chuckb

is it just me or do V6 cars always sound weird with dual exhaust?

biker

All of this could be put to rest real easy if someone just went over to the factory - those things will be coming off the assembly line in a few of weeks.

chaskim

There has always been rumors that the GS V8 would get an engine from the new LS so it could be the GS500, but I don't work for Lexus.

I thought the hybid GS would be the 400h and be 4 wheel drive??

There are just so many rumors and different engines numbers out there one can not be sure until the day they release photos.

As for the smoothness of the I6 and the V8 I think it has a little to do with the tranny programming. If you don't think your I6 is smooth you can have a dealer reprogam your tranny and it will be alot smoother but less hard shifting.

BrickHead

Lexus has already introduced the GS300 at several car shows. These vehicles have the 'GS300' emblem on them. How can Lexus offer something other than a 3.0 V6?

Kbueno

If the IS350 300hp rumor is true, you better believe that Lexus will step up the V-8. That's a corporate no-brainer...if not the first year then the next. I like where this is going, Lexus says there not in an Hp war, ...could of fooled me!

biker

The engine change could be in the middle of the MY. BMW is going to do that with the 5 series - sometime next spring they'll put in the new 258HP I6 vs. the current 225HP unit. BMW is notorious of introducing changes all along within a model year.

Lexus could do that with the GS. Have a GS 300 from intro (March) until late fall and then switch to GS350. As it is the 06 MY is going to be about 18 mo - a long time without changes.

flipside909

That's not likely because it would be pointless for Lexus to spend all that money to develop an engine and just change it to a larger displacement engine in just a couple of months. It's likely that Lexus will bump the power up of the 3.0L 3GR-FSE, but usual powertrain changes (HP or displacement changes) only come about in the 2nd or 3rd production year.

Threxx

The new V6 going into the new GS, while power-wise is not any more exciting than the 3.3L V6 found in the Camry/ES/RX/Highlander... it is a much much newer motor. Brand new very high tech design and looking at its spec sheet, it should be very sold, not to mention mod-worthy (turbo/SC) much like the old inline 6 was. The Camry motor dates back to the 1992 Camry... it's relatively aged and not much has changed except for the addition of technoligies such as vvt-i, increased displacement, etc. It's a tricked out pony, yet an old pony none the less, with most likely far less potential than the new V6.


Bingo.

An I6 is as long as a V12! That's quite an odd dimension to design around in a car that realistically only needs 8 cylinders tops.

BadAssGS3T

That new GS looks too much like an Altima AND now uses a cheaper V6 instead of the I6. If at least they had kept the I6, I might have considered taking my 2JZ GTE and dropping it in one of them to take advantage of the AWD without too much fuss...Oh well, I guess I will keep my 2002 twin turbo GS vvt-i for a while longer...gotta love the twins
PS: Anyone knows if the Japanese market is getting something with a nicer powerplant (just like they did with the Aristo V300VE that never made it to the states)?

flipside909

Just a correction. The MZ block was first used in the 1MZ-FE 94-01 Camry/ES models and not to forget the Solara, Avalon, Highlander ES300 and RX300. The 3MZ-FE was all new in 2003. Used in the lastest generation Solara V6, Camry SE V6 model and as well as the Highlander, RX330 and ES330 as of recent. 3MZ-FE is related to the 1MZ-FE by the block series...but they are two different engines but w/the same architecture and different displacement.

On that note, you can call the new 3GR-FSE motor a dated 03 4Runner V6 motor (1GR-FE 4.0L V6). The new 3GR-FSE maybe a V6 but it uses Toyota's latest technologies like Dual VVT-i and Direct Injection just to name a few. By no means the new GR series engines are flops. The JZ (1JZ & 2JZ) series engine is legendary but does not take advantage of Toyota/Lexus' direction in technology and efficiency.

Threxx

So when they did a full redesign of the camry for 92, they did not change the motor over until 94?

Yeah I know the GR is "dated" back to the 2003 4Runner V6. I have one (well... an 05, but still the same motor, different trans and other stuff). But still... that's a 9 year newer design than a 94 motor, eh? Pretty decent.

To be honest it makes me happy to see that the GR is good enough to go in the GS300... makes me feel good about the 4Runner motor since I actually ordered it with the new VVT-i i-Force but it came in wrong and we didn't bother to change the order.

flipside909

Correct. 92-93 used the cast iron 3VZ-FE v6 similar to the 3VZ-E used in the 88-95 4Runner SR5 V6 and Toyota Pickup V6 models. 1MZ-FE was used in 3rd year of production for Camry and ES. It follows the general Toyota/Lexus auto design philosophy, 5 year production, powertrain revision 3rd year, 4th year exterior/interior refresh.

flipside909

Some info from a credible source:

The 06 GS300 will go on for 18 months, then in September of 2006 a '07 GS450h is coming. Like the RX400h, the GS hybrid will be faster than it's N/A gas powered 3GR-FSE counterpart.

Threxx

So the 450h is actually gonna be a hybrid 6-cyl.

What about the possibility of the bigger/better V8 (GS450 or whatever)? Is that not going to be out until a later date as well?

flipside909

That is more likely slated for 3rd year production aka 2008. Despite the fact that Toyota filed the GS460 for trademark purposes already, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be used.