Manual...anyone?

Downshifting into a corner and punching out of it is as good as sex (if the tires stick).

Just sayin'.

I did it with a paddle shifters on a rental car a few years ago, and it was just...wrong.

 

not an F1 fan I presume

 

I think F1 takes a lot more driver skill than NASCAR.

I also think it's a shame more Americans don't know how to manipulate a clutch. I'd always end up having to be a driver on deployments because few others knew how to drive a stick, and we'd always end up with Hiluxes.

 

Lame , every person I know my age can drive a manual , not that special

 

There's just something about being able to shift and hearing my engine. My first car was an automatic and it lasted 9 months the way I drive. I've had manuals ever since. Love 'em til I die.

 

The manual tranny in the Taco is perfect for me. I like to go real slow.

 

I have a 2012 6spd manual and test drove a 2015 auto in consideration of trading and actually really liked my manual more. I hate the stupid rev hang but the auto felt sluggish compared to the manual.

 

Its all about the driving experience and level of control for me. I want to shift from 4th to 6th or 5th to 2nd, I want to hold 2000rpm and 60km/h ascending or descending a hill, I want to start in 2nd gear when I'm in 4wd low. I want fast firm shifts at 6250rpm or slow smooth shifts at 1800rpm. At the end of the day I want to control it, it happens to be fun and engaging and keeps me focused on driving. I had my automatic Tacoma for 5 years, convenient yes, everything else no.

 

If I had a 100 percent highway queen that never saw dirt or a trailer or a load in the bed I would consider it. But if that was the case I would buy a car. I buy mid sized trucks to use in the desert. If you have ever truly off-roaded then there is no question as to why the manual. Pure control of Rpms at all speeds. Ever driven down a rocky jeep trail so steep your asshole grips the seat? If so then I'm guessing 99 % of you would drive the manual. It keeps you off the breaks.

 

Brakes

You can also downshift an auto to stay off the brakes , I do it all the time in snow decending steep hills

 

It's preference for me. Automatics (barring the Lexus IS F tranny) are just boring. It's an entirely different experience having direct manual control of the powertrain. I enjoy a manual transmission where as an automatic is boring.

With this said, the new dual clutch gear boxes (what F1 uses) are really a different story entirely than the standard automatic slush boxes (that contain torque converters) found on a solid 90%+ of consumer cars these days. DCT shifts are damn near instant and they will allow you to hang gears into a turn with confidence. You have 100% control. Mechanically speaking DCT's are hydraulically automated *manual transmissions* where as a standard automatic with a torque converter is completely different - the torque converter permanently connects the engine and transmission.

In short, DCTs are completely badass. For all intents and purposes they are manuals, you just don't have to press a clutch pedal with your foot.

 

You can but I have never driven an auto that would hold your speed back like a manual does in 4 low and first gear. Maybe I have not driven the right auto but there has always been a HUGE difference in holding power between every auto and manual I have driven.

 

I use 4LO in L a lot , pretty impressive how well it holds the truck back

 

I do the same with the same result ... impressed

 

Fun-to-drive is my priority and to me, manuals are way more fun ESPECIALLY off-road. I'm also a fan of the cheapness of parts, for a few hundred bucks and a few hours of work I can change the clutch or even replace a transmission myself. For example, I just searched www.car-part.com and found that a junkyard 5 miles from home has a W59 transmission with 130,000 miles for 315 bucks. To anyone spending lots of time in traffic, manual gearboxes are not the problem. You need to re-examine your life and quit flushing valuable hours of it straight down the shitter.

@nevadabugle, manual Tacomas are still decently popular here in Salt Lake City and it's not an absurd distance from Elko. I'll keep my eyes peeled...

 

Hmm..maybe I'm wrong. But when I test drover a auto Tacoma in the past I took it into a steep parking garage and tried 4 low and L. I instantly laughed at the lack of holding power compared to my Tacoma manual. So what is the point of crawl control then?

 

So manual is better for off roading

Excuse my ignorance but won't being in 1st gear downhill max your rpm's? How does 4lo help you slow down a decline? I'm asking because the last Tacoma I had I never used the 4wd shifter (95 taco 5sp mt, had a separate shifter for 4wd). I am planning on using my new Tacoma to roadtrips that include a lot of grades so it would be nice to learn how to not ride my breaks if I do go with a m/t. Thanks.

 

1st and 4LO is for extremely steep and rough roads, vehicle will crawl at like 2 mph even on a 20% grade without touching the brakes. This is critical on a loose surface where even touching the brakes may result in an uncontrolled slide. Not for highway use, for terrifying we are about to die dirt roads hanging off the side of mountains.

With an auto in 4LO the transmission torque converter is fluid coupled and thus doesn't have quite the same holding power from engine compression as a manual does that is a direct mechanical connection. In the Tacoma you can make up for this with crawl control (3rd gen) or DAC (2nd gen) which will use the ABS system to add brakes but monitor and prevent wheel slipping.

For your road trip staying off brakes in a manual is easy, just downshift to a gear in which you maintain speed without using the brakes. If you want you can even fine tune your speed by hitting the gas a little while going downhill in a low gear.

 

Having driven both I'm not convinced either way. Either for "fun" or just "functionality" sometimes the manual is better and sometimes the auto is better off road. I've been in plenty of situations where I would have much preferred the behavior of a fluid coupled torque converter in an auto. And I've been on plenty of very long rough roads where the manual was a nuisance because of so much rapid speed variation with road conditions. Of course I've also been in a few cases where the manual really shines - especially in 4LO.

The best part of a manual off road is watching a newb go over an obstacle or bump and end up in a forced oscillation with their foot on the gas pedal . The auto is much more forgiving of that error. For manual you better have the edge of your right foot braced on the side of the footwell or you'll look like a fool soon enough!

 

Thank you for the explanation!