How to get the best acceleration?

[Burroo 67]

Hi Guys,

Had the RX400H for 12 weeks now and absolutely love it. I have a question though about getting the best out of it.....

My last few cars have been turbo assisted so when overtaking on country roads there has been an instant pick up of speed - not so with the 400H. I realise that it is a big, powerful engine, but I can't seem to fathom out how to get it to accelerate quickly from say 40/50 MPH to 60/70 MPH. When I have had to put my foot down (not something I like to do as the car is so lovely just to drive) the big engine can be heard 'revving' but the speed build up is very gradual.

Tomorrow night I need to travel around 60 miles in a limited space of time. Most of the roads I will be negotiating will be single carriageway in the West of Scotland and there will be times when I will need to pass cars towing caravans, lorries and even articulated lorries in some cases and I need to know I can get the speed up quickly to enable me to pass and then settle into a more comfortable speed.

Has anyone any ideas?

[Odysseus]

I’m not a RX400 owner but I do drive a similar era GS450. I’ve found you need to properly boot it (like kick-down in auto gearbox terms) to unleash the full beans. Simply flooring it isn’t enough, you need to give it a meaningful shove to the the floor to make all the progress it’s capable of.


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[SLACKBLADDER]

The car weigh approximately 2 tonnes it's a sedate luxury Suv with permanent all wheel drive so it's not going to growl past other motorists on A roads you may find a little better performance by using the power button along with turning of the traction control  or sell it and by a sc430 

[rich1068]

My method is progressive squeeze of the accelerator, you hear the V6 growl rise in pitch, it picks up its skirts and away it goes. I've never felt the need for any sort of kickdown or whatever the CVT equivalent might be. Certainly a different sort of power delivery to a turbo though.

[rich1068]

Goes well enough for me Mr Slackbladder 

[Odysseus]

...luxury Suv with permanent all wheel drive... 

I thought it was essentially front wheel drive until either full power or reduced traction at the front brought the rear electric motor into play?


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[Zotto]

E-cvt sytem in hybrid cars is made in such a way that if you need power you regulate it pressing right foot, this action does NOT work like usual throttle on engine, so let the thermal engine have high revs because there is not a friction that connects engine to wheels, all is made by hybrid synergy drive and you have to bet not fooled from high revs noise coming from engine (anyway it's impossible to make it work out of specs).

So, do you want max acceleration? Pedal totally down.

[JBPRX400h]

Never had a problem with our 400h overtaking. 50 to 70 (and beyond!) acceleration was better than most other cars. The initial sound of the high engine revs before the acceleration takes off does seem strange at first but you soon get used to it. This seems to be the thing that most auto journalists do not like and they always criticize it in the magazines.

Just be aware of the torque steer, though.

JBP

[Brian26]

Boot it. but beware the torque steer.

Bri

 

 

[rich1068]

15 hours ago, Odysseus said:

 

I thought it was essentially front wheel drive until either full power or reduced traction at the front brought the rear electric motor into play?


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You are quite right.

[Mr Vlad]

I'm assuming that the RX400h has in its menu an economy setting and a POWER setting?  For maximum acceleration you need to be in Power mode and that the Battery is at least 30% then floor the pedal and it'll shift quite quickly. I'm not sure the power difference between your car and the RX450h but my 450h effs off more than pleasingly and leaves most traffic for dead.

[rich1068]

It does not. Because the 400h is such a completely perfect vehicle it doesn't need a separate power and economy setting. By its very nature it is both powerful and economical.

[ColinBarber]

I'd check your brakes aren't sticking. Never heard of people complaining with a lack of power on the 400h.

Due to the way the transmission holds the rpm of the engine at a constant speed, acceleration can be deceptive.

[ColinBarber]

On 10/26/2018 at 3:15 PM, Mr Vlad said:

I'm assuming that the RX400h has in its menu an economy setting and a POWER setting?  For maximum acceleration you need to be in Power mode and that the battery is at least 30% then floor the pedal and it'll shift quite quickly. I'm not sure the power difference between your car and the RX450h but my 450h effs off more than pleasingly and leaves most traffic for dead.

The 400h doesn't have different power modes. Even if there are multiple modes, once you put your foot to the floor there is no difference between normal and power mode - the vehicle will give full power in both modes.

The 400h is quicker than the 450h.

[rich1068]

7 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

The 400h is quicker than the 450h.

Really? I was just mucking about? 

[Burroo 67]

Well what was I worrying about???  The car drove like a dream and by God is it powerful, best car I've ever driven - BY FAR.

Many thanks to all who contributed to this post.

[SLACKBLADDER]

Did the steel recap boots help 😁

[Burroo 67]

Didn't need them Les.  First time I've pushed the car and it was incredible for a 10.5 year old vehicle with 103K on the clock.  Fantastic drive.