I can verify this and state it surprised the [censored] out of me.
My transmission is an Aisin Warner 70L (3 speed with O/D & lockup) in a 4 cylinder Volvo. It's basically a Toyota A34D. It's 26 years and 450,000km old and apparently has lived an easy life as I'm told they only generally live 350,000km.
I recently did a switch between Maxlife & standard Castrol Dex III and noticed it significantly firmed up the shifts, but additionally it moved the shift points. Converter lockup is now about 7KM/h earlier, and I had to actually loosen off the kickdown cable to get the shift pattern close to where it was (which was lazy and economical). I can't actually get it where I like it as I've run out of adjustment.
The Maxlife was about 25 months old and was installed with a complete cooler line fluid flush. The shift performance over those 25 months was basically un-changed as I spent a long time tweaking the kickdown cable to get it where I wanted it.
I had to pull the pump out to fix a leak on one of the retaining bolts, and in the process completely drained the transmission & converter. I could not get Maxlife on the shelf, so I went with the standard Dex III.
Changing the fluid significantly altered the transmissions behaviour. I like the crisper shifts, but I'm not a fan of the altered shift points.
