LEX ES300

Hi everyone,
How often does everyone use this mode? Going downhill or uphill? Does it make much of a difference?

caddyowner

I never tried to use that feature for engine braking at highway speeds aside from shifting from 6th to 5th. That worked fine.

warminwisc

Mine seems to have a noticable shift difference in sport mode at all speeds. 30/kph hour is almost a crawl. Easy to have dealer take a quick ride and assess. I do not use it real often as the car is so rolly nothing real sporty about it.
It will beep if going to fast. When I got my LS 100k ago or so tried sportshifting around a snowy corner, heard the beep just before I hit the big snowbank(buried 1/3 of the car). Had my kid run home get a shover for 40 minutes to did er out. Lucky it was powder not frozen plow till and no harm.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

No it works on the highway just fine, I use it there the most just as you explained.. Does your dash gear indicator change when you do it (the number)?

Maybe a difference in us spec cars but I doubt it.

warminwisc

Yes, mine works very precisely, with distinctive shifts any speed as the digital number goes up/down.

LEX ES300

Thanks to everyone for the replies

jpmackin

I downshift for engine breaking on my '02 LS all the time and it works great and it doesn't matter if I have my 'sport' button engaged or not. It definitely sounds strange that you are not getting engine breaking when you downshift in sport mode- try doing it out of sport mode too. If it works, then for whatever reason the sport 'mapping' software might be keeping you from changing gears manually. But if not, give a call to a few Lexus service reps- a few professional shop opinions are always helpful.

AJT123

Brake pads are WAYYYY cheaper to replace than a transmission. Just my .02. Not that it will necessarily hurt it, using the tranny/engine for braking, but I would never do that with mine.

AlexusAnja

Lex... if you're going downhill and shifting to 3rd doesn't change a thing then something is up for sure. I once in a while do the downshift down a pretty steep hill and in 3rd gear I can decelerate from 60 MPH down to 40. Then again... brake pads are 80 a pair, while new tranny is 4000...

CarGuy89

Are your revs increasing with each downchange? I never really use this feature but I've driven stick for a while and know that 3rd should provide ample engine braking and 2nd should be very significant

JBLover

Exactly what I have been thinking reading this whole thread.

warminwisc

Not unless yur dropping down say out of Tioga Pass and Yosemtie into Mono Lake Basin trying to keep yur rotors from lighting up and yur brake fluid from boiling. One of the most spectacular drives then down into the Owens Valley there is. Deepest valley in the Americas.

AlexusAnja

Just for reference the other day I just took note of the rpm change... on that hill when I'm doing 40 and to maintain 40, I shift to 5 rpm.is still about 1k, but then each downshift increases the rpm 1k so by 2 gear I'm at 4k.

jac430

this is what the repair manual says about the LS430 with 6-gear automatic:



Hope this helps understanding the gear changing behaviour a bit better.

Jac

LEX ES300

Thanks for everyones input about this..