2020 Tacoma, an unexpected improvement

choose for me · Oct 23, 2019

Cobra Boy said: ↑

Test drove a 2020 today at my dealer. Overall it drives like a normal transmission, the gears don't hunt. Two points, first, on the freeway it didn't downshift to 5th gear on a slight to moderate incline like my 2019 does. Second, going up a hill, it downshifted one time, and stayed in that gear w/o hunting until topping the hill. Mine would have downshifted, upshifted, and then returned to the original downshift gear......annoying! There is definitely a difference with the 2020. Big improvement! I asked the service mgr if he could flash my 2019 w/ the new software.... he's checking. Will know more tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Any luck on this? I was at my dealer this morning for an oil change and asked the same question. I would have been better off asking the brick wall outside the service department.

WZ00R2 · Oct 23, 2019

choose for me said: ↑

Any luck on this? I was at my dealer this morning for an oil change and asked the same question. I would have been better off asking the brick wall outside the service department.
Click to expand...

Take a 2020 for a test drive while you're there and get it on the interstate. Note if there is any difference from you current truck.

andrew61987 · Oct 23, 2019

I'm quite impressed by the way that minivan took a 55 mph T-bone. Neither of you would be walking away from this just 20 years ago.

nirav2011 · Oct 23, 2019

WZ00R2[OP] initial post: ↑

About ten days ago, my 2018 Taco was totaled when Karen in a minivan decided to run a stop sign. I decided to pick up a 2020 to replace it. I had absolutely no plans to replace my truck with a new one and went into the purchase thinking the 2020 truck would be hardly a noticeable upgrade. Well, I was surprised. After about 1000 miles, here is my take on the 2020 Tacoma over the 2018. For reference, I put 37,000 miles on my 2018 in the 17 months I owned it; I do a lot of driving.

Interior: The new, larger head unit with Apple Carplay is a big improvement over the previous unit in every way. The physical buttons, the larger screen and new maps are all so much better than the previous equipment.

The interior also seems to be much more quite. The sound of the motor is much less noticeable while idling and driving. The typical diesel engine sound is barely audible and it idles very smoothly.

The seating with the new electric driver’s seat surprised me. I did not expect it to provide so much more room. I’m 6’1” and I now come nowhere close to hitting the ceiling. Being able to adjust the angle of the seat also makes it so much more comfy on long trips.

Lighting: The new LED headlights and fog lights are a huge improvement. Honestly, I was skeptical of them being worth the price of the upgrade but they are so much better than the halogen bulbs. They are a perfect white color and project much better. They look amazing on the truck and are absolutely worth the upgrade.

Driving: I did not expect a positive change in this one aspect. For reference, my previous truck ran OVtune 2.0 with 93 octane fuel. Returning to the erratic shifting, poor highway performance and the dead pedal that my previous truck had in stock form was not something I looked forward to experiencing again. To my surprise, my new truck drives great. No crazy shifting. No pedal lag. Nothing at all negative. At highway speeds at 65-80 mph, the truck runs really well. It holds 5th and 6th 95% of the time and only hit 4th on steep and long hills. This new calibration was a massive surprise and a big improvement over my ’18 factory calibration with factory equipment. If my ’18 had this calibration, I doubt I would had ever considered OVtune. While my ’18 with OVtune 2.0 was amazing, this 2020 calibration leaves little to complain about with the truck in its stock form.

Overall, I am happy to say the 2020 Tacoma is an unexpected and welcome improvement over the 2018 that I lost.

Click to expand...

Glad you are ok. Thanks for the color on the 2020s

Cobra Boy · Oct 23, 2019

Cobra Boy said: ↑

Test drove a 2020 today at my dealer. Overall it drives like a normal transmission, the gears don't hunt. Two points, first, on the freeway it didn't downshift to 5th gear on a slight to moderate incline like my 2019 does. Second, going up a hill, it downshifted one time, and stayed in that gear w/o hunting until topping the hill. Mine would have downshifted, upshifted, and then returned to the original downshift gear......annoying! There is definitely a difference with the 2020. Big improvement! I asked the service mgr if he could flash my 2019 w/ the new software.... he's checking. Will know more tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Partial Update: My service mgr called me for further info. He had the regional Toyota rep in his office at the time. I'm waiting for more info from the Service Mgr, hopefully yet today. I will update with good news or bad news when I get it.

