Hi, i was just wondering if anybody actually uses the tiptronic on their GS, if u do and ur really good at it, can u please explain how to do it, the uses, etc. Thanks! sry for the kiddy questions,

 

i second that post....i am also interested on how to get the most out of it.

i've tried using it and felt that it was no different than stepping on the gas hard vs. soft.

 

If I leave it in auto, the car actually accelarate faster. I think I use it twice, no fun at all.

 

a) when driving downhill for downshifting (breaking), b) when driving uphill.
I found that if I use automatic it delays shifting to upper gear in comparison to S mode, even though I'm not accelerating too fast.
This is because of Artificial Intelegent Shifting in automatic mode. To me it is not smart enough. I have to drive too fast downhill so when I push breaks a little it downshifts by itself. Same uphill - it keeps lower gear for too long.
The gear number that you see in S mode defines the range of gears. If it is 4 it means it runs from 1 to 4....

 

I use it for engine breaking mostly... its fun to make hard left/right turns at fast speeds

 

Yeah, it's more confusing than other tiptronics. The number you see in S mode is not the gear you're in but the highest it will go like vladbph said. Wish they could just make it #4 means you're in 4th gear, #6 in 6th gear, instead of this. It's practically the same as leaving it in Drive.

 

I use it to keep the car in fifth gear when going up / down the mountains near Chattanooga, TN. Sixth gear is great for the gas mileage, but really need a higher RPM going up / down 6+% grade. Sometimes use it to use second gear going around corners at high speed.

 

yeah. tiptronic mode is pretty chitty.

you can't get good at it.

i tried to time it and shift (or rather, cap it) at the right moments. a totally jacked up experience. so i gave up.

better to just use power mode.

i wish they'd put paddle shifters in.
Do the paddles actually work on the IS? or are they gear cappers too?

 

^ Knowing Lexus, what do you think ? Paddle shifters are useless unless it rev-matches (like the IS-F), in the IS its just a gear capper that makes you think the car is sporty. I seldom used mine. . .

 

Actually I'm using S quite a lot... I came from manual - so have to do something while driving

 

that's what i hate about lexus. always behind on tech. or being like a nanny, holding back on implementing the tech.

even the g35 has rev matching with paddle shifts, on downshift at least.

 

Agreed that tiptronic is not great. It is a bit dumb that it shows 4th even if you are in first, second or third when you engage it. It should just tell you what gear you are in so you can then use it.

On the other side of things, ie when you are going faster than 4th, I'm not convinced that downshifting automatically to 4th is what I want, especially not the first time I tried it. If anything it should downshift to 5th, at least at higher speeds, and then you could choose to go down to 4th if you need to.

Regular D is really bad due to AI so I keep it in S all the time. One bad part of S mode I would say (&D) is downshifting into 1st too eagerly. Otherwise I find S changes up and down at very sensible moments.

The realistic uses of tiptronic in the GS seem to be for

More aggressive engine braking (note that if you pedal brake aggressively in S mode, you automatically get more engine braking which I think is quite smart)

More control during aggressive cornering

Hill climbing

Fast acceleration manouevers on the freeway. If your hand is by the shift and you need to accelerate then it's a nicer experience to shift the stick to the left and hit the gas then downshift through the pedal.

 

Soo for "control during aggresive cornering" u would downshift before turn then upshift out of the turn? :P sorry im not so good with my gear changes and what they do..Thanks!

 

Agree, the lack of an actual gear indicator (especially in S mode) suggests that Lexus didn't intend for drivers to drive enthusiastically in the 3GS. The 2IS has a gear indicator in the MID that always displayed what gear your were in (S or D mode).

As for S mode automatically dropping to 4th, I believe it's due to 5th & 6th being overdrive gears, so since 4th is 1:1, it makes sense to default to direct drive for spirited acceleration

 

downshift to race from a roll