Mike_TX

There are a couple of things about the 8spd tranny in the LS that annoy me.

- One is that when you toe the accelerator for a little squirt of power to get around slower traffic, the transmission hangs on the lower gear for a while, making you look like Robbie Racer to your passengers. "Gun it, Robbie!"

I'd like for the transmission to act more civilized and quickly upshift once you're through with the lower gear. Every other transmission I've had (except for the same tranny in my IS350) did that.

- The second is that there's a big flat spot around 35-40 mph, where if you need that squirt of power mentioned above, you mash the accelerator and nothing really happens. It's like stepping on mashed potatoes. To get a downshift, you really have to stab it and then you're Robbie Racer again. "Go, Robbie!"


It seems to me if you're going to drive this thing smoothly, you have to drive it sedately, like you're someone's chauffeur and you don't want to spill Master's champagne back there in the passenger cabin. that's just not practical (and not even fun!).

I like what the 8spd does for gas mileage on the open road, but in town it's kinda sucky. Anyone else agree?

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Johnny

You probably need to get this TSB done...

TC009-07: 07 LS 460/460L

FisforFast

I find that the 8-speed automatic is a bit more civilized in city driving if you keep it in manual mode and hang onto the gears. For some reason it always wants to seek the higher gear, but I am not getting the sluggishness you're getting when trying to downshift. The power always seems to be at my fingertips - or toetips, rather.

Helmar

I've mentioned this "Downshift lag" problem several times in previous posts about my LS430.

I suspect that this lag is intentional by Lexus to "Smooth out" the ride, at the expense of the power burst we're looking for.

This can be especially dangerous when trying to merge with traffic on a freeway on-ramp and several times caused me to abort my attempt.

The CVT on my LS600hL exhibits this behavior much less frequently, although I did experience it one time.

HBH

Mike_TX

Thanks, Burnaby - but mine is an '08 and the problem really isn't the hesitation from a start.

I've mentioned this to my service advisor, and they've suposedly checked it out. They tell me the car is working fine and has shown no trouble codes, etc. It's just set up to upshift as quickly as possible (for EPA and mileage reasons, I'm sure), and the business of hanging on to gears after downshifts is just the nature of this transmission.

In fact, they like to say it makes the car sportier because it holds the gear longer in case you're going zoom-zoom and might be punching it again.

When I drive my wife's car (an '09 Acura TL), it's always a revelation to me to see how responsive it is, and how quickly it downshifts and then quickly upshifts and settles down again when you're finished making your maneuver.

Can't have everything, I guess.

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Bobwon

Sometimes it seems to spend too much time shifting and not enough accelerating. Maybe more gears is not better.

bruceko

totally agree about the lag and the shift.
Every morning drive over a very long steep hill.
At 40 mph it likes to run at about 1400 rpm then it shfts to a higher gear and litterally lugs the engine at about 1000 rpm. got to give it more pedal to get it going smooth.

JTS09

Gee, never really experienced this complaint, though I do have some others. Do not like the programmed in Drive by Wire Throttle Delay when you do punch it off the line. I am sure Lexus programmed it in to smooth out the acceleration curve. I have gotten in the mode of manually shifting the car most of the time, as I like to hunt for the strongest gear at every speed. So used to it now that I barely think about it.
It is a huge advantage when I want a strong punch down the road to pass traffic. When I'm in regular Auto Mode, the car seems to shift appropriately, for a car of this size and weight. Anyway, manually stirring the gears saves my brakes quite a bit of wear as I manually downshift from speed to almost a stop, and don't need the brakes till the last moment. Had the vehicle in for service recently at 25K miles, and the brake wear is almost non-existant. I'm sure this habit is my unique quirk though as I'm kind of a performance enthusiast . J.

Nospinzone

....I manually downshift from speed to almost a stop....

J, I know some people do that (and I've always downshifted a manual transmission), but I've read from other sources that it puts undue stress on an auto tranny. The rule of thumb was that brake linings were much cheaper than to rebuild a transmission.

That was the thinking many years ago. This might not hold true today, but I'm not going to chance it.

I might have done it if I had paddle shifters, but not with a console shifter. I've toyed with the idea of selling this car to get a Maserati Quattroporte. That's a car I would be shifting. The problem I have with the Maserati is reliability, lack of radar cruise control, backup camera, and on and on and on and ............

jlawr

Try this TSIB:

Johnny

25 Hours R&R cylinder heads. Pretty serious stuff...

jlawr

...or maybe just an ECU software update.

Mike_TX

Thanks! I'm due for an oil change and I'll mention this to them.

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Bill Dowd

I drive an old LS400 and will be moving to a LS460 like the guy said above use your brakes not the trans or get ready to spend from 3000.00 to 4000.00 for a tranny replacement I have pushed the lexus tranny about 400,000 + miles and still going strong. I have a friend who went 600,000+ miles on a 90 LS 400 and had the same trans so use the brakes or get ready to empty your wallet.

MythBuster

I always use the manual shift for breaking. I feel because of the downshift lag and the weight of the car I feel more comfortable using manual shift to slow it down.