Cruise control or not?

CC is not very good on auto Toyotas. Even my 05 Tundra V8 shifted from 5th to 3rd on small inclines. But it would be able to pull those same little inclines with a trailer in top gear......

The CC is crap, but that's normal.

 

Cruise Control sucks on these trucks. Really, I think it's the transmission/motor combo. Mine has over 7k miles on it and shifts like it needs a double shot of Ritalin.

 

I concur that CC sucks in toyotas, which is why I never use it. The gf uses it in our Corolla, which has a shitty 4 speed auto, and it will downshift on hills and scream at 4500rpm until the road is flat again. Climbing the same hills without CC, it's very easy to prevent a downshift, while loosing only a few km/h.

I carpool with a couple guys who have a new Ram and Silverado, with the Hemi and the 5.3. They both use cruise and both will drop one gear on hills to maintain speed. They're still well under 3000rpm though too. A careful right foot can always get better fuel economy and prevent the annoying gear changes too. I don't get the appeal of CC honestly.

 

I love cruise control for long trips. I don't like holding my foot in the same position the entire drive.

 

I completely agree with you. I think the motor doesn't have the torque it needs with the gear ratios it has. Mine has 5k on it and shifts like crazy. I can set it on cruise and it will go through 3-4 gears at times if the road is somewhat hilly. If the road is hilly and I have cruise on I'll put it in s4 and leave it until I'm out of the hills. That helps minimize the shifting. Sad thing is in my opinion is when I'm on the highway with cruise set at 70-75 the truck rarely gets out of 4th gear.

 

Unfortunately it's normal. When in cruise control, the engine has to downshift to maintain speed when going up a hill... just stop worrying about it.

You will get better MPG's by not using cruise control and by holding a constant throttle position (this means you'll slow down when going up hill and speed up when going downhill) That's just the way it is..

 

I found my 2006 Taco's cruise control was what I'd call "too aggressive"....it would not allow the speed to drop 1 km/hr without a downshift to 4th or 3rd and tried to get back to speed ASAP. I did not like that and took it in and got the "We can't do anything" line...

This 2016 I find is not so "aggressive" because there is another gear in there... I think the guys having CC issues might also have low tranny fluid issue.

EDIT: By the way, when I checked my '06's tranny at 30,000kms... it was low about 1 1/4 liter...!!

 

Did anyone ever find a fix for this? Buddy of mine says they might be able to flash the ecu at the factory with updated settings.

 

I tried not using CC on the interstate...sometimes the truck will get stuck on 4th and simply wont shift up. I have to accelerate to 80, and ease back down to 70 in order to get an overdrive upshift, which will ony last for a minute before it starts downshifting again. These 3rd gen trucks simply dont have the torque or the power to mantain their weight on high speed highways. It fucking sucks, I bought a truck that I can't go on long trips with, which essentially was the reason I bought it. The ride is simply too uncomfortable. It's not right for a vehicle to not be able to handle 70mph in overdrive. I called corportate yesterday after the dealership told me there wasn't an ECU released for it, and I'm waiting on their call back. I waited a year for the tranny to be broken in, get the fluid levels topped off, and hope for an update, but now I'm starting to get upset about it, and I will make sure corporate knows that.

 

The one thing in this forum that I’m truly getting sick of is people complaining about the tranny. It’s a truck. Not a Prius. Screw 1 mpg because of no upshifting. It’s a truck. Not a sports car or luxury cruiser. Who cares what RPM the truck is at what ever speed you’re going. I’m quite sure the longevity of the truck can handle the higher RPMS. You’ll pay $9 gas extra per year. Turn up your radio, tape off your RPMs so you cant see and hear what it’s doing and enjoy driving it. Or go buy a Ridgeline which looks half as good but will shift just lovely. Stomp the gas and enjoy your Tacoma. The transmission will do its own thing.

 

And if anyone test drove their truck...we all felt it immediately. None of us should be surprised. We still bought it.

 

The latest ECU update transformed my truck. Get it.

 

Buyer on test drive: “the transmission feels terrible”
Dealer: “yep, lots of complaints. Tranny on the Tacoma sucks”
Buyer: “I’ll take it”
Buyer at home: “my Tacoma transmission shifts funny, can you fix it?”
Dealer: “no”
Buyer on forum: “waaaa”

 

Except they didnt let me test drive it on the highway, and the downshift jolts me back into the fucking seat. It's the most uncomfortable ride you can imagine. I'm going the speed limit too. I dont mind high rpms and bad gas mileage, but getting pushed back into my seat every 30 seconds is annoying af.

 

I went yesterday to the dealership, no ecu flash for my '17 2.7

 

Not my experience. Actually truck got worse with mileage and shifts a lot more.when they apply TsB update and clear the ECU it ran better for awhile then gets crappy again

 

This is a horrible way of thinking. "Its a truck, not a Prius"...What? there are plenty of mid-sized trucks that DONT randomly shift down two gears on a slight incline. It literally doesnt have to be like this. Its honestly absurd that Toyota created a transmission like this.

You are absolutely right, we all test drove the truck and we all bought it. That doesnt make the problem disappear, its still a problem. And talking about it in multiple threads *may* catch the eye of Toyota for future Taco updates.

 

I think that perhaps he is not experiencing the same problem quite like we are, and that's why he's being dismissive. My buddy owns a 2nd gen, he told me the rev ups were normal, until he rode with me on the highway, witnessed my issue, and told me to immediately take it back to the dealership for update.

 

The best economy is likely to be had lifting the throttle slightly on the incline and keeping the transmission locked in 6th, so long as you are not slowing enough to need to accelerate much at the top of the hill. This will, likely, infuriate drivers behind you.

1 mpg lost in a Prius is no big deal, that's like 2% or something. 1 mpg lost at 20mpg is closer to 5% loss. Driving with mpg in mind in a vehicle that doesn't do that well to begin with pays off pretty good.

 

I suppose this could be true. Mine is funny for sure. Quickly kicks down, not rando but at any slight incline. Definitely not being thrown back in seat. I have 33” tires and it pretty much won’t go into cruising gear on highway above 55 mph. I let the rpm stay above 2000 and take my 15 mpg