6 Speed Manual or Auto Transmission ?

My mom has an FJ with the 6speed and 238k miles. Its been a great car, yes you have problems like the TOB chirping and you have to change out the clutch eventually. But in the long run, a manual should be easier and cheaper to maintain, and it should last longer, especially if towing. A 6spd taco is in my near future.. especially after seeing how the 6spd in the fj has held up

 

Modern autos are proven to be more durable when towing

 

My taco is about 6000 pounds with load E 33" tires. I average 17-18 mpg tanks on summer fuel, and I drive a lot. I don't know of any autos that are touching those mpgs with heavy tires and a bunch of weight.

With winter fuel, I drop to 16.5 mpgs.

 

I like the 6 speed dumped the stock shifter years ago, Shortened and got rid of the sloppy rubber inserts that die quickly...I have run MT90 red line in it since it was new...no problems with shifting or noise, ratios are a little off i got bigger tires a little more no issues...

 

This past summer I traded in my 05 AT for a 2015 MT and basically had to re-teach myself how to drive a manual again. I think because of this I've gotten really used to it and only have the one issue with the manual. That is, the creaky screen door sound that comes from my clutch peddle. Other than that it's been splendid to drive.

 

What do you have on that thing to add almost 2000 lbs?

 

Theres a tsb fir that, toyota replaced my clutch pedal and master cylinder

 

High rise fiberglass topper, wood sleeping frame, recovery gear and rigging for my forestry business, winch with wire rope, lots of tools, bolt on sliders, skids. Hell, my tires are 60 pounds each - plus the weight of the steel wheels. The majority of my tanks in the summer average higher than 18 mpg, but highway trips bring the average down. Driving over 60 mph brings my mpgs down, 75-80 gets me around 16 mpg with our mountains. Towing with a loaded trailer brings me to around 15, but I don't do highway trips with all that weight and a loaded trailer, that's just local travel for work.

 

The third gen manual felt pretty nice to drive. Of course you have way less low-end torque but the shifts were crisp and not at all notchy. I wish my '13 auto had a gear between 4th and OD like the gen 3's do. As soon as you downshift out of top gear you are sucking fuel at 3,000 RPM (this would be in 4th at highway speeds).
I live in Wyoming where speed limits are 75-85 MPH. Going 60 MPH just really isn't in the cards unless you're towing.

 

I do think manuals are going away, which is sad to me. A well designed manual does offer some alternatives to an auto. The 6 spd manual used in the Tacoma has been used in other vehicles, and I believe they were all cars. There is no true overdrive, nor is there a granny gear. Hard to believe with six gears to work with. My guess is that it was lifted straight over to the Tacoma with zero thought to engineering for a truck. I guess they wanted to fill that niche, but they should have just eliminated it, if they weren't going to do it right (IMO).

 

I think a granny gear would be ideal!

 

I got mine by adding a twin stick FJ transfer case. I can access reverse LO, and first gear LO in 2WD. Makes a huge difference.

 

The soon-to-come plug and play 2wd low mod will be great for us who aren't ready to make that level of commitment.

 

Ive had both on the 2nd gen. Auto is definitely better on the Tacoma.

 

Can you elaborate on this mod 58 Siesta? Intrigued.

 

Manual.
I speak from experience with multiple vehicles owned.
If you get the auto, you'll wish you had manual.
Nobody with a manual wishes they had an auto.


Also whoever commented on towing.

I towed 5000+ lbs with the manual, and I was very happy with it. If you want to tow more than that very often the taco probably isn't for you.

 

A certain member who sells heated mirror kits has designed this mod. It is in the final stage of design and prototypes are due in the very near future. Once the prototypes prove to function as designed, the project goes into the production phase and these will be for sale.

It's been a long road, but the prototypes are supposed to go into testing this month. If all goes well, we should be getting an announcement that they're for sale very shortly after the new year.

It's an electronic gizmo that plugs directly into the stock Tacoma wiring and allows you to use low range without 4x4. The install will take less than 20 minutes and requires absolutely no cutting/ splicing and is 100% reversible.

 

I also put just under 300,000 miles on a second gen trd off road manual Transmission, and never had a single problem with the clutch. Stock clutch the entire life of the vehicle.

I think some people just don't know how to drive a stick.

Personally, I trust a manual transmission over an auto.

 

I've found myself in a few situations where the truck wouldn't go into 4 low (for whatever reason). These were less than ideal situations in terms of terrain and the load being hauled/ towed by my Taco. Trying to get out of these situations in 4 high created that distinct odor and a significant amount of visible smoke - too much torque for the clutch. The truck still drives and shifts fine, but an auto would've been okay. The clutch is starting to slip a little more frequently under load (read as abuse) - a URD clutch should solve the issue once I start to experience signs of failure.

Feel free to flame me, but I know how to drive, saw these situations coming, and tried to preemptively put it into 4 low - unsuccessfully. You win some, you lose some.

 

It can be tricky to put most vehicles into 4l regardless of transmission or towing if you don't know how to properly do it, even when you know how it can be a little annoying sometimes..

How exactly do YOU try to put vehicles in 4LOW, tell me the exact process that YOU do...?

Don't take this as me trying to be rude, just educational, I think many people don't properly go into 4L the correct way.