My dad and I each have a GS. They're both 1998s - one GS3 and the other a GS4.

Stats on my GS300:
70k miles and I've already had the 60k service ($900 ). I have fairly new tires - Yokohama ES100s on factory 17'' rims that have maybe 5k miles on them. no engine mods.

Stats on my dad's GS400:
30k miles. Yeah. 30k miles on a 98 GS4. And he has a set of Michelin XGT Z4s on his factory 17'' rims. no engine mods.

So I drive his today and I understand how naturally- my car is supposed to be more 'worn' than his but with a 60k service about 10k miles ago i would think that my tranny wouldn't be sluggish because they drained and filled the tranny fluid and everything else. (didn't touch the torque fluid though)

Let me explain sluggish. When I accelerate and then let off the gas, my car feels like it just hit a puddle of water and you can noticeably feel like the car is not accelerating anymore. My dad's GS will keep rolling like I'm still gently pressing on the gas even after I let off the pedal.

Why???

Has anyone else experienced this when comparing a GS3 and a GS4?

Please help?

Thank you!



Clifford

 

If my 'smooth' you are not referring to how fluidly it shifts but rather that in your car the car feels like it's dragging when you let off the gas whereas his feels like it's just gliding, that sounds like it's one of two things:
-Your torque converter is not locked up at the time and his is
-Your car has not shifted into a higher (taller) gear where his has

Now being that there is a substantial difference between the torque curve of his 1UZ-FE and your 2GZ-GT, Lexus most likely programmed your car to wait until a higher RPM and higher speed before shifting to the next gear, and likewise probably programmed it to wait longer until locking up the torque converter. But whether this is the case or is the case to the extreme that you may be experiencing I can't say for sure mainly because I've never driven a GS300 before, but also because I can't see your car in person.

In my opinion the best thing to do is to find another GS300 and see if it exibits the same characteristics. If you just got 900 worth of service done at your lexus dealer, I doubt they'd mind if you explained your concern to them and either they'd let you drive another GS300 to see if it felt similar to yours, or they'd at least have a tech go on a quick test drive with you to see if it feels normal to him or not.

 

CLIFF NOTES: GS400 > GS300

 

maybe it's just the cynic in me, but i can see the dealer responding by saying, "well, why haven't you been in for the 65k and 70k service?"

 

To add to what Threxx said there is also a substantial difference in the OEM gearing of the GS400 (3:23) and the GS300 (3:91). The end result of this gearing difference (all things being equal) is that the 3:23 geared would accellerate more slowly but would have a higher top end. The 3:91 geared car would pull harder off the line but would have a lower top end speed. The 3:91 geared car would also slow down faster when not being propelled by the engine.

Not sure how much this would contribute to what you experienced, but the gearing definitely makes a difference.

 

yes the ratio is definately part of your answer my 99 300 has 39k on it and i get the same puddle like feeling when i let off it

 

That's gotta be the answer.

I checked the tires to make sure they were aligned and I pulled the e-brake a dozen times trying to figure out what the heck was wrong.

As far as the 'off the line' pull... the gs3 is really really touchy with the pedal. the gs4 is comparably pretty mushy but when you push it down, the car buckles down and just goes like a rocket. oh man- i want a gs4 so bad. i was going to buy one but my parents reminded me of how i was arrested for speeding and then said that they'd cut me a good deal on the gs3 so i bought theirs.

 

I get the same gliding into a puddle feeling off my GS300. Like has been said above, its the gearing. The GS300 gas pedal is very sensitive. The thing I hate is when I get on the gas pedal after coasting. Its like the tranny cant catch up fast enough and I Learch forward real quick.