Just Bought A 2003 Sc430...

[harveysburger]

Hi all,

Just bought a 2003 SC430, it's my first time owning an automatic, first time with RWD, first time with anything above $10k :) So I was curious to get people's opinion about certain things

1) Aside from going downhill, does anyone use engine braking? It's my first automatic car so I was wondering when engine braking should be used. When driving manual I constantly use engine for deceleration unless I really need to slow down fast (then of course I would use the brakes...)

2) Downshift for faster acceleration? I suppose automatic cars it's useless to do this but I was curious.

3) Motor oil recommendations? Any brands or types I absolutely must stay away from?

4) Which kind of gas I should use? Every other car I had I didn't car much about them so I was filling them up with the cheapest fas available at the pump. So far I used only 'octane 89' with the SC430... should I use octane 91? Is 87 sufficient?

[LC6529]

Hi all,

Just bought a 2003 SC430, it's my first time owning an automatic, first time with RWD, first time with anything above $10k :) So I was curious to get people's opinion about certain things

1) Aside from going downhill, does anyone use engine braking? It's my first automatic car so I was wondering when engine braking should be used. When driving manual I constantly use engine for deceleration unless I really need to slow down fast (then of course I would use the brakes...)

2) Downshift for faster acceleration? I suppose automatic cars it's useless to do this but I was curious.

3) Motor oil recommendations? Any brands or types I absolutely must stay away from?

4) Which kind of gas I should use? Every other car I had I didn't car much about them so I was filling them up with the cheapest fas available at the pump. So far I used only 'octane 89' with the SC430... should I use octane 91? Is 87 sufficient?

Congratulations on your 430.

I use engine braking when going down hills.

I don't have a response for downshifting, if I really need to accelerate fast I put the switch on the console to POWER mode.

Motor Oil - I use Mobile Synthetic for my 2002 SC430.

Gas - Unless things changed drastically from 2002 - 2003, I am pretty sure you need to use Premium.

[CAMAracer]

1) I shift to 3 when going downhill b/c 'cause I'm lazy and don't want to brake alot. Just remember to bring it back to D when you're ready to accelerate :P

2) When on the freeway and I need to get by someone, I downshift to 4 (or 3) depending on what speed I'm traveling.

3) No opinions on this...I use penzoil platinum synthetic b/c I got good prices on some cases

4) Now I might get some heat for saying so but I use 87 and it works fine for me. Performance-wise, I think there's a small difference (I read somewhere that it's a 5% loss in HP). But there's plenty of articles that say using 87 is perfectly fine as long as the gas is clean.