Every once in awhile ill notice a late shift in the transmission, these cars adjust to driving styles most of the time i drive aggressive so in some instances when im taking it easy i notice that ill get a late shift or down shift un expectedly. Anyone else have this issue?

 

I havent had that issue but I remember when I first got the car I floored it and the car hit the limiter while in automatic ( non sport) mode. It did that twice

 

Yep this happens to mine all the time. It seems hesitant to upshift or downshift at sometimes unless I stop accelerating or remove my leg from the pedal. Depends on individuals driving style I guess.

 

mine does this as well...helps to save the brakes.

 

Nada, I've never fooled around with it.

 

Just curious - I bought the GS after more than 30 years driving manual transmission cars .Old habits die hard - I shift down through the gears when slowing down or coming to a stop. In discussing this with others, opinions ranged from 'no harm done, it's why they included the sport mode', to 'you're killing the transmission'.
Any knowledgeable opinions would be welcomed.
Thanks.

 

of course you are putting more than necessary wear on the tranny. this is an auto tranny, not manual. with manual, when you down shift, you rev match before you engage the clutch again, both to smooth out the transition and also reduce wear.

but when you downshift in the auto, you are not rev matching at all (at least not on the 3gs), so you are just forcing it down, that's definitely more wear on the tranny.

 

There is more wear going up a hill with the car hunting for a gear in auto as the grade changes...that puts way more wear on the transmission than going down a hill in the same gear.
Realistically, hard accelerations put the most wear on the transmission than anything else. So downshifting to a safe RPM range puts no added wear compared to regular driving.

 

compared to just using brakes? i am sure it's definitely added wear. well that's my believe anyway, i don't believe it will kill the tranny next day, but it's definitely not "free" and i don't really see the point

 

Riding your brakes down a very steep hill is asking for warped rotors and brake failure if the descent is really really long. Give it a try and you will see how they become less and less effective the longer you ride them.
Either way, almost all automatics will downshift when you let go of the gas and use engine braking/downshift. The GS does this along with my other car.
I only use engine braking on the highway on my other car, since its really effective and automatic when I let go of the gas. The GS is a bit less aggressive when it comes to engine braking.

 

oh, sorry if i misunderstood you. i completely agree with you, on downgrade always down shift rather than just keep on braking. i know very well, i have big wheels and also why i have bbk on all my cars.

but that's pretty different from down shifting when coming to a stop as Bavaria mentioned though. that's like coming to a red line, getting off freeways, etc... in those cases i don't think down shift is a good idea

 

Oh, sorry, I thought you meant *any* downshifting/engine braking is going to cause lots of wear and tear from your post. I didn't realized you were only referring to coming to stops. I would have to agree downshifting to a high RPM range to slow the car down quickly is bad. I let it go to 3.5k RPM max when going down hills and hit the brakes from time to time to slow down.

 

yes, we are definitely on the same page now. there are times where engine braking is very much needed as you describe, other time, just let brakes do their job

 

Nick, mine is identical to yours. I have a 07' GS350 AWD.

 

I find the engine braking on mine a bit too intrusive sometimes. But, again, I've been driving a standard car for the past 5 years before getting the GS. I find I like to keep my foot resting on the gas pedal for when I just want to coast otherwise the engine braking is just too much. I guess I could learn to use the neutral gear but it just seems unnatural on an automatic to keep shifting in and out of neutral.