auto after all. just think of it this way, when you drive normally and when the car wants to shift gear, you don't see yourself lifting up the gas right?