Thoughts on Driveability

I just got back from an 18 hour round trip drive and found something interesting. I know the complaints towards the stumble and shift patterns on all of our stock third gens. I just got back after driving through some mountainous...ish terrain and found some interesting driving habits of the truck. I decided this time to run in S Mode, set it in 6th, and ran ECT once I hit the large hills/mountains. The truck drove amazing. It wasn't hunting for gears, I could pass people with very little issue, and merge into traffic with no problem. This was also running 75 mph to 80 mph most of the way. I averaged 21 mpg as well. Why doesn't the truck drive like this all the time? I shouldn't have to be running in 6th with ECT to get that experience?

 

Firstly you aren’t running in 6th. S mode simply allows you to select the limit to the gears. If you set it in 4th the truck uses all gears 1-4. If you set it in 6th the truck drives like normal 1-6. Secondly, ECT is supposed to be used in mountainous terrain and controls the shifting by holding gears longer.

There are mods for ECT on all the time if you want.

Either you’ve never used ECT or you plecbo’d yourself into something.

 

Interesting.

Never thought about it, but "S" mode/ shift limiter does allow you to select 6.

That option should be unnecessary, since the transmission only has 6 speeds.

I will play around with this next road trip.

Fwiw, I only have used the shift limiter in snow and ice, 1st or 2nd, on declines to limit my braking.

And believe it or not, my trucks transmission works fine, plenty of power and mostly constant smooth/ appropriate shifting.

Very rare occasions it's a little wonky, lol.

 

Yeah, I knew prior that S mode is really only a limiter and the system shifts through the gears up to "x". Just compared to driving in "D" to "S" with 6th selected it felt like the transmission acted better

 

Ill agree, putting the truck in "S" mode does change its shifting patterns. When using "S" mode at highway speeds, I've found it will want to stay in 5th & 6th much longer while also shifting down after an incline much sooner.

 

Driving in S6 should be the exact same as driving in D.

Putting the truck in S does nothing different than driving it in D other than telling it not to go above that gear. Shift patterns are exactly the same, there is no difference. The S stands for sequential.

 

You would think that but it does make a difference. I know my truck has much better manners at 65+mph while in "S" mode.

 

Hm, I will have to try that out. I typically use S4/5 heading up mountain passes to keep the truck from upshifting. I'm now curious if it changes transmission shifting.

 

This is considered both placebo and/or confirmation bias or rather you have convinced yourself of your own bias

 

S6 versus D doesn't make much sense to me either.
Nor would I ever think to try it.

 

Just try it out. I never would have though it would make a difference either but it does.

 

Per the user manual, S-mode is different in one very crucial way. It cancels the transmission learning/intelligence. If in "D" your truck has learned to use a conservative (gear hunting to get to high gear all the time) shift map and you flip it to S-mode, the shift points are reset to something stock vs. something learned from your driving habits.

For most people you will see a difference in shifting behavior between D and S-mode. It's also used by many to prevent the transmission learning which normally equates to a race to 6th at low speed.

 

I know that Sport mode in an newer GM will keep it from turning itself off when you stop. Using sport mode in 6 could be a way to get around EPA or other things for Toyota too.

 

I don't know how much or where this changed but this was drive to work in S Mode 6 today. Only change in today was maybe a bit less traffic. I don't usually see over 20 mpg ever.

 

If it works for you then keep doing it. You have a full tank and I see anything from 30+ to 12 but at the end of the tank I still average 20.7

Reset your trip and Drive a whole tank in D and then divide by the gallons used to fill the tank.

Then do it again but in S6 and see what you get.

 

Interesting. I am looking to sell my ‘08 Tacoma Prerunner and buy a ‘15 4.0 DCSB 4x4 or a 2018. I test drove an ‘18 SR5 4x4 about 2 weeks and it gear hunted just driving up a highway overpass. So if I drive it in S6 will it feel more normal, like my ‘08 4.0?

I’d rather buy new but I can’t stand the gear hunting.

I even test drove a 2018 Tundra 5.7 which is a LOT closer in feeling to the 4.0 than the current Tacoma is. Not in power obviously but in the way the transmission acts.

Just a bit too large for my needs.

 

With the new T-SB update for the ECU gear hunting is greatly reduced. It really changes the trucks drivability for the better.

 

I can't speak for everyone, but for me, it does feel like the truck does less gear hunting while I am in S 6 compared to just D. I bought my truck with 6K miles on it, so the learning may have happened with the store manager before me.

 

That's good news. Hopefully by the end of the year all the 2018's on the lot would have had the TSB done on them.

I've read in a few posts that "S" mode disables the learning feature of the transmission.

 

@JBone25