A transmission question, Auto or 6 speed

It may be due to the manual needing one more shift. 3rd gear in the auto is good for 93 mph at redline.

5500 rpm / 1.40 3rd gear ratio / 3.727 final drive x 60 min/hr / 680 revs/mile = 93 mph

 

The truck is for hunting/camping applications. Plus I didn't want a midsize truck with a soon to be family of 4. Not enough room. It'll mostly be a mall crawler, but I'm going to be doing some "offroading" if you will. I live in GA there aren't those things called rocks here.

 

It has to do with several factors, but a big one is shift speeds. The fastest manual clutch-shift-declutch-throttle in the world can't keep up with the shift speeds on modern automatics. 20 years ago you could outshift a slushbox, but it's simply no longer the case. The average manual gear change eats up half a second. That means that on a run to 60MPH you're spending 1.5 seconds off the throttle (assuming you shift three times to keep the engine in the power band and un-blown), which affects your times. Most of the automatics in vehicles these days shift in about 1/4-1/3 of a second (the newer UHP cars can rip off shifts in less than a 10th; the newest Ferraris are down around .05 seconds, but they're using the new dry clutch automated manuals). Plus, the auto only has to shift twice to hit 60.
So, the automatic in the Tacoma, on a run to 60mph, only wastes about 1/2-2/3rds of a second off the throttle making shifts, whereas the manual-transmission version of the exact same truck is going to be spending closer to 1.5 seconds making shifts. Essentially, that works out to the manual transmission spending a full second longer off the power, which is definitely going to make a big difference in an sub-8 second run to 60.

 

Also, in answer to your question ("what happens after 60?"):


"Originally Posted by KenLyns View Post
The auto is half a second faster to 60 mph and in the 1/4 mile according to Car and Driver testing:

Car and Driver 2005 DCLB V6 auto 4x4
0-60 mph: 6.9 sec, 1/4 mile: 15.6 sec @ 87 mph
http://media.caranddriver.com/files/...initial-ts.pdf

Car and Driver 2005 DCSB V6 manual 4x4
0-60 mph: 7.4 sec, 1/4 mile: 16.1 sec @ 87 mph
http://media.caranddriver.com/files/...-v-6-specs.pdf"

 

Thats the answer i was looking for. thank you.

 

What all differences are there between the Tacoma auto and the auto found in the 4.7 4runner and Tundra. Because the 4.7 Tundra was rated to tow 8200 lbs which would mean the Tacoma auto is pretty strong.