Down Shifting
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Joined: Apr 2015
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From: NJ
Down Shifting
Sorry if this question has been asked before. Whether I'm in Eco, Normal or Sport when the dash indicator says "D" and I use the paddles to down shift it always goes into "4" which I assume is 4th gear. If I up shift it will go into 5th gear but always skips 5th on a down shift. Can someone explain why that happens. Thanks.
Mike
Mike
The pursuit of F
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 8,296
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From: Toronto, Canada
It's a good question I don't think I've seen explicitly discussed here.
It's normal and just how the engineers decided to program it when in Drive. In fact most other Lexus I've owned or driven were programmed in the same way. My guess is the engineers had safety in mind - if you will be manually downshifting in D at highway speeds, it's to get quicker access to engine braking or available power skipping from D6 to D4. Of course as you probably know, to get full control of the power and gearing, move the shifter to M.
It's normal and just how the engineers decided to program it when in Drive. In fact most other Lexus I've owned or driven were programmed in the same way. My guess is the engineers had safety in mind - if you will be manually downshifting in D at highway speeds, it's to get quicker access to engine braking or available power skipping from D6 to D4. Of course as you probably know, to get full control of the power and gearing, move the shifter to M.
The pursuit of F
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 8,296
Likes: 303
From: Toronto, Canada
Not sure the exact speed as it's not in the manual, but I'd guess around 90mph is max speed in 4th. Anything above that, it wouldn't allow a downshift and you'd hear a beep if an attempt is made.
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 787
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When you manually downshift, it will go into the lowest gear it can, without over revving the engine. Although it goes into 4th most of the time, it will go into 3rd if your going slow enough. Try downshifting at 25 or 30. I've also seen it go into 5th at freeway speeds, but only once or twice. We see it go into 4th more often only because that's the speed range where we downshift most commonly.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,954
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From: SoCal
I noticed that the manual mode in the regular and F-sport are much different. When there is a M (F-sport), then the transmission stays in the gear indicated (unless too low or high RPM). When there is a S (non F-sport), then the gear indicated acts like a limiter; the car will not exceed that gear (unless too high) but it will go through all the gears below the number indicated.
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