I am hopefully picking up a 2023 350h in a few weeks. I know there are not many of these out there but my question is likely applicable to other Toyota/Lexus hybrids with a CVT. I have read the owner’s manual and I am still confused.

it appears that the paddle shifters can be used to change engine speed or gears in the D mode as well as the S mode. I am undoubtedly missing something here, but if that’s true, what is the difference between these modes?

I live in a mountainous area, and when going off the mountain, I put my Highlander in M mode and downshift to 4 or 5 to increase engine braking and reduce brake wear and tear. Would I use the S mode in the hybrid to accomplish the same? Additionally, would I want to NOT gear the engine down when going down a hill so that I am braking more in an attempt to charge the hybrid battery?

I am new to the hybrid world so any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

I use the paddle shifter to gear down on long/steep mountain grades quite often. It will charge the battery, but it will typically max the battery capacity in very short order. In my opinion, this is the only practical use for the paddles. I am not aware of any reason you would NOT want to utilize this option to arrest your speed, but obviously on steep grades I still need some friction braking as well. I won't let the vehicle's momentum wind the internal combustion engine up too much. At least I have utilized this on past hybrids, and I have no reason to believe it wouldn't work the same on this new generation.

 

I would be interested to hear your experience driving 350h in the mountains and how it accelerates and handles the steep grades. I live in Colorado and have some questions about its ability to handle this. I recognize there's some difference between CO and NC mountains. Thanks!

 

Will try to remember to reach out but we are away from our mountain home for a few weeks. I posted on the Highlander forum and asked this question of those who had hybrids. All who responded said it handed the hills fine.

 

One of the drive mode options is "Custom". According to the manual, you can customize various settings. But it seems that they are mixing car settings with the drive mode. It's not clear to me what's going on here or meant in the manual. Put another way, if you choose "Custom", what drive mode is the car running in? And if that is one of the customizable options, where do you set that? It's a circular problem. You chose "Custom" as the drive mode but if you pick Eco, Sport or Normal then you're no longer in Custom. Maybe someone else has better figured this out.

Edit: this was moved here. I don’t think this is the correct place, because the D vs S drive mode thing is totally different than Eco Sport Normal Custom engine characteristics mode thing. And it’s not a Hybrid Technology specific thing, either. But thank you for not removing the post.

 

Have anyone noticed any big diff between ECO and Sport mode on your RX350h? I’ve driven in Sport mode all the time. Right now, it has 5500+ miles with a MPG rating of 36.4. Will ECO get even higher MPG? The car was slightly more responsive under Sport but often hard to notice. I had a chance to drive the non hybrid mode the other day. The difference on that model was more pronounced either drive-wise or fuel economy.

 

I am betting after you drive the 350h for a while and play around with the paddle shifters, you will stop and forget about them. The CVT transmission is outstanding and will get you up any hill and at any speed you want.