Sandman

Good News! I just took delivery of my new 06 GS300 RWD (Non Navi/Levi) + Spoiler. Mecury Metallic/Ash. 60 miles later I'm liking this car even more. I hope to post some pictures this weekend and I plan to write more about some of my experiences and observations.

But tonight I wanted to mention that the Transmission (ECT) performs significantly more aggressively in PWR mode than in Normal mode. I have heard some mixed reviews and comments about the GS transmission. I'm wondering if the negative reviews were from tests done in the Normal mode.

In my 01 GS300 the differences between PWR and Norm were barely perceptable to me. In the 06 I think that two modes are very different. In PWR the trans downshifts very quickly with the lightest throttle blip and it seems to upshift and lock at much higher revs. But if you stomp the pedal and run it up to 4-5k RPM and then let off the throttle - even if you completely take your foot off of the throttle - I found that the transmission does not upshift immediately. 6-8 seconds later the lower gear was still being held! I commented on my review of the M35 that this was a feature of the M trans that I liked very much. This is great if you are on the highway and need to cut through a series of slower moving cars. You may pass one and then have to pause a few seconds for a window to open to get past the next one. Very nice to have the trans hold the lower gear and all you have to do is work the throttle and wheel.

Well this appears to be a feature of the GS trans as well (at least the GS300). I can't remember the particular threads, but I have read several complaints about the trans upshifting to quickly during aggressive acceleration if there is a little backoff. When I tried the same experiment in the NORM mode the trans downshifted much slower and when I let off the pedal it held the lower gear for about 1-2 seconds and then upshifted.

I didnt' try this but a few times and I plan to test it more this weekend. But I'd like to hear if anyone else can confirm this behavior.

The new GS engine/trans is amanzingly smooth IMO - almost electric.

WDYT?!?

Ps - I started off both eager for the 06 and also at the same time very reluctant to give up my 01. I can say that after a day of driving I don't think that I'm going to look back and miss my 01 very much. It was an exceptional car but the 06 will make it easy to forget.

Erick G

doesnt the ecu take a while to get used to your driving habits as well?

carminesc

they say it takes a while to get used to your habits, but even so it is much more "fun" to drive in pwr mode. i tried it for a little bit but them whimped out. what i mean is that i am waiting to drive my gs aggressively after i can get some more miles on the tranny and engine.

flipside909

ECT PWR/NORM mode simply switches the tranny shift points from normal to a much more agressive shift pattern. In PWR mode, you will notice the tranny quicker in downshifts and will hold a gear longer.

My review was with the use of ECT NORM and PWR modes during the drive. I usually switch to ECT PWR mode on my 04 IS300 E-Shift when i'm going through the twisties in a more spirited fashion, or if i want to pass some people up at a red light.

Sandman

Flipside - Do you agree that the 06 has a much wider performance variation between PWR and NORM than the Gen 2 GS? Have you noticed just how long it will hold a gear before upshifting? Maybe I'm making more out of it than I should be this seems to to be a major performance improvement.

Ps - I loved your review!

Car Freak

Question - if you floor the gas pedal, with the engine actually rev higher in PWR mode than in Normal mode? That what it sounds like a few of you are saying.

flipside909

If you floor it, it will downshift at the regular mapped sequence if in ECT NORM mode. If in ECT PWR, the throttle response will be quicker, and ultimately downshifting to the proper gear faster. So yes, if you apply the same constant amount of pedal pressure, the ECT PWR mode will hold that gear longer. In ECT NORM mode in the same condition, it will upshift to the next gear accordingly and sooner.

flipside909

There is a difference in performance that's for sure. Also for quicker acceleration, the TRAC should be disengaged. When you're trying to accellerate hard, the TRAC system will obviously be working to keep the wheels from slippage. So you will get some engine retardation and or brake pulsing to keep the rear wheels from letting loose. I haven't noticed how long it will hold the gear since ECT PWR will put the tranny in a more agressive shift pattern according to throttle position, engine speed, gear and obviously how fast you're actually going, but it definitely will hold the gear longer during acceleration.

You can tell the difference if you use the same gradual pressure applied to the accelerator and on the same stretch of road. Try it with ECT NORM and ECT PWR modes and you will see the difference in upshift/downshift response.

that_guy

Does the car feel much more "alive" when you have it on PWR mode?

flipside909

For the most part yes.

Sandman

Good points about disengaging the VSC. Thanks for the confirmation about the tranny performance. Yesterday I did just what you suggest on a particular stretch of road and the difference between PWR and NORM are quite noticable. I'm wondering if some of the people who test drove the car and didn't like the trans performance were in NORM mode (??). May be worth another test drive if this were the case.

Regarding the trans holding the gear longer - it is more that just how long it holds it before upshifting while the pedal is down. In real world driving we let off the accelerator to go around a bend, etc, and when the trans upshifts you lose that performance edge. The fact that the trans holds a gear even when you let off the pedal is real important, I think. Of course, you can do the same thing by utilizing the "Manual" mode of the tranny - but it is real nice that the Automatic can do a lot of this without intervention.

Rockville

That holding the gear was what I noticed on my first testdrive also. The test drivers must have told Lexus what they wanted and the Software engineers came up with this. Isn't it glorious? I've been wondering where you've been and can't wait to read your owner experiences. Many happy miles to you Mr. Sandman.

Sandman

Hail to the Software Engineers! Yes it is a remarkable feature!

I have been busy selling my 01 GS300 and getting ready for my 06. I was very fortunate. I signed a deal for the 06 about 10 days ago. I was thinking that it would take quite a while to get the car I wanted. 2 days after signing the deal I was informed that the car was allocated to me and was docking in Jacksonville FL! The not so good news was that I still had my 01 to sell. I went to CARMAX and the offer that they gave me was .... let's just say unacceptable. The dealer trade offer was about the same. My ad hit the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Sunday and on Monday I got my first call. The guy came and drove it and gave me my asking price. We setteled the transaction yesterday morning and 2 hours later I was driving off in my 06. Quite nice!

Thanks for your happy wishes!

Ps - I have 2 other recent threads about my new experiences. one on the Smart Access/Lighting - this was actually inspired by some of your comments about the lighting. I also have listed some miscellaneous observations that may be of interest to people. There are so many things about this car that are worthy of discussion!

flipside909

That is definitely a good suggestion.

Definitely right. The tranny is intelligent as the name implies = ECT-i (Electronically Controlled Transmission w/Intelligence). Fuzzy logic technology works!

azmike

My experience is more agressive, more power in PWR but better gas mileage in NRML.