I've been traveling a lot in our GS lately as my son is in his last year of high school and we've been visiting several college campuses over the last year. This past spring break we traveled from our home in St. Louis to pick my son up in Peoria, Ill from a robotics competition and it was on to Xavier University in Cincinnati. I have a 2014 GS AWD with luxury package. Typically when I travel I set the cruise a tick below 80 mph and forget about it. Under rare circumstances do I push the throttle down at 80 mph. It's usually to get around a 18 wheeler who's hanging out in the left hand lane but doesn't seem to ever overtake the vehicle I thought he was trying to pass -- I wonder why they move into the left lane in the first place. When I do push the accelerated down, I never floor it -- usually about a quarter, maybe more, maybe less; My wife gets on me when I do, because she says she doesn't like being pushed back in the seat. I never noticed this feeling until she said something. But when passing situation presents itself, I began to notice the subtle pushback...maybe subtle to me because I'm hanging on to the steering wheel. So we're on HWY 155 north of Springfield, Ill on our way to pick up our son in Peoria, and I'm in the left had lane with the cruise on tick below 80 mph passing a series of cars on the right. And out of no where (and I mean out of no where), a late model Dodge Challenger is all over my *** end. So I'm one never to stay in the way of a fellow driver who wants to pass, so this time I push the accelerator down at least 3/4 quarters, and I was really surprised what happen next. I dropped that Challenger, I mean dropped him. I won't tell you what triple digit speed I obtained in the process, but when I was able to get to the right lane and let off the accelerator for a coast down, the Challenger eventually caught up and passed me like I was sitting still. The way I pulled away from him, I thought he had a V6, but to my surprised I noticed the "Hemi" emblem as he passed me. Wow I thought, I would have never guessed. I know the GS is pretty quick, but WOW. A smile came across my face...but it was short lived as now I had to face the wrath of my wife asking me what the hell I was doing.

 

I live in Peoria and was traveling along 155 yesterday to Lincoln and back. It's the only freeway around here that has decent pavement. I'll usually take an occasional cruise down to Lincoln to get gas. I saw only 2 GS's yesterday while out and about, I was in my 18 Caviar GS. I saw a silver one going north, was that you? The thing I like about having a GS around here is that you seldom see one. Now take an RX which I have also and you can't leave your house without seeing one. I just love the drastic difference between my RX and GS!

 

My is obsidian black with gray interior -- so it wasn't me. Having never been been to Peoria...what a beautiful city. Looks like a great place for boaters. We were at Bradley University for the robotics completion. Wasn't on my son's list of colleges but personally I loved the campus; Great facilities !

 

The second one I did see was black. Were you out by Lowe's and Best Buy around 4:30ish yesterday?

 

no...I this was a few weeks back in early March.

 

I'm sure the guy in the Dodge was surprised too! The GS is a bit of a sleeper car especially in a non F-Sport trim as it has excellent acceleration at the higher end of the spectrum. I can't imagine how well the GS would move if they drop the new 416hp turbo engine that recently came out with the 2018 LS.

 

Highway passing time are excellent for GS350. More important than 0-60 times!

 

I absolutely love when someone in front of me in the slower right lane with less than a car length lead puts on the blinker in a vain attempt to block me from leaving cruise on. Instead of braking, I stab the other pedal and avoid the impending congestion. I own a muscle car that will pass anything but a gas station and the GS still impresses me.

 

The car definitely packs a punch is can be a bit of a sleeper IMO. 5.5 0-60 isn't amazing, but you will leave a lot of cars on the road in the dust with that much power.

With that said, it's a great highway cruiser, quite comfortable, and has the right features. My only complaint is that I wish it got closer to 30 MPG, but I'm willing to live with that.

 

If you really want to feel the power at freeway speeds use the paddle shifter to force the engine into the lowest possible gear (basically go WOT and mash the left shifter until you hear the warning beep). I was amazed at how my GS would drop to 3rd and fly from 80 to 110+ in seconds. So fun and unexpected from a GS.

 

Great to way to destroy about eight different parts in the engine.

 

Warning beep? Does that happen you exceed a certain speed?

 

 

I think the beep is to indicate that you have selected a gear that is too low which would redline the engine, and it is prevented from engaging that gear.

 

If you want to drop the transmission to the lowest gear possible for best acceleration there is no need to downshift manually (with paddle or shifter), just floor the gas pedal and it will automatically drop to the lowest gear that provides the best acceleration. In fact, if you manually downshift you'll first have to go thru some higher gears prior to arriving at the lowest gear you are able to engage. And further, if selecting the lowest gear manually (with paddle or shifter) you could possibly engage a gear that only has a few hundred rpms higher to go (e.g. 6,000 rpms) before upshifting to the next higher gear, which would not prove beneficial for acceleration because the engine would be beyond its peak horsepower and peak torque for that particular gear you manually selected.