I am having a hard time seeing that, personally. This car has the 6AT because it's AWD, and while it might be a tad soft from a stop, in stop and go and low speed passing/accelerating, it will throw you into your seat with authority. Being NA and high revving, it also pulls just as hard at the top end and on the highway.
I have a '19 IS350 AWD F-Sport. It may lack the initial burst of torque that turbocharged 4 cylinder rivals have, but that's about its only downside (in my opinion, plus the fuel economy isn't the most awesome).
I like that it pulls all the way to it's near 7k redline and makes a more pleasing 6 cylinder note. This engine should be kept at 3500+ for the best acceleration, I often get the car moving along to about 3k rpm in first gear, manual and Sport S+ mode, then floor the gas. Then it will really take off with enough convincing oomph.
That said, I think that if the T24A-FTS is slated to replace the V6 (along with an updated 8 speed) and if it can be tuned to make more power than the 2GR, we're going to see a dramatically improved IS and RC in terms of 0 - 60 and instant gratification from all that torque down low.
I would miss the V6, but I think I would like a 5s / high 4s IS with (more or less) the same reliability as the current one, especially if Lexus is really planning on reworking a TNGA platform for it.
Which leads to my first question - do you think we'll see the IS and RC get redesigned onto a TNGA-N platform at some point?
. I have a bit of a hunch on this, but no proof: We all remember when the 2GR-FSE was released with the 6AT and the IS 350 was doing 0-60 in 4.8-5.1 seconds. It was a monster. As Lexus later revised the engine to 2GR-FKS and added the 8AT, we all know it got a lot softer. 0-60 increased a half second to full second from earlier IS 350s.
Since the IS 300 AWD and RC 350 AWD still use that same old 6AT, I wonder if that is why this car feels so much quicker to me and sometimes, noticeably more savage than the last IS 350 I drove. It makes me recall the recent Motor Trend review that called the IS 300 AWD a sleeper with performance that basically matched the 350.
Second question - people often deride the 6AT for being old and slow, and it is, but I have noticed that it doesn't gear hunt, it shifts fast enough in auto mode, and the manual shift speeds get much quicker if you're driving it hard. Is this the case for this RC?
And final question - I've noticed that my car will not downshift to 1st in auto mode (even in Sport S+) if I'm going at 35 kmh or faster (22 mph). If I'm making a turn at that speed, straighten the car out and then floor the pedal to get going, it'll stay in 2nd and feel kind of slow, when it really should be dropping to 1st. 34 kmh and below are fine - it'll drop to 1st no problem. I have ways to get around this with the paddle shifters, but I was wondering if Lexus had updated the tuning in newer vehicles.
