I bought my car w/o an owner's manual, which I just finished printing (all 800 pages). I just discovered the paddle shift switches (I thought they were for cruise control) which apparently change temporarily the position of Drive. Why would I ever use this?

 

I used it once to try it, then never again. Might be useful in some scenarios for engine braking perhaps?

 

Most likely a left over/standard wheel from the NX250/350 all gas vehicles. If you truly need to have the ICE revving up to it's hp peak waiting to pass, or engine braking downhill, might be the only use case for it.

 

Allows you to control the engine RPMs in a pseudo-manual transmission style of driving. Coming hard and fast into a corner tap the left paddle to keep the rpms high so part way thru the corner when you slam the gas pedal to the floor the engine is already in its power band to exit the corner shaving 0.1s from your lap time (or time to get the ice cream home from the grocery store before it melts).

 

I laughed when I saw these on my first hybrid Lexus. I have grown to like them on occasion to use engine braking. They can be nice if you regularly drive in a hilly terrain. It can be simpler and less distracting, especially with this new style shifter, than reaching down to put the transmission into "S" mode. I prefer them to reaching to the shifter, but yes it still seems almost silly for a hybrid. Now paddle shifters in a sports car would be a wholly different discussion.

 

I love my paddles...

My NX350h is my 3rd Lexus with them (the other two were F-Sports), and I know I would not like driving these cars near as much without them.

No, I don't use them all the time but running through the gears during acceleration and downshifting instead of braking while slowing is still fun for me.

However, when driving a rental car, I have to remind myself to use the brake pedal instead of grabbing at the back of the steering wheel when coming to a stop.

 

Love the paddles! On my last ICE car I used them at almost every stop on higher-speed roads. Now I use them for occasional engine braking.

 

In my two years of owning the car I have never used the up shift paddle, not a single time, because if I want fast, I switch to Sport more, however, the downshift paddle is a totally different story, and I am occasionally use engine break to slow down the car.

 

Hilarious!

 

We live in the Sierra Nevada mountains and I regularly use the paddles to modulate speed, particularly on downhill grades.

 

They allow you to force the engine to rev higher, so that you'll get a quicker acceleration. This is useful for an overtake for example, or if you just want the car to feel more responsive and sporty.

By default the car will go back into drive within a few seconds, but if you activate S mode (pull the gear lever down after it's been in D), then it will only "upshift" when needed.
This is something Lexuses has done at least since 2008 (probably earlier): essentially if you put your car into S1 ("first gear") it won't switch to "2nd gear" until it's reached about ~50 km/h, and for S2 it won't switch to "third gear" until at about 100 km/h.

Essentially, put your car into S2/S3 mode and you've got the actual sport mode (that doesn't just make the steering wheel heavy).

It absolutely kills your fuel economy though, and it's probably not the best for your engine to constantly be revving really high. But it does make the car a lot more responsive, especially since in regular D mode it's tuned for a smoother operation.

Now you can of course use it to engine brake, but... I'm not sure if that's really a good idea.

 

Okay, these comments are super helpful. And I sincerely doubt that I will ever use this. I'm really into getting good gas mileage.
Now I need to practice accelerating/decelerating while in cruise control using the buttons on the steering wheel!

 

Strangely, even when my 450H+ is in EV mode (i.e., engine not running - confirmed by 0 rpm on the tach), it still works to slow down the car. Can 'engine braking" work when the engine is not running? Or is it actually doing regen braking in this situation?

 

Hold the phone people! A 350h and 450h+ are hybrids and already use regenerative braking in almost all instances to slow the car down when you use the brake peddle. The actual friction brakes with rotors are typically only used from about 2 mph to 0 when the car comes to a complete stop. The paddles will electronically 'act' on the internal combustion engine via the electric motor generators and simulate a down or upshift by quickly increasing the drag felt on the driveline as if you actually have real gears like a manual transmission. It can also just 'skip' the ICE and simulate things using only the motor generators. All hocus pocus! A pony trick!

I never use them typically, as the ICE is never directly connected to the drivetrain via a true transmission. Hammer the gas and Hammer the brakes all you want, the electronics will do the magic you're asking for in the most efficient way possible . And not wear down your brake pads or ruin your precious transmission, these are truly robust almost bullet proof powertrains.

When you drive like a scalded ape down the road or along an on ramp, giving her the beans the ICE tach will show all it does is rev it up to it's sweet spot of maximum hp and efficiency and hang it there to give you what you want. Without shifting anything at all. It's like a CVT, that's where they coined the phrase e CVT, because it acts like one but it actually has no transmission per say.

By the way you can download a manual from the Lexus website for free and save 800 paper sheets. I would check around in the back trunk or under the tray. Manuals for Lexus vehicles are typically kept within a black vinyl pouch in your trunk area.

https://www.lexus.com/My-Lexus/resou...d_guides_promo

https://www.lexus.com/My-Lexus/resou...d_guides_promo

https://www.lexus.ca/en/know-your-lexus/manuals/