In town which is best D or 4

Same here , I AUTOMATICALLY put it in 4 at start up

 

I use D unless I want engine braking on a grade (although the truck will do this for me when I hit the brake most of the time), find it shifting back and forth between 4th and 5th while climbing a hill (unusual), or when off road in some situations.

I suppose I'd use 4 when towing anything significant as well, but I've never towed more than maybe 1000 lbs with the truck so at that point I don't even feel the trailer behind me and just use D.

 

4

the truck starts shifting from 4th to 5th and back again too often in stock and go traffic. Also any roads 35-45 it seems like it is always hunting, so I just keep it in 4. Looking at the ultragauge there is no big difference from 4 to D for the mileage.

 

and Bingo was his name-o

 

Supercharging eliminates this .

I find D just fine 90% of the time and it does give me a lower RPM = slightly better mileage. When towing always use 4 since it prevents the truck from hunting 4-5th on the highway which could spike the TFT. 4 also helps when there's a 65 mph head wind.

OZ-T lives in BC. I'm guessing in hilly terrain 4 would work a lot better since it eliminates one gear from the transmission hence less shifting. Better power and less jerking. Same reason that manuals are popular in Europe where the roads tend to have more rolling hills and bumps.

Almost all cars have that exact configuration for a reason . The sarcasm is strong with this thread. There's a reason most trucks got rid of the gear selections when they came up with the "tow mode" function. Only recently has gear selection become popular again because it's super easy to include on fully electronic transmissions.

I love watching people shift there automatic at the wrong time and slamming that torque converter like a red headed step child. That can't be good on the transmission.

 

Whatever floats your Tacoma... D (5th top gear) is overdrive. It won't go into 5th unless you don't need the power of lower gears... to save you $$$.

Have fun in 4th, but I will use all 5 of my gears... automatically. Isn't it great that we have the choice to pick any one of the 5 forward gears to stay at, no matter how over-rev'ed your motor is?

 

I use 2nd,3rd,and 4th around town. D on the highway.

 

I have always driving automatics the same way as my manuals, when I'm cornering, uphill, downhiill, or just need to punch it I'll always downshift it manually... Generally this just means throwing it in 4 but would do the same to 3 or 2 depending on speed. That's why these options are there!!!!

 

Why are we defending our choices of gear selection? If someone thinks 4 or D is better they aren't going to change just because. I don't think you're going to have a terribly different driving experience either way and the mpg difference is probably a few bucks a year.

Also, the "city driving" you just described is actually called aggressive driving. It's why accident rates are so high these days. Everyone has to attempt to out maneuver everyone to there destination by using the gas instead of the brake. Sounds smart right? Maybe if you're in NASCAR.

 

Now you're gonna make him defend his gear selection and driving choices

What a viscious circle this thread has become

 

Drive is fine for normal, everyday driving. If you run into problems with hunting, then of course dropping into 4th would be fine I am sure. Torque converter will lockup in 4th or 5th, so not an issue there. I always say shift to D unless there is an issue to need something else.

 

My understanding is that the TC can lock up in 4th and 5th which is likely why there is very little difference in driving around town in 4th. You can even still set the cruise in 4th (but not 3rd and lower).

Before I regeared I would leave it in 4th on the freeway just because it would be constantly jumping gears just to maintain 75 mph on flat ground with my 33's. I would pull 16-17 mpg (same as what I would get with stock tires).

I am running 4.88's now with the same 33's and run almost 3K RPM at 75 mph. My mileage didn't change. RPM doesn't really dictate fuel usage. Throttle load does. If you find yourself lugging around in 5th and having to give it more throttle to maintain speed you can actually save mileage by using less throttle in 4th gear. The catch is that sometimes it takes more throttle load to maintain 4th that it does 5th because of the higher RPM, which is the whole reason overdrive exists.

Around town the RPM difference between 4th and 5th is so small that you likely won't notice a difference in anything. I find that in order to pick up some speed my trans will head straight for 2nd gear and I haven't noticed a time difference in the trans going from 5th to 2nd vs 4th to 2nd so I just leave it in Drive and don't worry about it.

When out in the desert doing highspeed shit I put the trans in 2nd though. Because most of the time I never go fast enough to need 3rd gear (50+ mph) and it's nice to not have to wait for the trans to downshift since 2nd is usually the gear it down shifts too.

Our rockcrawling I put it right in Low when crawling and shift it up as needed when moving between obstacles.

 

Even on flat roads with the slightest depression of the gas pedal at a certain speed it will shift down to 4 anyway and hunt between the 2. I'm on 4.56s and 35s fwiw.

Mine didn't still hunted for gears unless you are implying you floor it everywhere.

 

How un-American of you. And apparently you do not know how to use the internet either. You are supposed to unreasonably and relentlessly bash anyone that has an opinion that does not align with your own. Get it right and don't let it happen again.

I use D unless I am towing, then I use 4. Or if I feel like shifting myself.

Anyone who disagrees with me, I challenge you to Mortal Kombat.

 

Highway cruising, even into the wind, my truck no longer hunts for gears. Before I S/C'd slight grades and 30 mph winds caused my transmission to hunt. Ever sense I S/C I haven't had an issue. I am on stock tires and the stock gearing, plus I have the stock bumper which makes a huge difference. Maybe your S/C isn't enough for all your extra weight or your gearing is not optimal for your tires.

 

S/c works fine, gearing ratio is a preference. I could put 4.88s and it would never hunt for gears in the city and they would be a fraction of the s/c but 4.56s work plenty for what I do.

I just think someone is full of

 

True. However each of those feels just as shitty in the cab .

 

? How so. You think I'm lying about being able to drive in a straight line without downshifting with the S/C.

I think someone is looking for , so

 

Get up to 35-40 mph, switch from 'D' to '4' and watch the tac drop (or a scangage / ultragage to be more exact), do the same thing in 'D' except give it throttle instead of switching to '4', RPMs drop the same. Not really confusing IMO.

 

Let me start from the beginning,

No it doesn't

That might be true, I've used the truck the same way in all it's forms (stock and non-stock, with and w/o a S/C) and I don't think adding a s/c changed how the transmission shifts under certain throttle inputs going between 35-45 mph in 4th and 5th gears. I might be wrong but I would gladly listen to you to try to explain to me how the truck's transmission knows you have a s/c installed. brianr me all day, you are still full of