Should i buy an MT Tacoma?

Do rental car places have Tacoma’s?

 

Gonna be a lot of people who drive ATs telling you how the MT sucks, and a lot of people driving the MTs telling you how its great. I know which answer I'd trust given those options.

 

I haven’t seen any.....but check out Turo, it’s like Airbnb for cars. Haven’t seen any MTs on there but every once and a while an AT 3rd gen pops up

 

I have heard a few people mention they have driven some on work trips. But probably more to places like Hawaii. What I mean is go to your local Toyota and see if you can drive one for a weekend or at least a solid day that you are able to really put it threw it’s loops

 

Do you actually enjoy driving a stick?

I do, out of the 11 years I spent in L.A., I had manual trans cars for 9 years. Driving from San Gabriel valley to Westwood and Santa Monica for work, that's world class traffic.

Pro of MT: It gets the power when and where you needed.
Pro of AT: It shifts a lot faster than you can. When driving on an incline in sand and snow, momentem is your friend, lack of it you are in trouble. Ever since the Lock-up torque converter, MT lost the advantage on MPG over At.

 

No fix that I know of, mine has done it since day 1. No issues other than some noise in neutral. Some noise, to go along with the handful of other noises the truck makes. It's a truck. I wouldnt let that deter you, but it's your decision to make.

As far a snow driving, the MT seems fine, AT is probably a bit easier since you dont have the clutch to deal with. I've driven it in snow many times and am still alive though. Lol. Also in reference to the earlier post about crawl control and the AT, crawl control is cruise control in 4lo. I wouldnt be driving city streets in 4lo in the snow, so even with the AT I'd never need that. None the less, the MT in 4lo has ATRAC, all you have to do is press the pedal up 5 mph, because thats all crawl control is doing for you, really.

Sure the AT is easy all the time, for me though the snow issue made up for less than maybe 1-2% of my yearly driving. The other 98% Im having a blast, and not being upset with the truck being in the wrong gear.

 

Drove Santa Monica to Irvine a few times in rush hour with my old S2000. Clutch pressure was roughly 3-4x the Tacomas, fun stuff. After that nothing bothers me.

 

I much prefer a MT in the snow it's a lot easy to tell what's happening between the tires and the road.

From what I understand crawl control/MTS only work in 4Lo, and are therefore useless for driving on snow covered roads. Don't be the guy driving 10mph just cuz there's 6" of snow on the road.

 

It's hooked up to a Camry engine so keep that in mind, plus the resell market down the road will be chasing the lowest common denominator.

 

I like my automatic, but I've heard less than stellar things about either. If you're mostly proficient in driving manual and you want the experience then why not? I've never used crawl control here, 4-HI is plenty and lately our Januaries, Februaries, and Marches are 1-2 meter snow fall months so I wouldn't say it's in any way at all necessary or even terribly useful for winter unless you're doing snow wheeling up steep mountain tracks. Hell, I didn't even try it out until a couple months ago and I've had my truck since spring 2017. I don't buy it for a second when people say they can tell what's happening on the road easier with MT vs AT. If you're a good driver and you're used to winter driving you can tell regardless what the conditions are and feel like - that's what we've got eyes and intuition for.

 

Welcome to the forum. Test drive the heck out of both and then get what makes you giggle!

 

No reason to even buy one in a sportscar unless you want to go slower. Most all your real sports cars have gone to double clutch automatics for improved performance. Corvette was one of the last holdouts to still offer a manual, however the new C8 are all autos. Unfortunate but true.

 

I'm probably going to be pretty rusty no doubt but you're kinda forced to learn how to be a good driver when you live where i do if you don't want to wreck or end up in the snow bank, i've got plenty of experience with snow driving obviously it'll be a new challenge if i decide to get a MT vehicle of any kind i just want to see how people feel about the Tacoma in the MT form.

 

Don't forget in cold climate, MT has too more things under its sleeves:

Engine brake and push start when your battery is dead.

 

Hi, I drove manuals for well, let's say ... a few years. I swore to never own a "AUTOMATIC". Fate put me in one and dam, it's not half bad. With the fact that I can use 3rd and 2nd when needed I don't think I'll go back. Times have changed s well as technology. Drive what feels right to you.

 

I've been driving a manual '96 Tacoma for 23 years so had real concerns getting an auto in my year old (as of today) '18 TRD Sport. But I'm pleasantly pleased with my auto and haven't regretted getting it once.
But then I still have my '96 so can take it for a spin when I start jonesing for a stick.

 

I’m not sure these new trucks can be push started from a dead battery. I think dead is dead whether manual or AT, or am I wrong?

Has anyone actually rolled their MT 3G Taco to start it with absolutely no battery power?

 

I wish they offered it in a DCLB, if they did I would’ve got it. Only offered in short bed or access cab, which are a no go for me. However, I travel to big cities often and absolutely HATE stick in stop and go traffic. Test drive, test drive, test drive.

 

Questionable, Ive seen a lot of people mention it, but doubtful if the battery is really dead. Maybe it can muster enough current for the fuel ignition if its at maybe 12v, maybe.