how do you drive your Toyota Tacoma ?

had a 99 ford 150 up until a month or so ago....it got sick, so sold it to a friend and went out and bought a 2015 Toyota Tacoma Pre-Runner . I like the truck and its taking some getting used to and was wondering a few things :

- it keeps the rpms down pretty low , so is it best to take it easy on the truck say from 0 to 40 as after that it goes pretty good.......or

- do you just get on it ? a friend told me to just get on it as it can take it......not abusing it of course.

it just seems to shift a lot sooner than what the ford did and not used to that.

 

I'm a fan of the occasional Italian tune up...get on it once in a while.

Do you have a v6?

 

I just drive it. If you're on it hard enough it won't shift. If it shifts, then you're not on it hard enough.

 

correct....have the V6. just seems the ford shifted a lot later than what this does.....as this is shifting ( automatic ), around 2500 rpms maybe a bit more.



Have the same color as yours Tom .

maybe its just down here in Florida....but every time I see a Toyota, they always have their parking lights on.......any reason for this ?

 

No V8 power, so rev it up. It’s a V6.

Same with 4 cylinders.. higher RPMs are fine.

 

Could be the glass they use reflects sunlight differently making the lights appear on? As far as the shifting, I use the ECT PWR mode and it delays shifting significantly, but it also ... delays shifting into top gear on the highway so mileage suffers a little. But to get the better throttle response and later shifting I am happy to lose a little mileage.

 

lights are on.....so I thought maybe it was a "Toyota thing "....?

the ECT PWR mode....is that on a manual transmission as I dont see that on mine ?

 

My bad - I see you got a pre-runner. The ECT PWR is on the OR and Pro models.

 

It all depends on how long you want your tires to last and what you want your mpgs to be.

The higher your RPMs the more gas you waste. Plus the more aggressive you are with accelleration odds are your brakes are going to get eaten up too from aggressive breaking.

So just depends on how much maintinence you love to do.


Its different than your Ford because your Ford was nearly 20 years old. A lot changes with vehicles in 20 years. The Tacoma sucks for shift points. Absolutely sucks. You want a nice ride with actually low RPMs go for a 2018 F150 with the Ecoboost. Im sure their new F150 Diesel will be nice as well

 

Put it to you this way: Little old ladies flip me the bird when they drive-by

 

i drive it like i drive everything.... like an asshole... theres a reason ive been called "the red flash"

whats up 13mpg?

 

Like I stole it...

 

I will say that since I have had it, I am at 20-21 mpg.....and a tank lasts me a week, which I never got that with the Ford....so that is a huge plus.

it just seems to low and with the Ford , I could get on it a bit more and it would shift around 4k.....

Im not one to beat the hell out of something, but wanted to hear how others drive theirs.

 

Iirc the 09+ had those as driving lights, nothing to worry about on your truck

You have a third gen, the second gen didn't have ect.

 

Are you talking about the little orange lights in front? Those are the daytime running lights. Your truck most likely has them too.

He's got a 2nd gen. No ECT for us.

 

I drive both of mine balls to the walls

My 09 is a 2.7 so i do this more out of necessity as its a heavy pig with all the stuff ive added. On my 13, i do it because i got it just a few months ago and am still not used to all the extra power as compared to the 4 banger

 

Like a grandpa unless I get road rage lol. Saw this on instragram a few days ago, had me laughing so hard!

 

ahhh......I was under the impression that the daytime running lights would be the headlights......but maybe this is not the case.

 

Nope, the DRLs are the orange lights up front, and also double as turn signals. The DRLs won't turn on though unless the parking brake is off, and I think in gear as well. That's why you can't really check them yourself to see if they're on.