New Tacoma, crap transmission, sorry dealer. Shoot me now.

Forget the tune people! That is just a bandaid. Install 4.88 gears and it will totally transform your AT Taco.

I was in the same boat. Had a 2017 TRD Pro manual that I sold and got a TRD Off Road AT. I hated it as it constantly searched for gears and would hardly ever go into 6th on the highway unless I was babying it and had nothing on the rack or in the bed of the truck. Was about to sell the truck and get another manual. But now with the 4.88 gears I can now be going as slow as about 35 or so and it will be in 6th and I can give it gas and it will stay in 6th and speed up to whatever speed I want without shifting. Can now cruise at 70+ and actually use 6th gear and not downshift unless I really get into it or am going up a good incline. I’m enjoying my AT more than my manual now. And I’m 48 and this is my first auto as I love manuals.

Would HIGHLY recommend anyone with an AT to invest in 4.88 BEFORE spending money on wheels, tires, suspension, bumpers, etc. I had over $11,000 invested in my Pro and probably close to $8 or $9K now in my Off Road and I can honestly say this is the best investment I have made in either truck. And add an ARB front locker at the same time as there isn’t much labor charge as they are already there.

 

ShiftSense Pro.
They are $175...~125 used.

 

Luckily, you bought pretty much the highest resaling vehicle there is... If there is one thing you can turn around and sell without losing too much of your ass on it's the Tacoma.

The solution is simple... get the manual. If you need to regear, buy monster truck tires, tune the shit out of it, etc. just to get it to behave like u want that's a little ridiculous and you'll spend the difference in what you'd lose selling it anyways. Plus all those Mods lower said awesome resale value of your truck which is silly IMO.

If you need an auto, buy a Ranger. My dad has one and it's a blast to drive. The 10 speed + Ecoboost is much peppier than the Taco's archaic auto setup.

 

Or not.

 

While not on the forum, half the people in the world are below average.

 

Ha! You very well could be right.

 

Sorry to hear about your issues.

My situation is somewhat similar: test drove it; didn’t seem that bad. But day-in and day-out it truly sucks. My bad for buying it.

Unlike you, I haven’t taken it to the dealership. I don’t want to be told “That’s how it is. Deal with it.”. I’m not going to spend $800 on a OVTune, either. In fact I'm not going to sink another dime on it.

Thankfully I’m not stuck on Toyota. This is my first and most likely my last Toyota vehicle. I’m planning to drive the Tacoma for a year and trade it in. I don’t know for what yet. Still have a few months to figure it out.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

 

The tune is $700. How much to re-gear?
I think you're putting the cart b4 the horse IMO. I'm not going to talk about the effectiveness of a re-gear on these trucks because I haven't done that and therefore have zero experience with it.
Are you tuned?

 

No problem, glad I could help.

Have a blessed day.

 

The more/longer I drive it , the better it gets . That is a fact . I would highly suggest giving it a few thousand miles .

 

Give the truck a few thousand miles. Toyota made the tranny shift like crap to maximize mpg. They made the fuel maps to minimize emissions. Sure OV tune improves them, but you may find the truck settles in just fine for you. If not, then you have an option at least without selling it.

I find my trans is fine, but I don’t drive mine hard at all.

 

Ridiculous someone that just bought a brand new truck is faced with this...damn engineers

 

I agree with this statement...except that this site makes me want one

 

I got used to my truck, I thought of it as the the engineers designed the shift points to maximize fuel economy. Press ECT and pretend it drove like that from the factory then your're going to have people complaining about horrible gas mileage and the Colorado or Ranger is more fuel efficient. I love my truck, its a midsize truck with a v6. If i wanted power i'd get a full size truck with a v8. When I want speed I ride my R6, or drive my Charger R/T.

 

If your around Atlanta, go to the dealer in Kennesaw..Cobb County Toyota I think it is, they did all TSB's no questions asked..

 

Gets better after about 7000 miles

 

I don’t get why so many hate on the 3rd gen AT Tacos.

I traded in my 2015 Tundra for my Taco. The Tundra had power at the ready 100% of the time but it also got less that 16 mpg and didn’t care how I drove it. Now I got my Taco DCOR with an AT and I drive it for mpg and the tranny doesn’t bother me at all. Again, I’m driving it watching the eco gauge like it’s a game but the transmission is fine. Sure it feels lazy if I’m being vague with the pedal but I’m not on the track. Then, when I bury my foot to pass or just because I’m in a hurry or just want to smile, she comes to life and hauls ass just like my 5.7 did. I think it’s the best of both worlds. If I wanted crappy mileage I would have got another Tundra or a ZR2 Colorado.

She may be a heifer but she’s my heifer... and I love her dam it!

 

OP, My initial impression was similar to yours and I considered selling it. Here is what I did- got tsb 062-18? done, added a pedal commander for a more linear feel and I drive in either S5 or with ECT on. After several thousand miles I'm now happy enough to live with it. It's not perfect but the truck is doing great, gets good mileage and pulls anything I've hooked to it!