Alright to get to the point, I'm an amateur and a noob at driving "stick".

if anyone could give me details on how to use the L - 4 shifting, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I don't know how to do it at all, I tried doing it and realized there was an L shift and was going from 2 - 4. Lol

So lets start it off as if I knew nothing about how to drive this thing.

THANKS!

 

Okay, first of all I believe it's been discussed many times on here, and I KNOW I have posted many times, so check out search if my answer doesn't help.

Instead of starting in D which is three notches down from P, drop it all the way to the lower right to L, which is three more notches, or six total from P.

I know it seems like a lot of notches, but the only time you have to do that much is starting from P. Most times you are probably starting from R or D normal so it's not that many notches.

So, starting in L all the way to the bottom lower right, get rollin' and take your car up to 3-4k (don't hit 5k-6k yet until you have it down...) and slide the shifter over to 2. Then same thing...3-4k and UP to 3...3-4k more and up to 4...by then you are probably going over 60mph and I usually shift over to normal D when I get up there on the highway.

I take mine up to 5k regularly and have lots of fun with it. The lexus SC430 champion technician actually showed me this and reported a couple of years ago on CL how much MORE fun the car was shifting this way!

In my opinion taking your foot either completely off the gas or slightly off during the shifts give it more of a "manual" feel, while keeping your foot on the gas makes it not feel so much fun and there is a smoother, less foreceful thrust of torque. I'm off the gas for sure when I shift! I actually enjoy the notches and the punch it has over the smoother 2006+ manumatic due to the more rustic feel LOL. I felt like the SC's manumatic was too much like the ES, not like the IS which I love when I get a loaner so I opted not get a 2006+ versus my 2005 I just bought. hope this helps

 

Thanks for the detailed reply!

What about down-shifting? When do you down shift?

 

all i can say is down shifting from 2-L should be done at exactly 25mph! and it gives a nice kick

 

^^^^ +1 you may even leave a scratch with the VDC off LOL

I really just eyeball the rpms more aggressively when I am manual shifting...I use the rule of thumb of about 2k-2500k or so, sometimes more aggressive down shifting for tight cornering, etc. I have paddle shifters in my other two cars with rev limiters so I don't look at those cars nearly as much. Don't want to blow the SC engine, you know?

Just make sure you get comfortable with it before you start "tearing it up".

 

Another great post Scdroptop. I read about this before, but never tried because of the old rule, you can't outshift an automatic. I don't know if this is faster but it is a lot of fun. Is this hard enough on my tranny, or motor that I risk causing harm?

 

I would like to know this as well. I don't want to risk driving like this if it harms my engine.