New Member

[greyhound]

Hi. Just joined and I'm glad I found your forum. We are a two Lexus family; a '95 SC400 we've had a few years and a '99 RX300. (My wife's is the SC, unfortunately!) She is very happy with the car with one exception - throttle response/feel. Her last car, a '91 Infinity Q45, may be the best overall car we've ever owned (putting cabin space into the equation.) She is not a timid driver by any stretch and will normally do 85 - 90+ on the expressways in nice weather. She feels, and I tend to agree, that the Q had better response and better "highway feel" than the SC. It's throttle seemed "looser" and easier to accelerate, and was easier to control. It also seemed quicker in highway acceleration, but I think that may just be the pedal feel. Gearing may be a contributing factor, too, but I haven't compared the two cars. Handling f has been greatly improved with the addition of Goodyear F1 GS-D3 tires a couple weeks ago (we've had a lot of different brands of tires over the years, and I must say these are the best ever. Anyone looking for new tires, these are highly recommended. Anyway, has anyone else been bothered by the SC's throttle response? I've drriven may SC's and they all feel the same - it's not a problem with our particular car. Maybe the Q was just that good. Does anyone have someinput or ideas on how to improve the situation so she's happier?

Thanks.

Brock

[jzz30]

never driven a Q but its competitor was the LS and the Q is a bit more sportier than the LS so i guess its in between the SC and the LS. now by throttle response do you mean it doesnt down shift? i do notice that the pedal is alot stiffer than most cars past cruising speed of 60 but i havent noticed bad response because i just stomp and well going 50-60 it usually goes all the way down to second.

[greyhound]

The pedal is a lot stiffer and it doesn't downshift nearly as quickly. I don't remember the 0-60 or passing acceleration times in their tests, but I'm not sure the the SC is as fast in either. A few less horsepower, but about 300 lbs. lighter - they are pretty close. Downshift points could be part of it....you need to stomp on the SC going highway speeds and it jerks you when it downshifts. The Q was much smoother, less jerky, but felt much faster. I've asked the Lexus mechanics their opinions, and they seemed to wonder what planet we came from....questioning the performance of their "sports car" vs. a big 4 door sedan.

[jzz30]

try and switch the etc button to pwr. that will make the trans a bit more shifty

[AWJ]

Welcome!

It's the sluhsbox auto. The torque converter is *BLEEP*. The best way I can tell you to get more "slam to the seat" feel is to consider a stall converter, raising the rpm engagement of the drive gear. Possibly a valve body rework of the tranny before this might give the feel you are looking for. That or a ecu reflash...

Money.

[jzz30]

but i think he means response while going 90.

[greyhound]

Thanks to all for the input. I guess it's just the nature of the car - not a bad thing, just a different feel. I drove it again yesterday to try to figure it out - I think it's the fact that you need to depress the acelerator pedal down pretty far (comparatively) before it downshifts. When it does downshift, it is an abrupt change vs. the smoothness of the Q45 - almost like it downshifts 2 gears instead of one. (I'm not talking about stomping on it and flooring it, just steadily increasing pedal pressure to accelerate.) It may just be the gearing differences of the two cars - I'll have to look them up and compare.