Figured I’d start a thread about the transmission in the 500 since it seems to be a hot-button issue around the web.

I’ve had my car for a couple of weeks, and I’m just at around 500 miles. Not sure what my opinion is yet…the shifts are fine….nothing special in any drive mode. The throttle has a decent delay…floor it and it take a bit to punch it. I’m not sure how people would get a 4.4 0-60 time or whatever. It feels like it’s hunting way too many gears down low.

Manual mode with the paddle shifters works pretty well. I hardly ever use it though.

Does the transmission take a bit to break in, like the engine? It “learns” from your driving patterns, right? Will it be more responsive the more I drive it?

What’s the sweet spot for aggressive driving? Sport S+? Doesn’t seem like a huge difference over Sport S.

I definitely don’t hate it, but I kinda wish is had more gears, or maybe a DCT. It’s perfectly fine. Anybody else want to chime in?

 

That is the characteristic of this 8 speed auto trans. The first 621 miles (1,000 km) is the recommended factory break-in period. Sport S & Sport S+ mode have the same throttle/transmission shift characteristics so it will not have any difference in throttle feel or accelleration. Sport S+ changes the steering to be a little heavier and the suspension dampening to be stiffer. My 2020 RC F behaves the exact same like it did in my 2009 IS F and the 2022 IS 500 F SPORT Performance. Unfortunately the gearing in the AA80E 8AT is not the fastest out there unless you're in Manual Mode and manual shifting with the column shifter or paddles. The best transmission mated to the 2UR-GSE V8 is the LC 500's AGA0E 10 speed transmission. In Sport S or Sport S+ and Auto-mode on the LC, the transmission with blip the throttle before the downshift in hard braking, the IS F, GS F, RC F and IS 500 unfortunately do not do this.

 

thanks for the words! Was hoping to get some opinions

One other thing I’ve noticed is that the transmission holds gears when I’m coming to a stop. Like the rpms are still too high when I’m slowing down. Then it shifts down abruptly all of a sudden…is that normal? Hard to explain.

 

^^ To be honest, I know exactly what you are describing and have experienced something similar with my IS 350 (and my RC 350) with the 6 speed (AWD). I am not sure if it designed that way or just that at time, the software gets a little confused. I would have never been able to describe it but reading your words, I knew exactly what you meant and was like "yes! I know what he is talking about"!

 

Huh? In this video, you can clearly see the throttle is blipped during down shifts several times.


I will say, it's a quirky transmission. It really seems to only deliver the max performance it can if the driver is asking 100% from the car. Unfortunately, in the 350, it seems like I need to be absolutely standing on the brakes before it'll blip downshifts - but, it has done it a few times for me in mountain-road driving. In more casual spirited driving, nope.

 

He's in manual mode paddle shifting, not full auto. The kid in this video reviewing this car isn't well versed with these transmissions as he was complaining how slow the up and downshifts were on a different post and the FB group page. The GA-I is programmed to blip the throttle on the downshift on hard deceleration just like if you were to heel-toe in a manual transmission. Ever drive an FRS/86, GR Supra or LC 500 in Sport and full auto mode hard? Your 330i M Sport should have the same tranny logic as the GR Supra.

 

Yes, and it shouldn't matter which one he's in.

I'm familiar with what a blipped downshift is, and I have described the scenarios in which the trans in the IS 350 will do it above. Yeah, the ZF in our 330i as well as the DSG in my former VW cars would always blip downshifts in manual mode. I've driven plenty of cars that will do this - Porsche Boxster with PDK, heck, even the Camaro SS with the 10-speed would do that in Sport mode. The IS, whether 500 or 350, is weird about when it decides to blip downshifts. However, from my drive in an RC F and also the numerous videos I've seen, the 500 should be a little better about giving us the rev-matched downshifts than the 350.

edit: In fact, I recall my 2016 IS 300 AWD would also automatically downshift sometimes in auto if I was in Sport and giving it really hard braking.

 

I get this every 1 in 10 stops

 

Sorry but I have to disagree with you and it actually does matter what mode you're in. If you're in full auto mode, It will downshift but not with a prominent rev matched throttle blip like the LC 500, FR-S/86 and GR Supra. If you're in manual mode, it will blip the throttle on the downshift in a decelerating condition thanks to the lockup torque converter. The IS 350 has the AAE81E transmission which is not the same as the AA80E found in the V8 variants.

My experience is with my own 2020 RC F which I drive pretty hard on weekend drives, the 2022 IS 500's AA80E transmission and logic is the same from the 2020+ RC F. My experience is from extensive track time with the IS F, RC F, GS F, LC 500, (and previously owned a 2009 IS F, 2011 IS 350 F SPORT) not watching YouTube videos. The LC 500 has the best transmission for the 2UR-GSE, and would be superior with an auxiliary transmission cooler.

 

We are probably saying the same thing then. lol

Good to know it's the same as the RC F - which is what I hoped for based on the rest of the drivetrain being identical to the RC F.

 

It’s definitely not DCT caliber. I’m coming from a 2018 M3 and it’s a pretty big difference in shift times…

The V8 noise makes up for it.

 

Definitely not a DCT, and for everyday driving, I'm happy about that. There's a reason BMW went back to a very good auto trans. For an 8-speed auto, I think it shifts fine.

 

Pretty sure Lexus will make some adjustments/enhancements to the 8AT (at least from the software aspect) in the 2023 model year, if they still offer IS500 next year.

 

I mean, I will say, the ZF 8 speed in our 330i is amazing. It shifts very quickly, has minimal lag from the paddles, and is butter smooth in normal everyday driving - for the most part. My one gripe with it is that sometimes decelerating can be a little lumpy. The downshifts seem to buck the car a little more than they should even when left in auto mode. But, that could also be due to the brake pedal being weirdly overboosted in the car... so making minor adjustments while slowing down is difficult to do smoothly for the driver. But other than that one idiosyncrasy, it's wonderful.

I seem to remember the 8-speed in the F feeling largely similar to the one in the 350... unless I'm really giving it some throttle. Then, it becomes obvious it can shift somewhat more quickly than the 350's trans. For daily driving I really do like the one in the 350, but it doesn't feel sporty like a DCT does. When I had my GTI, it felt like it was ready to go all the time thanks to that DCT, even if I was driving relatively calmly. However, with the 350, even though it feels a bit slushy in normal driving, it does actually shift pretty crisply when using the paddles and at full throttle. What's weird is that it seems to shift the fastest when I short shift... i.e., if I shift from third to fourth at 6000 RPM instead of going all the way to 6600, it is noticeably quicker to shift, which I find very odd. The trans in the F doesn't seem to have this weird quality.

 

So I was doing some spirited driving and decided to try leaving the car in Sport mode, automatic. I normally use the paddles. I found that it WILL absolutely auto-downshift if I brake hard. By hard, I mean at least 60% braking force, maybe closer to 75%. When I braked hard enough and carried enough speed through turns it seemed to refuse to upshift before about 6000 RPM and continued to automatically downshift each time I got to a turn. It was a nice surprise - but honestly, I don't plan to use that much of the brakes on my average drive. I wonder if the trans in the IS 500 is the same way?