Hi all,

I take delivery of my 2017 IS300 F Sport series 1 tomorrow and while I'm super excited to have such a beautiful car, I'm going from being a long time stick driver to an auto. Ultimately it came down to the IS or a 2017 A4 manual but I got such a great deal on the IS that I pulled the trigger. Tell me that with the paddle shifters and manual mode that I won't miss driving stick!

P.S. This is my daily driver :-)

 

The paddle shifters make driving so much more fun that you won't ever miss stickshift (have experience with a manual car) I can completely relate because I was on the same boat

 

I drove manual for 20+ years and thought I would miss it moving into the IS.
I don't even use the manual shift mode or paddles...maybe the odd time when I want to slow without the brakes, I may paddle shift down.
Honestly, throw it in D and forget about it...it drives so nice.

 

Thanks - that makes me feel a whole lot better! Picking it up tomorrow after work!

 

99% sure this does not apply to the is300, but rather to the is350.

The paddle shifters, shifts pretty fast and does rev matching which is pretty cool. However, I think the 6-speed tranny (is300) does not have rev matching. Think only the 8-speed tranny (is350) does.

 

You wont miss it.

 

I miss driving a stick every day.

 

You may like it better - the paddle shifts are crisp and you should have all the control you like, but if you are stuck in stop and go just throw it in D and relax. Best of both worlds.

I don't use mine a lot with the 8-speed tranny (2016 200t) - the gear ratios are so close that unless you are out driving it hard on an open road it's a lot of clicking to keep up. 6 speed would actually be more enjoyable.

Congrats!

 

Picked up my new wheels today and......nope, I don't miss stick! The car just drives so nicely in every respect and I can already tell that while I'll likely never use the +/- on the actual shifter, the paddle shifters and I will get along just fine! So happy with my purchase!

 

yeah me too. While driving the 8 speed auto is fun and comfortable. There is just nothing like driving a stick.

 

The 6-speed does have rev-matching, but the behavior is inconsistent. I have been wanting to start a thread just about this, since I have been curious for a while. My previous Camry SE also had similar behavior, where sometimes it would rev-match, but not all the time. To me it seems to reliably rev-match if
* M mode is active
* Sport mode is active
* You're hard on the brakes or starting to turn the wheel

Even then, it seems to not like rev-matching into 3rd, which is regrettable since you'd be downshifting into it often. However, 4th and 2nd work perfectly well, regardless of whether you're in Sport. Shifts into 3rd and 1st are often somewhat lurchy.

That being said, I love the upshifts in M mode when driving hard. It gives me somewhat of a kick in the back. Awesome stuff!

But all in all I prefer to just use automatic. It's pretty smart when you're in Sport mode about downshifting and holding revs when you are driving hard.

 

I drove stick shifts as my daily drivers since 1990. Moved to my IS350 last year. Do I miss the stick... in general yes but I still enjoy the IS. For me, I have a back-up car ('88 944) that gives me my stick shift fix occasionally.

 

I've never had downshift rev-match issues with my AWD 350. Sometimes it's not the smoothest rev-match, but that's normal for this old transmission. Gotta keep in mind that the 6-speed in our AWD cars came out over 10 years ago :/

 

Yeah, I just drove it pretty hard yesterday (took it on the MO-76 highway, which is pretty intense!), and I found rev-matching in 3rd to work perfectly, much smoother than normal. I think it really depends on how hard you are driving.

 

Compared to VW's DSG, our paddles will feel sluggish but remember we do not have a dual clutch system. For a normal automatic transmission, these cars shift amazingly. I love the sound of the pauses betweens shifts and the downshifts. I have driven manual many times and I absolutely would pick this car over a manual.