I'm a newbie here...so a welcome would be nice.


anyway here is the point of my post. I was out for a nice little drive here in northern va. Since my crystal white IS350 (sport package & ml) had reached it's 1000 mile point I decided to push it a little on the highway. Soo, I pulled into a parking lot and started the car with the VDIM disabling sequence and all. I then proceeded to pull up to the stop light, dropped into manumatic mode (1st gear). As the light turned green I punched the gas almost all the way while making a right turn. The car vaults forward like a barbaro at the kentucky derby, wheels screeching, almost getting completely sideways before straightening out. In the heat of the moment, as i have only heard my 3 week old IS do this once or twice from the power brake stance, I forget to upshift. I notice that in less than 2 seconds the car was riding at 7000 rpm, and the shift light is yelling at me, saying wtf are you doing dumbass?!? There was a sinking feeling in my heart. I felt as though I had taken 3-5 years off the life of the engine doing that. has anyone else done this??

 

Once or twice should not "damage" a car, but repetitive constant strenuous driving habits will.

You should be fine. Learn your lesson and don't do it again...

 

did the rev limiter kick in??

 

yes it did... like I said my adrenaline was pumping cause the car was moving like a cheetah in heat. I didnt notice it until I looked down at the tach. BTW thats the second time I've done this. Maybe I should adjust my shift point closer to 5000 rpm.

 

I would suggest doing it around 4000-4500RPM coz most of the cars will reach max power at that point. I think its like 4800rpm for 350...

 

ahh thanks man...wait, I thought the 2GR-FSE reached max power at 6400rpm and max torque at 4800 rpm?

 

lol thats nothing.. doesn't the manual mode automatic have a rev limiter so you can't over rev?

in my evo i take it to redline and then some almost everytime i drive it.. lol.. nothing to worry about if its just 2nd time

the only time you need to worry about over reving is when down shifting at high speed into a gear too low and forcing the engine to rev into 8,9,10000+ rpm range.. but i read in the manual that the paddle shifter mode has protection for that where if your speed is too high to downshift.. it won't let you

 

yeah I read that as well, thats how I over revved it the first time. the shift light goes from amber to red once you get past 6400. The needle starts jumping back and forth from 7200 back to 6,400. There is definitely a rev limiter, it limits you from revving to 8000+ rpms. I feel bad about it, I sat there and petted my car like it was a sick dog or something.

 

sick dog?? you car said "YEAH! LETS DO THAT AGAIN"

dont trip.. im still suffering from new car syndrome too

 

I had a similar experience, but in a loaner ES350. Hit the gas, but did not realize that I was in semi-automatic mode---the tach went up to redline and as soon as I realized that something was wrong, the engine lost power and the revs started coming down. Fortunately for me it was the rev limiter kicking in. This is one instance where having the Lexus electronic nannies saved me from a very expensive mistake. Not something I would have attempted out of curiosity.

 

The rev limiter is there to save your precious engine from yourself. lol. While it's much better to actually make the shift at redline than hitting the limiter, the only short-term harm you caused was to your ego.

Prolonged, repetitive hitting of the rev limiter, some will argue, can cause damage because of a variety of reasons.

Hitting the perfect shift is a nice feeling though. In my S2000, hit 8000 (have teh F22C), wait for the third blink of the shift light, perfect shift at 8250 without hitting the rev limiter.

 

What does that have to do with shifting for acceleration? the dynos I've seen indicate hp is pretty tabletop from about 4800 to redline, so why wouldn't you take it to redline so when it shifts you're still making the same hp?

 

http://vettenet.org/torquehp.html

I don't pretend to understand this but it does explain how my 3800lb car can get to 60mph in 5.7 seconds or so using a 3.91 final drive, a 7200rpm redline and only 265ft lbs of torque.

This is the philosophy behind F1 cars and most of the products of Ferrari, Porsche and BMW Motorsport. However, it seems a smaller and smaller percentage of the population is interested in actually having fun driving.

 

I've read that before. I'm considered a heretic on most forums because I don't think comparing two different cars by their peak torque numbers means anything significant. For exactly the reasons in the primer you linked.

I like to consider that F1 engines now make about half the torque they made when they were boosted, but they certainly have no problems accelerating. Gearing does amazing things, and drivers who know how to use gearing go fast without lots of torque.

My point about shifting is, I pick my shift point so I am maximizing the area under the curve. Shifting when you hit peak power only drops you back down into the doldrums on most gearboxes. If you go past peak and shift to a higher point, then you get more area under the curve and you go faster. It does not FEEL faster, but the watch doesn't lie. More work/unit time means covering more ground. Simple math, but watch, someone will be sure to tell me how wrong I am. It happens every time.

 

I agree with bux. HP is the bigger determinant of speed. Take the S2000. When they bumped up displacement and torque (but not HP), acceleration stayed the same.

In this month's c&d, they test a 3 series diesel that puts down 228 bhp and a whopping 369 lb/ft of torque. The gas 330 is 255 and 220 respectively. The diesel did 0-60 and the 1/4 in 6.0 and 14.5. The regular 330 does the same in 5.6 and 14.4.

Just ask yourself this: on the track, which would you rather have? A car that has 200 bhp and 100 lb/ft or 100 bhp and 200 lb/ft?