learning about the engine in GS
 

Is there a resource to learn more about the engine in the GS 350? A few basic questions - is it the same basic engine as the ES 350, and how was it tweaked to get more horsepower? Is the engine a reliable design, in the lexus tradition, and is it a new design? I have previously owned a few BMWs, and I found their inline-6 to be very reliable, along with a 8 cylinder. I can't say the same for the rest of their cars.

As far as the engine itself, is it ever really necessary to check oil, coolant, etc - as a gauge lite would go on if there was a problem presumably? I was getting gas and someone asked me if I wanted to check them, but I didn't think that was necessary at all for a modern car.

Thanks so much. S

Do not know much about the GS350 DI engine but had a 7 series with V8 and I pray I don't have same problems! I think the BMW straight 6 is an excellent engine.

The ES350 is the 2GR-FE and the GS350's is the 2GR-FSE. They are the same engine the the GS350's engine has direct injection which would explain the horsepower bump. And no theres no need to visually check. If you do your own oil changes then yeah I suppose you can pop the radiator cap off or the coolant reservoir but theres no need to this isnt a BMW.

Some additional sources of information for reliability are JD Power and Consumer Reports. Check then out and you'll see that overall the GS is quite reliable.

The engine has been used in the GS since late 2005. I would say that it is overdue for a refresh, as opposed to being "new". It is a very good engine. No complaints here, other than wishing for more horses. Very reliable.

In my opinion it is a very good engine, but the turbo engines are the way to go right now. I have owned a few turbo engines over many years and I never thought I would say that. But today's turbo engines really do offer a lot of "free lunch". Low and mid range torque and gas mileage.

But we have to remember what Toyota/Lexus believes is their competitive edge. That is reliability at the expense of top of the line performance. It's a niche that sells an enormous amount of cars for the company (meaning Toyotas and Lexus). Lexus is not coming out with the latest and greatest Turbo technology until they feel it is proven to meet their reliability and refinement standards. But I think they are getting close with some upcoming turbos.

Not exactly. The first engine used in the last generation GS was not the DI engine. It was a 245 hp engine.

You might want to check out some Hyundai owners' gas mileage experiences with their direct injection 2.0T turboed 4-cyl engine (276hp) found in Sonata, Santa Fe Sport, etc. Small turbos post great mileage when run at low rpm (no/low boost gas-sipping 4-cyl), but they are HOGS at speed and when given normal acceleration inputs (high boost gas-guzzling MONSTER). The cratering in fuel efficiency shocks and dismays MANY small turbo owners as you'll see on the Hyundai forums. Watch out what you wish for...

PM sent from robert1408

I don't see how that would shock anyone. The entire idea behind force induction is to cram as much fuel and oxygen as possible so you can create more power. Where the fuel savings comes in is that the majority of the time people will be driving normally and not using any boost so they can claim their high MPG rating. But as soon as you start boosting that rating goes out the window. My last car had a supercharger in it. When I was boosting, I would get like 10MPG. LOL

Hyundai must be experiencing problems not seen by turbo charged 4 cyl European engines. Most of those run great and have good gas stats.

Name one of these cars. Every single car I know that boosts will suffer dramatic gas mileage drops when you are boosting. That's what boosting does. Even a normally aspirated car, if you are driving it hard all the time, you won't be seeing good gas mileage.

My last car ranged from 12MPG to 25MPG depending on how hard I drive and if it's city or highway cruising.

My understanding is that fuel economy numbers are generated by testing regimes using artificially low acceleration rates. As you point out, small-displacement turbos are gas-sippers when you're not into the pedal, so they post pretty impressive mileage numbers. Then, you get the thing home and drive normally (merging onto freeways, keeping up with traffic from stoplights, and going up hills) where you need fair amounts of acceleration. The turbo spins up and the fuel begin to gush. As I said, LOTS of folks are unpleasantly surprised by the average gas mileage numbers their little 2-liter turbo puts up in everyday use. We'll be dealing with this in short order as all the manufacturers try whatever they can to comply with the draconian CAFE standards. Eventually, once all the easy (non)fixes, like turbos, are done, they'll start dropping weight and engine loads by de-contenting. Can't wait...

For any members interested, I have a 12 page PDF that goes into great detail about this engine. It was written by the Toyota people who developed this engine. It's very technical and informative. Unfortunately I'm an old technophobe so I have no idea how to post it here. I have it as an email attachment and would be happy to forward it to anyone interested who wants to PM me with an email address to send it to. Maybe someone here would like to post the file here.

I agree w/ everything you wrote except for the "de-contenting". Maybe we have different visions on what de-contenting looks like. I only see manufacturers adding more crap-tastic gadgets and features to cars going forward. (self-driving = :thumbdn:)

To meet CAFE standards, I'm predicting more hybrids (possibly combined w/ turbo engines) and electrics going forward. Hopefully there will be a significant improvement in battery tech (or some other power storage technology) that will help make them more viable.