6 Speed Manual or Auto Transmission ?

Looking at buying a 4 door 2nd Gen. Taco.

Need a bigger truck for growing family.

Have a 1st Gen with the V6 5 speed. Love it, fun to drive. Just need more room.

I would want a manual, but have read several issues with the 6 speeds.
Especially in the first few years, 05-06?

 

Whichever one you want

 

Unless you just love stirring the stick there is no practical reason to buy one.

 

I use my truck for everything: in town, long highway, towing good size trailers, ranch work, and offroad.

I have the 6 spd, and I generally prefer manuals, but I would choose the auto. The gearing in the 6 was not well considered. The reverse gear is way too high and the gear splits must have been designed for some other vehicle. Trying to maneuver a trailer is an exercise in frustration. The throw from the shifter is long and vague. I had to install a short shifter and build an offset to position it closer to me. After going to 4:56 gears and installing a twin stick FJ T-case, the manual is usable for me. Otherwise, I would have sold the truck a long time ago.

The synchros are extremely senisitive to the lubricant used. If you do buy a 6, dump the oil and replace it with Redline MT-90. Nothing else. Oil changes every 30- 40K. Otherwise you will be working the syhchros hard, possibly having shifting problems, and eventually buying a new transmission.

I have a 146K on mine now with no problems, but I would not buy another Toyota truck with a manual transmission.

 

The reality is that all across the auto industry, manual trannies are going away. In the car world there are lots of autos that will allow you to shift yourself if that's your bag. And of course you can do that with the Taco Auto. In the truck world, if they include the option for a stick (with manual clutch) it's typically not as good as an auto. Look at what happens to GVWR on a truck with tow package between manual and auto.

The new automatics have no efficiency penalty. When I bought my T100, the auto got like 2-3 mpg less than the stick. On the 2nd Gen Taco the window sticker MPG was higher than the stick, and much of that I think is because the auto will upshift to keep rpms below 1200 when just rolling on flat ground up to about 40 mph. I get amazing mileage. Over 20 unless I'm doing a lot of 75+ mph driving or lots of 4-wheeling.

20 years ago I went from a '93 2wd Toyota pickup 22RE stick which was a natural with a manual to T100 3.4, a much heavier vehicle, with a manual. Trying to accelerate that T100 quickly was tough. I could shift the little hilux like it was a 70s Camaro, not so much the T100. The latter had much more power-to-weight, but shifting fast was difficult. It was a tough transmission though. I hauled a 4400 lb trailer with it, and at 180K miles the original clutch was just fine. The 4th gear syncro was getting a little slow, but the whole thing handled whatever I threw at it.

For the 2nd Gen Taco 4.0 the auto is the better choice unless you just love rowing that stick. Tougher transmission, better efficiency.

 

if you are looking at a double cab long bed we can end the conversation now... they didnt make that config with a manual.

DCSB, still get the auto, you hardly ever see issues here on the forums about the auto, and if you do its due to low fluid. Manuals.... shitty shifting, shitty gearing, TOB issues, clutches frying etc etc, not to mention better MPG's with the auto due to taller OD gear.

 

I have the 6 speed. I prefer driving a manual for many reasons. Having said that... If I had to replace my truck, I'd get an auto for a combination of the reasons above. I've had no mechanical issues with my manual, but I need to regear to make it suit my uses - reverse and first are way too tall.

 

I am a manual guy but was forced into an auto as I wanted a DCLB. I miss driving a manual but the auto is easy to drive. Unlike the gen 3 auto.

 

The 2nd gen RA60 gear ratios are wonky, like @badger mentions.

I didn't realize this when I bought my truck and figured it out when I noticed it (1) doesn't really have a deep O/D and (b) needs to be in 5th more on mild speed (50ish) 2 lane and that sort of thing. It's because 5th is the 1:1 slot when it's always been 4th since Moses learned to drive a stick shift. Toyota rectified this on the RC62F in the 3rd gen, 4th is 1:1 and both 5th and 6th are overdrive.

That said, they'll have to take the stick shift from my cold dead hands. My long term plan is to get a manual from a 3rd gen eventually, when they start showing up in junkyards.

I will wholeheartedly second the recommendation to use MT90 in them. They really like it.

But this morning, what really pisses me off is the lack of a damned t-case shifter. That to me is a crime worthy of bamboo shoots under someone's finger nails. Ugh.

 

Thank guys. I knew most of the issues. Just wanted to get more feed back from people that have or have had them.

My DD is a 14' F150, obviously with an auto.

Really wanted a manual for the "fun truck". But with all the issues and feedback I'am getting. It sounds like the auto is the way to go....

 

Should mention, though, that with a family I can see an argument for an automatic. My lovely wife tolerates the juggling act but I would be worried about spilling beer on your kid's car seat if you needed to downshift to make it through a red light quickly.

 

Solution - get a sippy cup for your kid to drink their beer from.

 

Go with your gut...bought a brand new 2015 auto because of all the negatives and traded it for a 2014 6 speed...


Youre welcome to drive mine and see if you like it if youre near nc. In fact mines for sale, i want another gen 1 extended cab

 

Manual are fun to drive but the modern A/Ts will now get better mileage. I went from 35 years of driving a stick and will never go back on my daily driver. It's so nice to be able to have that extra hand once in awhile. I also think A/Ts are more convienient for off-roading. It just takes one clutch job by a mechanic to make the cost of an A/T better. On a sports car a manual would be the way to go. At my age I'm now preferring an A/T.

 

I drove manuals for years and always thought they were superior to autos. That was until I bought my first auto and realized how much better it was in mud, snow, & sand. The only off road condition that I found where the manual might have an edge was hill climbing. Now if you are buying a Gen3, which I will not, the choice would be harder.

 

I don't know how to drive an Automatic and I don't want to learn!

 

I have never owned an Automatic anything, really have no desire, on my 3rd Tacoma Manual and never had any issues.

 

I've got a 3rd gen 4runner (same 5-speed as the 1st gen tacoma) and a 6-speed Tacoma - Absolutely love the old R150F, but the Tacoma 6-speed is not in the same ballpark. As others have mentioned it's very sensitive to lubricant, but it's also sensitive to exactly WHEN you shift it, how fast you shift, whether you're going over bumps or not, etc etc etc. If you do it wrong, which is very easy to do, you'll get a very notchy shift. I'm a manual guy, but for this application, I'd take the auto.