When I shift to manual, it always starts in 4th gear. Is this normal.

It’s so (too) simple... these people don’t understand what a gear limit is... they’re confusing past experience with “sport mode”, or paddle shifters, coupled with their desire to make a Tacoma AT do the same thing as they recall. I believe we could read the manual to them (real s-l-o-w-l-y) and they still wouldn’t understand...

 

Nope. I can shift to 6 if I want

 

Right . In which case you still have just set the Max gear

 

I’m hoping this guy is kidding. Comments he has made make me wonder if he should be driving.
Sport mode and ect are a great combo, especially when towing.

 

C'mon, man . Dont be so blatant. A little more subtlety could have kept it going.

 

Your jumping the gun bud, itsok but I never said the transmission won’t downshift nor that it was a gear lock. I’m not a car guru or Toyota expert by any means- In fact it’s the first vehicle I’ve had that was not already 10yrs old (lack of all this tech)

My post was explaining what I use and in what situations personally.

Or are you trying to argue me that d is no different than s6? In that case, like I said I’m no expert, but I think that’s not correct. I thought I read in the manual or somewhere s6 has different shifting points etc than d?

I treat d as an eco mode, I don’t like it so I stay in s mode. I also don’t have any need to chase that TSB dragon doing it this way… it shifts and drive me perfect for me the way I’ve been doing it

 

Of course you should drive in whatever style that makes you happy “bud”... I have no objection to your preferences. FYI, the AI-Shift function is cancelled while in S mode, so you will experience different shift points while in the lever is in S position. I was just attempting to clear up what/why there is an S mode. I primarily use it when towing as a method of keeping the AT from going into overdrive... others use it to control/cancel the AI “learned” shift points, etc.

 

And some use it thinking they can turn their automatic into a manual.

 

That's because it's equivalent to hitting the over drive off and tow/haul mode in any other truck. Toyota just has fancy names for them

As for the op. S mode is limit to the highest hear the tyranny will shift to. 4 is the default as that is the highest non over drive gear. You can lower it down as you please all the way to 1st gear. You can also rase it up to 5 and 6 of you wanted. The number shown on the dash is not what gear it is in currently.

 

It does not begin in 4th gear. It is only showing the upper gear limit.

Uh....

Just about everybody has given you the answer.

You....are.....not......manually......shifting.....the......truck.

No it won’t, it is showing the gear limit you selected. For fuck’s sake someone posted the damn users manual that states this exact same thing.

Have fun manually shifting your truck.....I give up.

 

I can manually shifty truck into 6th.

 

Geez.....where to begin.

The Tacoma auto transmission is a double overdrive auto. 5th and 6th are overdrive gears. These gears, is the classic definition of ‘overdrive’, are gears where you have gone beyond the 1:1 ratio in the transmission, meaning the engine output shaft is spinning slower than the transmission output shaft driving the wheels. See chart:



“S” mode is NOT manual control. It is simply a method of locking out higher gears to increase torque or engine braking. The reason it goes directly to 4th gear limit by default, (unless you are exceeding the safe mechanical speed limit of 4th gear) is because 4th gear is the upper limit for the engine to operate with any sort of mechanical advantage over the wheels (1:1 ratio). People will generally shift into S-mode when the truck starts to lug up a hill, or when looking for more engine braking on a descent. If it went to S-6, the change most people are looking for would not happen.

In the old days, this was the equivalent of the “overdrive off” button being pressed when cars had a single overdrive gear and a 3-speed auto with “D” being the 1:1 ratio. Thankfully, Toyota gives us full control of the auto limit, but it requires you understand a little more about how the truck works, which is challenging for some, especially today’s sheltered young people.

S-mode does not force the truck to hold a certain gear, nor do you want it to, unless you added a manual clutch to your auto tranny. S-mode only sets the upper gear selection limit.

 

Was that for me since he was responding to my post?

 

No, not directed to you. I actually do what you said you do, I always use ECT on and S4 for in town with max speeds up to 45. If I jump on the interstate just to take a different route I will bump up to S6.

 

Ok, yea I don’t drive in s to pretend a manual and I definitely understand s4/5/6 aren’t the gear your currently in.

 

Pro tip: if you drive in S1 you can force the transmission to hold 1st gear.

 

sounds like op needs to rtfm

 

This right here.

 

Shift mode. I am driving along at 65 miles an hour and decide to go to S mode. My trans doesn't blow up trying to go into 1st gear at max rpm.