S-Mode
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The S mode confuses a lot of people but I will define it the way I see it. First remember your Venza is a 6 speed transmission. The 5th and 6th gear are basically for highway cruising/gas mileage. They reduce the engine RPM's so you can cruise along with a quiet engine consuming less gas. Second the "S" does NOT stand for Sport. It stands for "sequential". The Sequential mode locks out 5th & 6th gears. Sequential mode is great around town because if your transmission shifts up to 5th & 6th around 40 mph and so, it is very slow to respond if you need quick acceleration. Also if you have mountain roads you can shift into Sequential to go up or down the grades. In Sequential you can tap the gear shift to the left to manually drop down a gear. Example coming down a hill--- you shift to S mode now you are locked into 1,2,3 or 4th gear, if you want to hold your Venza back without using the brakes you can tap the shift lever to the left to change from 4th to 3rd or from 3rd to 2nd. You cannot shift from 2nd to 1st because Toyota locked that option out. To shift up {2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 4th} you tap the shift lever to the right. GOING UP the hill if you need more power for the climb and/or turns, S mode lets you manually shift down for power, just like going down hill shifts hold you back. If you do not have hills to drive, use "S" for in town driving {under 45 MPH} it will give you a quicker safer response. I hope this helps a little, it is much easier for those of us who have driven manual transmissions. S Mode is kinda of a manual tranny without a clutch pedal. It is truly a great transmission. I wonder if many Venza owners actually understand and use the S mode much. Just experiment with it, you will like it. Wyovenza
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I use the S mode much of the time. We live in a mountain valley and we have to cross the river (Columbia where it's 30' wide) on our trips to town. I go from D-4-3-2 over a 1/2 mile stretch while descending the hill. For uphill, I usually just let D handle the shifts. I also think it's a great transmission.
The Streets are one of the primary uses for the S mode. In 4th or lower gears the engine RPMs are higher so the engine will make a little more noise but it will respond quicker if you have to accelerate quickly. It will also slow down quicker when you take your foot off the gas pedal. Consider the "S" mode to be a "Street" mode under 45 MPH.
Wyovenza
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as far as I understand the S mode allows you to limit the highest gear that it will change up to. For example : from a standing start in automatic mode the transmission will upshift when it wants. In S-mode it will rev up to the red line when you can upshift by pushing the stick forward. So if you really want to get off the blocks fast you can use the S -shift. If you miss the shift at high revs it will shift up for you when you red line.
So: you can control the highest gear it will shift in to: as stated earlier this can be useful descending steep hills. The S-shift is indeed not a sport control but can be used to keep the revs up.
Hope this helps -- play around with it and you will see what I mean. Yes the manual is not great in explaining this function
So: you can control the highest gear it will shift in to: as stated earlier this can be useful descending steep hills. The S-shift is indeed not a sport control but can be used to keep the revs up.
Hope this helps -- play around with it and you will see what I mean. Yes the manual is not great in explaining this function
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2009 Venza allows shift from 2nd to 1st in S mode. Also you can shift to 5th and 6th in S mode as the need arises. . You can really save your brakes using S mode when going down hills and approaching stop signs. Have your dealer go for a ride with you and demonstrate S mode operation.
Remember when your out driving, the Venza will not allow you you to downshift if it will place the transmission in danger. For example, if you shift shift from 3rd to 2nd when the car is going to fast for transmission safety it will beep to tell you it can not complete the shift. Try again when your going a little slower, you'll know when you have down shifted as you will feel the engine braking effect.
Remember when your out driving, the Venza will not allow you you to downshift if it will place the transmission in danger. For example, if you shift shift from 3rd to 2nd when the car is going to fast for transmission safety it will beep to tell you it can not complete the shift. Try again when your going a little slower, you'll know when you have down shifted as you will feel the engine braking effect.
TY Wyovenza for that explanation. I never used the S mode, but in retrospect perhaps I should have. By using the S mode, there are now four gears to use (instead of the six) so there isn't that constant "gear hunting". When I lived in Alabama, my 6 cyl venza was constantly shifting on the highway or any incline. It was very disappointing. I think using the S mode would have made my venza driving experience more pleasant. We've since moved to Florida where it is very flat and I no longer experience the constant shifting because there are no hills. I was always reluctant to use it because I thought of it as a "sport" mode. I thought using the S mode eliminated the use of 6th gear and wasn't aware that it was actually 5th and 6th.
