GUJIGUJI

Just Found Out That Whenever I Shift The Gear To The Manual Mode It Appears To Be "4th" No Matter Which Gear I Am Under Automatic. I Even Tried W/ Car Stops And Shift Over Still Shows "4th". Is There Anything Wrong Or It's Just Me@@ (btw, That Was My First Time Using Manual Shifter After Buying The Car)

ESDragon

Mine does the same. I don't really know why since my previous car will go to 0 when I am in a complete stop. I can honestly tell you that the ES is not a sporty car because when you shift to different gears it takes probably a full second for the car to realize that you shifted. Absolutely CRAP!!

GUJIGUJI

THAT IS HOW I FEEL TOO. HAHA^^ IT COULD AGAIN BE SOME COMPUTER PROGRAMMING MISTAKE@@ NOT A MAJOR PROBLEM AT THIS POINT.

amf1932

I've noticed that you're constantly bashing the ES350.

To you I say......IF YOU'RE SO UNHAPPY WITH IT, THEN SELL IT!!!!

Do you ever have a positive thing to say, or are you a totally negative type of person?

osokuko

Not to worry it's normal to show 4th. "S" mode is pretty cool to use, while on freeway drive in "S" mode 6th gear setting and it will give you better performance with out the shift lag of regular "D"rive mode. Try it out, you'll like it after you play with it for a while.

EsDragon you have every right to be upset with your car! Been there been through it!!

ESDragon

I am not bashing the ES. Just letting everyone know that ES have this tranny problem and Lexus is absolutely not doing anything about it. If you are in my position right now, I think you will be kind of upset too. This is my first Lexus, I spend $40k+ and the tranny start acting up after 250 miles. If you are happy with the ES, good for you. But take a good look at all the threads in the ES forum, there are more negatives than positive. If you want to change that fact be my guest, but you are not going to get far.

amf1932

Well then, I've owned 4 ES's since 1991 and I was very happy with all of them, except for the 2003 ES which had a lousy transmission. I didn't drive 250 miles to find this out.....it started right from the time I drove the car out of the Lexus dealer. I dealt with this problem for three years and moaned and groaned all this time to both the dealer and also to Lexus messageboards.
To make a long story short, this problem started from the '02 and continued to '06 ES models......and it was NEVER corrected satisfactorily!
So, if any of you guys think that Lexus is going to correct the transmission problems in your ES350, or future models of this generation, then all I can tell you is, don't hold your breath......it ain't gonna happen!
So, as I said before, and you are truly unhappy, then sell it and take your losses...or try your luck in a court of law. Life is too short.

wanderer99

ESDragon came here wanting to have a great ownership experience. He was very excited when he ordered the car.

He got nervous though (see post 6 and below) about the trans. Some said for him to ignore this and he'd be fine. I shall not name names.

He got his car, was happy, then his trans problems began - at 250kms. He is annoyed, and there appears to be no fix on his new car. Which sucks. ESDragon is definitely not 100% negative on this which can be seen from his previous posts.

On the flipside, Alan has a total right to still be annoyed at Lexus for his years of grief in his previous ES. I'm sure Lexus promised a "fix" was coming many times over and it just never happened, or the fixes didn't work. That spirit of Lexus engineering lives on today in the new ES. Luckily Alan is immune this time around and I'm personally very glad for that. There are good ES350 vehicles out there.

ESDragon - time to trade that sucker back to the dealer NOW. It's still a 'new' car so you can get maximum value here. I think if you dealer won't do a deal go to a bigger dealer immediately and complain to them about what is happening. If you don't deal out of this now, it will just go on and on and on.

amf1932

OK.....I apologize for thinking that ESDragon is a totally negative person, but as wanderer99 said in his previous post to act on his unhappiness by getting rid of this car ASAP.

sarge43

To get back to the topic of this thread....

The gear that shows up when in manual shift mode is the maximum gear the car will be in until shifted. It may show 4 but be in first when you're at a stop light. As you accelerate, the car will shift up through the gears until it hits the gear showing on the dash. I believe this topic was also discussed in a previous thread (I didn't search back for it though).

osokuko

It's a lot more than just shifting. I guess at first most people think of the “S” mode as a gear shifter as in pick a gear it stays there, not so. It’s like a automatic but you set the upper limit gear. So it will go to first when at a stop. Then shifts up until the gear you selected is reached. I guess you may think so what’s the big deal. I found by leaving it in “S” 6th gear on the highway (doesn't do much for slow city driving) when I needed to pass some one the down shifts were much quicker, and it found the right gear to go to for max power. On the freeways here in socal “S” mode and 272 HP would turn the car into a freeway rocket for passing slower drivers, or doing lane changes. In mountain driving I would set it to 4th and shoot up the hill no problem. I think the “S” mode doesn’t use the (ecm??) not sure. Anyway it was one of my favorite toys to play with. Oh yes I almost forgot when I first used “S” the car still felt pretty much the same as Reg drive but after I used it after several miles (passing people) I felt the power improving like it was learning the power band and adjusting it’s down shifts better. Yes we had talked about this I think it was Oct - 06 but you can find the threads.

ClearSong

Osokuko,

That has been my experience too.

When cruising in D shifting to S mode is akin to taking the overdrive(s) out of the equation and sets the highest gear at 4th.

So....cruising in the city in D maximizes fuel efficiency.....and...when you need to skedaddle...shift the gear lever to the left and voila...power.

And...in S pulling the lever down drops the max gear...

So...in just a couple of drops...and you are in 1st....and ready to rock and roll!!

If one is so inclined.....mashing the petrol pedal and the like....to beat the crazed G35 driver to the on-ramp...or the 3 Series driver to the off-ramp!!

Of course, paid heed to the push and pull....or else you may find yourself zipping off in 1st, to 2nd, and back to 1st....not a good thing for ANYONES tranny....flare or no flare.

osokuko

Ha Ha Ha oh yes the ES350 is fast on the freeway up ramps had many enjoyable moments doing that. For 272Hp it can push you back in the seat pretty dang good and because the gears are close ratio your always on the power curve through the shifts.