2004 Lexus IS 300 Owners Manual - Page 260

03 07.09 STARTING AND DRIVING 5. Release the parking brake and brake pedal. Depress the accelerator pedal slowly for smooth starting. In normal cruising, the vehicle will start in the first gear and automatically shift up to the most suitable gear. On inclines, declines or winding roads, etc., the vehicle shifts up and down automatically according to the running conditions to obtain the suitable driving power and engine braking. When the lever is in "3" position, the automatic transmission system will select the most suitable gear for the running conditions such as hill climbing, hard towing, etc. If you need to accelerate rapidly while driving, depress the accelerator pedal to the full throttle position. This provides more acceleration by automatically downshifting the transmission to the next lower gear or beyond, depending on the vehicle speed. If engine braking is needed, such as in descending a long hill, see "(c) Using engine braking". " 1 "M" position When the selector lever is put in the "M" position, the M MODE indicator is shown on the instrument cluster. (b) Driving in M mode If the change lever is shifted to M position, the shift range position can be switched over between 5 and 2 using the shift switch on the steering wheel instead of operating the change lever. The first shift range position is on 5 when the change lever is shifted to M position. SV31024 241