Frankly, I cannot see myself buying another automatic without this feature. I truly love it and use it daily. One of the best features Lexus has ever come up with.

 

Yes, E-shift rules. I always use it daily as well, and I never just put the transmission into just D. I always keep it in M mode.

 

I TOO love E SHIFT. I have a 1999 GS-400, and even though I wanted a NEW car, the fact that this feature is not available on new cars is the ONLY reason I did not buy one.

I think the new 4.3 engine has more power (torquewise), but I really wish that the new car had the E-SHIFT. I understand that it was nearly impossible to make the new engine pass emission standards with the E-SHIFT. Makes me wonder why the GS-300 engine (6 cylinder engine) can pass with E shift, and the 4.3L V8 cannot.

It will be interesting to see if they make the GS-430 into maybe a GS-500 in year 2004. I really hope that the new car will have the E Shift feature, but it will be an AWESOME car regardless.

GSEREP1

 

I drove a GS430 and I thought that was a far better rush than my GS3. I think that I will sell my GS3 and get the BIG BOY RIDE!! I just want to know if The E-shift is really worth getting a GS4 instead of a GS430? Does it make the car quicker than the 430 if you can manually shift? Or is it just more fun to drive?

 

truthfully i maybe use it 10% of the time......prolly less. i def wouldnt say that im a slow-poke, but 4 yrs of atlanta traffic with a 5 speed and im just fine letting the tranny do all of the work. im obviously in the minority here....


Doc

 

You can accomplish the same thing if you use the shifter. However, if you are racing than its better to have 2 hands on the wheel and use the e-shift buttons vs. having 1 hand on the wheel and 1 hand on the shifter. With E-shift you have more control of the car. Formula 1 cars are set up the same exact way. When you are racing someone hard and getting to speeds over 100mph the last thing I want to do is take both hands of the steering wheel. The adrenaline is pumping and the palms start to get sweaty ...bad because I have the modified wooden steering wheel with e-shift. The wood can get slippery at times.

The 98-00 GS400 has less torque than the GS430 but the 430 is also slightly heavier. The stats are from the lexus web site. They give the edge to the GS400 from 0-60 and 1/4 mile times.

PERFORMANCE of 1999 GS400

0 - 60 mph acceleration 5.7 seconds5
1/4-mile acceleration 14.3 seconds5
Top track speed 149 mph5
Fuel consumption 17/24 mpg city/highway6
Aerodynamic drag coefficient 0.29


PERFORMANCE of 2001 GS430

0 - 60 mph acceleration 5.8 seconds7
1/4-mile acceleration 14.5 seconds7
Top track speed 149 (electronically limited)7
Aerodynamic drag coefficient 0.29
Fuel consumption 18/23 mpg city/highway8

 

I use mine very frequently, but not for racing from a stop... in fact I rarely upshift with it. The two primary uses:

1) downshift when approaching a cop, heavy traffic, etc. Keeps me from popping on the brake lights when I blast by a trooper and want to slow down.

2) when I'm watching a car I think might want to 'play' on the highway, I'll e-shift down to third just to be ready for the game.

I hope the feature comes back in the new model. Not only handy, it's cool .

 

Dave, I think you summed it up the best. You are right on in every aspect. I rarely ever use it from a complete stop. I Use it more when I am staking my prey to be in that "ready" mode.
Never thought about using it for the cops to avoid the brake light thing. That is a new one for me. Instictively, when my radar goes on or if I see a cop, I stomp on the brake which gives off the brake light and says YES I AM GUILTY OF SPEEDING, but I saw you and i slammed on my brakes..LOL

 

I had a 1999 GS 300 and had the opportunity to trade it in for 2000 GS400 or the 2001 GS430. My choice was an easy one—I do love the GS400’s e-shift function. E-Shift give you move control on those narrow country roads. It helps you to maintain your speed while braking then accelerating through those sweet but snaking roads.

 

I have e-shift and I always feel like I am doing it wrong. Like lets say I am going about 40 mph and then I go to slow down and I drop the gears down it always feel like I am ruining something like I hear the rev. I don't know I am new to this but I always think I am going to ruin my transmision..Can anyone post guide lines to e shift ?

 

I'm new to the e-shift game. Have yet to use it yet but want to play. I have no idea how to use it and don't have a manual to explain. Any pointers????

 

Okay first off, E-shift is gears 2-5. You cannot engage gear 1. Second, you have to move your shifter from D to M. You will see a light go from green to red/orange .
Now from a start first gear ends at about 35mph (I think). It will engage into 2 automatically. When 2nd gear goes to about 62mph, you are hitting RED-LINE!!! . So if you stay in 2, the car will not shift to 3 when in MANUAL MODE.

For instance, if your trying to merge in traffic and keep it in 2, when you are merging at FORGET to go into 3, the car will not up-shift and it will hit the redline and the car will jerk cause it needs to upshift. This happens at 3rd gear (around 95mph), 4th gear, around 125mph and if you hit 5th gear (149) well you hit the speed limiter.

Now to downshift, it is the opposite. You want to know your REVS and when you can downshift. This takes practice and some studying. The GREAT thing is the car has a FAIL SAFE, it will not downshift into another gear if it will cause it to RED-LINE.

FOr instance, if your going 80mph in 3rd and you try to downshift to 2nd, the car will BEEP BEEP. It will not let you downshift. Cool huh! If it did downshift, you would not only screw your tranny, but your engine as well.

Put both hands on the steering wheel and put your THUMBS on the downshift buttons (these are the VISIBLE buttons on the steering wheel). Use your thumbs. On the backside, you will feel the UPSHIFT buttons. Use your Ring fingers. You will notice a slight extrusion on the up-shift buttons. Why? So as your BRAIN learns the buttons, after about a month your brain will figure that the up-shift buttons have the little extrusion, the down-shift buttons don't. Another fail-safe.

Try practicing by downshifting with e-shift instead of braking. This is a GREAT way to learn. Try practicing upshifting on the freeway.

There is no joy like taking a corner at 45mph and downshifting to 2nd gear in the SWEET SPOT so you can shoot out like a BULLET!

DaveGS4 provided additional ways E-shift is great to use.

 

Great thanks for the info.
I guess the best way to try is to do exactly that.
I've never even tried to drive a 5 or 6 speed so I was leary to try this, however I get the gist of the whole shifting thing. HOWEVER, I don't expect to be driving THAT fast - wow.
I'll max out around 100.
Thanks again!!!

 

I find it great to drive around in the freeway or on the streets in 3rd gear. The car is still quiet and it purely SCOOTS when you hit the gas. Otherwise, the car would be in 5th in Automatic and when you punch it, then it drops to 3rd. With manual you can just leave it in 3rd. Huge difference to me.

 

When i first got the car, I was like wow these buttons are great. It allowed me to downshift but I only upshifted using the shifter. I was like nice feature, but they should of added buttons to allow for upshift. For a whole week, I had know idea that the buttons for the upshift where behind the steering wheel this whole time.

I know pretty stupid....but I bought the car than found club lexus. What you should do is find club lexus than buy car. Than be prepared to spend mucho deniro on mods
Damm you club lexus.