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Downshift will raise the revs and use more gas. but as docfletcher said you can use the downshift to slow down. With a manual transmission (stick shift) this is nice particulary on slick ice but otherwise normal braking is ok. As I said above the S mode is not like a manual shift--the number you see is the highest gear it will shift into.
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Meeelinda, You can't really really use the RPM as a determining factor for when to down shift. Speed is a better factor for downshifting. I am concerned for your safety because if you spend to much time looking at the tack or speedometer you won't be seeing the road ahead or what's going on around you.
Possibly Meelinda, but if it makes you feel any better.....when I first bought my Camry back in 98, I had been playing with the overdrive off function button on the side of the gear shifter and one time I forgot to turn it off and drove about 5 miles at about 70 mph turning close to 4,000 rpm the whole way,
The car was so quiet, I had no idea it was off. Finally noticed the tachometer and quickly turned it off so it shifted into overdrive. 200,000 miles later I'd say no harm done but if you play with the s mode, just listen to your motor. You don't want super hi revs, nor super low revs.
Also remember that no matter when you go into s mode, it will be in 4th gear so be ready for that. If you're going 85 mph that will be quite a downshift.
The car was so quiet, I had no idea it was off. Finally noticed the tachometer and quickly turned it off so it shifted into overdrive. 200,000 miles later I'd say no harm done but if you play with the s mode, just listen to your motor. You don't want super hi revs, nor super low revs.
Also remember that no matter when you go into s mode, it will be in 4th gear so be ready for that. If you're going 85 mph that will be quite a downshift.
Meelinda, we bought our venza and my wife was the primary driver. I didn't drive it much, but when I did I treated the automatic like an "automatic" - meaning that I'd let the car decide what to do. To me, that was the idea behind "automatic". I didn't drive ours enough to really worry about it and would likely drive it differently now (using the S mode), but I'd suggest you not worry about playing with the gears and let the car's transmission make the decisions for you. I think the car is likely programmed to optimize fuel economy and would be surprised if you'd notice that much of a difference in mileage. But you may be jeopordizing your own safety worrying about what gear you were in or how many rpm's you were running. So I say relax and enjoy the car. Don't worry about the gas mileage as there's little you can do to impact it except when it's empty - you get two choices - refuel or park.
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Good advice: --there is precious little fun driving an automatic and the S mode gives you something to play with..but ...if you are nervous then wait until you are on a quiet back road to explore. It really is no biggie..I don't bother with it that much on the Venza.
Meelinda. I do agree totally with this Throck post. I think in your case you should just put your Venza in drive and relax. Relax and let your Venza do her thing.
Sometimes things should just be left on Automatic. Wyovenza
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Well maybe..Meelinda try to have some fun..find a lonely back road..play with your nice Venza. The more you understand the transmission the safer you will be. Leaving it in automatic is fineMeelinda. I do agree totally with this Throck post. I think in your case you should just put your Venza in drive and relax. Relax and let your Venza do her thing.
...I really miss my stick shift
. But I like the Venza.
Downshifting CAN save gas. And save brakes. Normally when I leave the highway (much like interstate in the US) and I end up on a stop sign, I'll start reducing speed by downshifting to 4th then to 3rd and 2nd.
In general, the car computer want the engine to idle somewhere around 750 rpm. If you don't depress gas at all, it will inject just enough fuel in the cylinder to keep the engine at its idle speed. If the car is stopped, you'll get a very high fuel consumption (in US units, you should see 0 MPG?) If the car is rolling and you completely leave the gas pedal untouched, you'll see how much fuel is consumed in idle in relation to the speed. Sorry dear Americans, you'll have to switch to metric l/100km to experience that. As you slow down, the same amount of fuel is consumed by the idle, but the speed of the car reduces so the shown fuel consumption (in l/100 km) increases.
Here is the magic: if you use compression by switching to a lower gear, you'll see the consumption drop to 0l/100 km. At that point, the motor is taking just enough energy from the rotating wheels to keep the engine speed above the required idling RPM, so it cuts all fuel injection.
So here is what I do: when I see I will need to brake, I downshift just enough to reduce consumption to 0. If I'm going downhill and I know I'll need to brake a lot, I downshit as much as possible. That way I save both fuel and brake.
jf
Hi guys, I have a question about the S mode. I understand that you can use it to control the highest drive the vehicle will shift to and also allow you to use engine breaking on a downhill. Can I shift to S Mode when I first start the car? When I first start the car and shift to the S mode, it indicates that it is on gear 4. I thought it supposed to start at 1 when the vehicle is stop and we manually upshift according to vehicle speed. Can someone please explain to me? thanks
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