pay attention to the engine, it's not brake boost, it's downshifting. when you lightly tap the brakes, notice the rpm jumps up as you feel the little choke. that's the down shift to slow down the car with engine braking.

and if you let the car level off (level ground) and work the gas easy, it will sense that the car is no longer on down slope and will shift up again smoothly. a lot of times the up-shift jolts because the driver thinks the brakes are still working on the car, thus pressing down the gas more, causing the car to shift at a higher than normal rpm.

with that said though, i do notice the engine braking on recent lexus to be "more" than previous generations. it's just a matter of design and getting used to

BinaryJay, i am not sure if you want to put the car in neutral when you are going downhill though. you will be riding totally on brakes?

 

That's not what I meant, I would totally use as much engine braking as I could going down hill. I just mean, when you know you have to stop coming up... just letting off the accelerator completely slows you too quickly, you need to keep your foot on the gas pedal a little bit - not enough that it's actually giving it gas, but it seems if you just lightly press it it stops the car from downshifting and engine braking too much. Normally I'd just push the clutch in and coast and then use the brakes very little to come to a stop in that situation.

 

ah ic. yes, that's pretty much what i do too. i have to say it's very different between driving my gs (you all know how it is) and the m3 (manual). once i am used to it it's pretty straight forward