Hi,

I read a lot recently about how the paddle shifters work on my 2009 is 250. I've been wanting to try using them and an opportunity appeared yesterday. I was on the freeway and needed to exit, but had to accelerate to get ahead of some cars to do so. I thought I saw gear 6, so I quickly tapped twice on the minus paddle to go to 4th. But I somehow ended up in 3rd and my rpm shot up to orange or red circle. I quickly shifted up to 6, but I'm wondering what happened? Did I just accidentally tap too many times? Or did the car go down to 5 right before I tapped twice? I'm wondering if I'm in D mode and tap the paddles, is it always 6 - # of taps or N (current gear) - # of taps?

So glad the rev limiter is there to protect from mistakes like this, I think without it I would be too scared to even try the paddles. Also curious what does the rev limiter actually do? I read somewhere it cuts fuel to the engine when the rpm is too high, so the engine basically turns off?

 

Starts at "4th gear"

 

Get out there and test them out. If you are hesitant, go to a parking lot and start off from a stop or just work them at low speeds. It's pretty straight forward- you just need to get used to them.

 

To the topic starter: It doesn't always shift down from the sixth gear. It will shift down from whatever gear you are last enganed in. For example if you are currently in 5th and tap the left paddle twice, you will end up downshifting to 3rd gear at the end of the process.

If you don't know which gear you are currently in, just tap left paddle once. The gear position indicator will light up and tell you which gear you are currently in. From there, if you don't have enough rev, then you just tap the left paddle once more. Continue until you get enough rev to make an overtake or corner exit.

To get the idea, you can change the information display to show the current gear position.

After you mastering the usage of paddle shifter, you won't need to look at the display at all. You will just listen to the engine tone and feel the engine-brake effect of the car. Keep tapping the paddle slowly one at a time until you get enough rev. The key is just to get the engine rev in the power range, which is around 4-5 Krpm to me (IS250).

 

IMO, the paddle shifters on our cars are useless - the response is way too slow and upshifts in straight auto/power mode are quicker

 

that's because they aren't shifters.

the IS-F has paddle shifters. The ISx50 does not, no matter what it says in the brochure.

 

Yup, I never took the "paddle shifter" description literally. interesting that the ISF has a true shifter. I prefer a normal manual anyway. More intuitive to me.

 

The rev limiter limits the engine from reving any higher. It does not turn off the engine... If it turned off the engine, you'd be in deep trouble. It actually cuts off fuel to the engine for a split second to slow the engine down. You get that nasty knock feeling...

 

I read a lot on here about the paddles (and Kurtz explains it quite well in these other threads) so I basically leave my shifter in D mode and let the auto-transmission do its thing. It will do the shifting faster & better than any person's head/hand can do it. So, when on the highway I go with D.

If I want a slightly more interactive driving experience on side roads, I then put it in S and have fun believing that I'm in a manual. I'll "shift" by using the shift ****.

So, for me the only time the paddles really come into play is when I'm in S mode on a curvy side road -- where I need to keep both hands on the wheel -- but still want to limit my gears to have a more enjoyable experience than the D mode will offer.

I hope this makes sense.

 

oh, for the original poster --- if you're on the highway in D-mode & you need to speed up past someone, forget about the paddles and simply use your foot to step on the accelerator. The tranny will do the rest for you ! It does it Automatically, Better than you can, and with virtually no risk of hitting the Rev Limiter.

 

Not quite, if u r racing on a roll let say 30mph to 40mph , used S mode and down shift to 3rd gear and punch it, simultaneously shift to auto

 

so ya think the OP is "racing on a roll" :/