BeverlyGS

Hey All,

I'm seriously considering the GS. My hesitation for not pulling the trigger now is the transmission. The 4gs awd has 6 cogs. I really want to see if they toss the 8 cogs in the awd for 2015. Does anybody here have experience with the 8 speed tranny that is in the rwd setups?

SW17LS

Do a search. Lots of discussion about the 8 speed transmission and not all of it is positive...

AL13NV8D3R

I test drove a 2013 GS 350 rwd with6 speed and then made a special order for 2014 GS350 with 8 speed. I been driving my 2014 GS rwd 8 speed for about 8000 miles now amd I can tell you from experiance that the 8 speed has problems deciding which gear to be on will going up hill and down hill with cruise control. When I try to pass a car on the highway I always have to manually downshift a few gears in order to pass quickly enough on the highway. These problems are non existent in the 2013 6speed models I have test driven. I borrowed my cousins 2013 Gs and can tell right away that it is more responsive and knows what gear to be in.

But the are some pluses I noticed about the 8 speed. I get around 25mpg on my daily commute but when I borrowed my cousins GS I get only 22mpg combined. This must have something to do with more gears. And the 8 speed tranny seems to shift alot smoother but shifts more often. I hope this helps.

BeverlyGS

Thats some good info. I'm looking for a smooth ride but would rather not sacrifice performance. I'll need to get behind the 6 & 8 cog transmissions. It seems like it's personal preference. Anybody care to bet they outfit all 2015 GS's with the 8 speed tranny to keep up with the Europeans?

SW17LS

They might. I personally am not in the camp where "more is better" when it comes to number of gears. The reason for all the gears is not performance, its fuel economy. Our new 2014 Jeep has an 8 speed, and while it feels better at speed than the 2011 Jeep I had with the same engine and the 5 speed, it does hunt for gears at lower speeds, and has to downshift sometimes 2 or 3 gears to get going in traffic which can be annoying.

I think a 6 speed is the sweet spot.

FastTags

Yep agreed. I hate 8sp. Horrible !! Just horrible. Manually it works fine but any other mode it sucks

SW17LS

And the only reason my 2011 Jeep felt lumpy with the 5 speed was because the gears were so tall to maximize fuel economy.

If fuel economy were not the main focus today, we'd all be driving 5 speeds and 6 speeds.

RyanC

iTrader: (1)

My understanding is the GS350 AWD did not have enough space in the engine bay to also fit the 8-speed tranny which is why it did not receive the 8-speed.

Can't find the link where I read this now unfortunately.

Anyway - unless a different smaller 8-speed or different differential for the 2014 - if space truly is the issue, I doubt the 2015 AWD will get the 8-speed. Maybe with the 2016 refresh?

SW17LS

Thats not the issue I don't think. First of all the transmission isn't in the engine bay...nor is anything having to do with the AWD system...and an 8 speed transmission isn't necessarily any larger than a 6 speed, or a 5 speed.

I think the issue was that they did not want to have to also revamp the AWD system and transfer cases to bring out the 8 speed.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I like the 8-speed based off a numbers game, but the 6-speed is perfected so well (gearing). With the 8-speed I feel a slight hesitation from a dig vs the 6AT

GSthe4th

iTrader: (1)

I love the 6AT. It's smooth and knows where to be, sometimes a bit too often as it seems to be more aggressive than the driver (me) at times (when mimicking manual T during maneuvering in sport modes). The only gripe is the average acceleration from 2-4K rpm, but I can live with that. I have no experience with the 8AT.

jjscsix

I agree with other comments here. My 2014 8 speed does not downshift fast enough, or in some cases it does not downshift enough gears - it all depends upon what speed you are going. But it should not be blamed on it being an eight speed, it's just the way Lexus set the transmission to shift through the ECU. I have a BMW with an eight speed and it shifts fine - up and down with no hesitation and it gets to the proper gear very quickly.

Ramon

There's a certain "cool" factor to having 8 ratios. In manual mode, the 8 speed is a clear favorite for me. In automatic mode, I'll echo what others have said that the 8 doesn't do as good of a job at making up it's mind, and select the proper gear when it does make up it's mind.

blacksun

Disclaimer: I haven't had any experience w/ the Lexus 8spd.

I have the 6sp AWD and it works just fine on a daily basis. However the additional MPGs in fuel economy offered by the 8spd would be really nice to have.

And I admit I do have COG envy of my buddy's 535 AWD and it's 8spd tranny.

JDR76

I find it interesting that in the 3IS threads, the 8 speed is generally regarded as being the better transmission, with the 6 speed being a compromise, but it appears to be the opposite in the GS forum. Not sure if it comes down to different programming (are they different?) or just different demographics and such, but nonetheless I find it intriguing.