M/T Downshift Gripe...

Driven lots of manuals over the years. This one is far from the worst, but definitely not my favorite. For a truck it's pretty much the best one I've ever driven though. Most trucks have really long throws and the gates aren't very positive, so it's easy to miss a shift or not put it all the way into a gate. With the Tacoma most of the shifts work fine for me, even quick up and down shifts, but when I first started driving it I did mistakenly put it in reverse a couple of times when trying to find first. I've also had a recurring issue where from time to time it can be very difficult to put into 1st, to the point where pushing with a lot of force doesn't even make it go in. I have to row it through the other gears before it'll go up into 1st. I think that's also why at first sometimes I would put it in reverse looking for first; I'd try to put it where I was sure first should be, it wouldn't go in, and then I'd push a little to the left and find reverse instead ... that's why I'm glad it beeps when you put it in reverse. Other than the weird first/reverse thing, that I've learned to adapt to, I haven't had any problems with the other gears.

 

Everybody misses a gear sometimes...

 

But you have to go through neutral to get from 5th down to 4th anyway.

 

I used to miss third sometimes, but I don't think I've missed a single shift since getting the TRD shifter. A huge improvement IMO.

 

So many other things I'd rather buy for the price.

 

too many rookies on this forum.

 

Read somewhere on here that your shifts become smoother when you change out your transmission fluid.

 

If the old oil has a bit of mileage on it you will. Otherwise you wont. I went from whatever the hell they put in there to redline and nothing changed, where as on my previous truck it was night and day, but I had bought that used and the oil in the trans was original from 10 years ago.

 

It's only like $300...

 

Sorry to hear about the issues people are having here. I have not had any problems with my MT or finding gears. I still need to break my muscle memory of all the way right and down for reverse. Outside of that, I have found this to be the easiest MT I have driven.. (That might be an artifact from the last MT I drove was a 1964 International Fire Truck in Yellowstone that had a 3 on the tree MT.. Yes a 1964 is still being used in 2016!

 

Last Toyota MT i had was on an FJ. Had a Nissan pickup before that and rarely missed gear ( no rev matching). Always found rev matching feature rather odd. Haven't driven MT on 3rd gen , waiting for dealer to get one in but assuming it's no different. Have mini with a 6 MT and it's the same thing with rev matching. Kinda wish they would simplify things a little. Computer gets in the way sometimes. Throws timing off. Definitely easier with shorter throw.

 

Stop trying to perform CPR on this dead thread.