magmasilk

i want to leave in pwr for those occasional unplanned bursts but wouldn't that defeat the hybrid-ness? anyone do test to see how much mpg you lose with pwr?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

umm, why not? you buy a car to fit your driving. if you want the power, put it in pwr mode. why care about the gas mileage? just drive!

Stormforge

i have the pwr and sport mode turned on all the time.

stefanati

Although I ususally drive fast, I usually drive without sport mode, or pwr.... I usually have normal settings.... Still have enough power for all situations.... ))

Modeler

I honestly could never tell the difference between these modes. I leave it in Sport mode, but in the regular Hybrid mode instead of Power. I figure that I never felt lacking power in this car, so why switch to the mode that potentially lowers fuel economy?

stefanati

The transmission "learns" how you drive and I think the car can only be faster, if you drive it hard for a few km... In case I switch these buttons, I don't feel too much difference either....

LexFather

Sport tunes the shocks...Power tunes the throttle....

Sport/Normal is noticeable to me more on the highway...the ride turns more traditional Lexus cushy and floats more over bumps in the road. On short trips I notice less of a difference.

To me the difference between power and normal is staggering. When in power mode the gas pedal is very sensitive and the car is very eager to "pounce" . It makes it more fun and much easier to speed.

In normal the gas pedal is much less affected by your inputs and I notice a great difference in MPG when I drive in that mode. The car drives with its same power but not so eager to use it all right away.

I seem to go through moods . When I first got it I was all normal for the best MPG. Then for a few months all power/sport and saw my MPG drop and my chances of a ticket increase

I'm back cruising now when I drive this car.

chopperpl

I've taken measurements in all modes when car had about 5k, and I've realized better mileage in pwr mode. I was confused with such result, and shared my experience on this board. Some owners noticed same result, so I've never put in normal since. I've been using pwr for daily cruising, and bumpy roads, but quickly switch to sport for better handling feel, and throttle response. I've also noticed that if you are in the normal mode, and switch to sport it feels like pwr automatically turnes on. Anyways, my best highway mpg result so far was 33mpg (in pwr mode) on distance of 120miles with avg speed 76mph, and not exceeding 85mph...

LexFather

Nice MPG....

I agree sometimes my MPG in power doesn't dip. To me though there is a very noticeable difference in throttle response between power and normal.

Love the CVT. Never thought I would say that.

warren52nz

From what I've been able to gather, power mode just changes the input curve on the gas pedal. So if half throttle on Normal mode gives you 1/2 throttle input into the computer, in power mode half throttle will deliver something more than half throttle command to the computer (say 60% instead of 50%). So it feels more responsive for the same amount of pedal input. But at full throttle in either mode you will get the same acceleration.
I'm not certain about this but that's what I'm hearing from those few people who seem to know.

As for Sport mode, I can't say I feel the difference in the suspension.

- 2007 GS450h fully optioned in platinum

sonnyhood

I had a feeling this was bad for hybrid system, as faster charging/faster discharging reduces the life of a battery. My batterie were replaced but still.
I usually drive with Sport on, cause the car doesnt move quick enough.
And when im on the highway at 100 i switch to normal.
I use sport+power when some idiot especially fun with V8 with loud exhausts, who see the hybrid sign on the side and think that means slow.
Or some idiot in an Audi A4 2.0T who thinks they want to show me what a power ful car does.
After i launch it, they dont try again

sonnyhood

Im just on 30 years old, just after i replaced my shocks, i was on sport mode and was 'kind of' racing someone, at about 80-100 at the time, and hit a bump in the road and put my back out HAHA
I felt so old !!
Had to drive on normal all the way home.
Sport is electronically dampener, theres a little cable conencted to the top of the shock.
I run my tyres at 36psi all round, maybe if you have your pressure too high you wont notice the smoother ride on normal?