If you read the above article you will find the following paragraph:

Under the hood there is a new V6, a 3.5-liter engine that provides 272 hp @ 6,200 rpm, which is 54 hp more than the previous engine, and 254 lb-ft of torque @ 4,700 rpm, which is an increase of 18 lb-ft. The engine features dual variable valve timing with intelligence (VVT-i), which controls both intake and exhaust cam timing, with the benefits being that there is better power, emissions, and fuel economy depending on adjustments to the valve timing (i.e., increasing or eliminating the valve overlap; advancing or retarding the closing of the intake valve). Although Toyotas have been long known for engines that run so smoothly that they’re almost imperceptible at idle, Lexus is further improving this characteristic by having a computer controlled engine mounting system. It features a fluid-filled chamber and high-power electric solenoid that imparts a direct force to counter primary engine vibration. There is also a new six-speed transmission for the ES, which replaces a five speed. This transmission is smaller than the five speed and has 20% fewer parts: another example of kaizen. Previously the transmission ECU was part of the engine control module; now the two are separate so that there can be more precise tuning of the processors. Communications between the two are via a Control Area Network (CAN) bus.

[emphasis added]

Given what some of us have experienced with the ES 350, its funny to look at what was written about the car

You can no longer say the cars are almost imperceptbile at idle (at least the ES and GS).

I think they must have left out 25% of the parts on my transmission...

 

If I didn't own an ES 350, too, I probably would've appreciated the humor in that a lot more...

 

I agree with you on the 25% reduction and have wondered myself what those parts were used for. Hiroyuki Hirata didn’t miss much. Here is a link from February 06, it includes picture taken at the opening auto show.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=200305

 

Ok, my wife swapped cars with me today, as she was bringing our dogs to the groomers and didn't want the dirty dogs in her new lexus. This was the first time I have driven it on a cold start.

I am not sure I have read enough about how to 'induce' the flare, so I might not have done what is necessary, but I tried to mimick what I watched in the videos. I have a mile or two stretch of residential area before I get to a highway, but part of that is down hill and I didn't think I had any chance of keeping it out of 4th gear that entire way, short of driving it at a crawl. So, just a few hundred feet from my driveway, I turn onto the street that goes to the highway, and accelerated at a decent rate, where it was probably shifting between 2200 and 3000 RPM (can't remember exactly) and counted the shifts up and there was no RPM bump between 3rd and 4th.

I could not accelerate hard, like what was done in the 'big flare' video, because as I said it was a residential area and I had to go past a school, but I accelerated harder than the car did in the 'small flare' video.

The car only has about 188 miles on it, so it could very well flare with more miles on it, but unless I didn't something wrong to 'induce' it, there is no flare at the moment.

It is an 11/06 build.

 

I wouldn't spend too much time trying to watch for a small flare. In fact, a lot of people here don't have this problem. If you do have the flare, it will only get worse and you will definitely know. At least you knew how to check for the flare before you bought it. Your car didn't have the flare when you test drove it right?

 

Based on my experience (waiting for my 2nd transmission to be replaced) the flair generally does not appear until somewhere between 800 to 1200 miles on the tranny.
Enjoy it while it is new and keep your fingers crossed...

 

I didn't test drive the car I bought. I put a deposit on a car that was still in transit to the dealer and waited 4 weeks for it to arrive.

 

My car was perfect when I bought it to, it wasn’t until I had 1433 miles did it show up. So there is no way to check for it before you buy the car and you’ll have to wait until you get closer to 1K to find out. Isn’t this fun, yeah not until your going though it do people understand the stress of waiting.

 

Before kingofire I and many others would have bet the farm there was no way to catch the flare on a test drive. He desribed it accurately...God's Grace....

My first ES350 it showed up only after 130 miles more or less and was not present before. And even though it did I had no certainty back then of what it was just that something unusual for a car was happening.

My second, I cold started that puppy and test drove it before signing and it did NOT flare on the test drive. The rascal waited to rear it's ugly head.


If tedn...has quite a lengthy distance of strict residential street speed limit, that is not the best means to discern it's presence or absence.

 

What is the best way?

 

Best if you can just start the car from overnight cold and drive running through to 4th without a lot of attempts to limit your shifting or speed.

Maybe try less intentionally limiting as I think you mentioned if it's possible for you to do that or wait till there is an opportunity for it.

 

Not sure what you mean by that. I didn't attempt to limit the shifting or speed. I backed out of my driveway. Put it in drive, drove less than 100 feet to a stop sign and turned onto the longer road and accelerated at an even steady pace up to about 40 mph or 45 mph, whenever it was that it shifted into 4th. This is what I wrote in my original thread:

I didn't floor it and try and achieve the 0-60 time that Car and Driver got, but then again I would NEVER do that with a cold engine.

Hence the reason I was aking what the proper way to test for the flare is, because I accelerated at a moderate pace up past the the 3rd to 4th shift and there was no flare.

 

In my experience there isn't a set "proper" way to test for the flare.
If your transmission has a problem with it, it will happen just driving normally.
I know in my case it does.

 

When I made the slow speed video, the car as specified in the factory service manual would not shift from 3rd to 4th until 31 MPH was attained.

There is no "best way" per se... It either happens or it doesn't happen, I made two videos, one going slow the other going fast and linked them below.

In my case, I found I could get the shift flare to occur 100% of the time if I started the "cold soaked" car, drove away and got the car to shift from 3 to 4 within about 3/10 of a mile.

FWIW - I played with all kinds of conditions, one of which I would hold the car in 3rd until sufficient warm up (past a point where the flare would normally occur)... Shifting to 4th still netted the flare.

Tranny/Flair/Spike - - - 2GR-FE-and-U660E.2006.11.12.LQ.wmv

2GR-FE-and-U660E.LS.LQ.wmv

 

Well, the car did shift to 4th before 3/10 of a mile past. Hopefully, it will never show up, but whenever my wife and I switch cars for a day, or we go someplace together first thing in the morning, I will watch for it.