TacoBuffet · Oct 23, 2019

WZ00R2[OP] initial post: ↑

About ten days ago, my 2018 Taco was totaled when Karen in a minivan decided to run a stop sign. I decided to pick up a 2020 to replace it. I had absolutely no plans to replace my truck with a new one and went into the purchase thinking the 2020 truck would be hardly a noticeable upgrade. Well, I was surprised. After about 1000 miles, here is my take on the 2020 Tacoma over the 2018. For reference, I put 37,000 miles on my 2018 in the 17 months I owned it; I do a lot of driving.

Interior: The new, larger head unit with Apple Carplay is a big improvement over the previous unit in every way. The physical buttons, the larger screen and new maps are all so much better than the previous equipment.

The interior also seems to be much more quite. The sound of the motor is much less noticeable while idling and driving. The typical diesel engine sound is barely audible and it idles very smoothly.

The seating with the new electric driver’s seat surprised me. I did not expect it to provide so much more room. I’m 6’1” and I now come nowhere close to hitting the ceiling. Being able to adjust the angle of the seat also makes it so much more comfy on long trips.

Lighting: The new LED headlights and fog lights are a huge improvement. Honestly, I was skeptical of them being worth the price of the upgrade but they are so much better than the halogen bulbs. They are a perfect white color and project much better. They look amazing on the truck and are absolutely worth the upgrade.

Driving: I did not expect a positive change in this one aspect. For reference, my previous truck ran OVtune 2.0 with 93 octane fuel. Returning to the erratic shifting, poor highway performance and the dead pedal that my previous truck had in stock form was not something I looked forward to experiencing again. To my surprise, my new truck drives great. No crazy shifting. No pedal lag. Nothing at all negative. At highway speeds at 65-80 mph, the truck runs really well. It holds 5th and 6th 95% of the time and only hit 4th on steep and long hills. This new calibration was a massive surprise and a big improvement over my ’18 factory calibration with factory equipment. If my ’18 had this calibration, I doubt I would had ever considered OVtune. While my ’18 with OVtune 2.0 was amazing, this 2020 calibration leaves little to complain about with the truck in its stock form.

Overall, I am happy to say the 2020 Tacoma is an unexpected and welcome improvement over the 2018 that I lost.

Click to expand...

A) Love your choice for the 2020, LEDs and cement!
B) hate to be that guy but really liked your setup on the 18, was that stock stance and 265's?

WZ00R2 · Oct 23, 2019

No

TacoBuffet said: ↑

A) Love your choice for the 2020, LEDs and cement!
B) hate to be that guy but really liked your setup on the 18, was that stock stance and 265's?
Click to expand...

Oh man, I LOVED my ‘18. It had a 2/1 lift with 255/80r17s

NMTrailRider · Oct 23, 2019

I absolutely hated driving my bone-stock 2018 at interstate hiway speeds. With any wind at all it just sucked. Very different than the several 2nd gens I owned.

I don’t think there was anything wrong with it. It just wasn’t as nice of a driving experience. It felt underpowered to me unless driving in S4 or S5 and then mpg went to hell.

jimmerheck · Oct 23, 2019

watching this, as it looks like Cobra Boy found something in writing that the tranny is reprogrammed/recalibrated and wondering if your local Toyota dealer will do this for folks who complain...

CrispyTacoLover · Oct 23, 2019

NMTrailRider said: ↑

I absolutely hated driving my bone-stock 2018 at interstate hiway speeds. With any wind at all it just sucked. Very different than the several 2nd gens I owned.

I don’t think there was anything wrong with it. It just wasn’t as nice of a driving experience. It felt underpowered to me unless driving in S4 or S5 and then mpg went to hell.
Click to expand...

Ditto on my 2017.

City + ECT = fun.
Highway + cruise = torture.

jrich44 · Oct 24, 2019

WZ00R2[OP] said: ↑

For my 2020

Engine cal: 8966304B8000
Trans cal: 896650410000
Click to expand...

How do you find these codes?

WZ00R2 · Oct 24, 2019

jrich44 said: ↑

How do you find these codes?
Click to expand...

Pulled them with my OBDII reader.

jrich44 · Oct 24, 2019

WZ00R2[OP] said: ↑

Pulled them with my OBDII reader.
Click to expand...

What model reader do you have? I don’t think I can see those details with my Bluetooth reader.

WZ00R2 · Oct 24, 2019

jrich44 said: ↑

What model reader do you have? I don’t think I can see those details with my Bluetooth reader.
Click to expand...

https://www.auteltech.com/Code Readers&Code Scanners/358.jhtml

Lanmrk · Oct 24, 2019

I traded my 2017 for a 2019. The transmission shifting is greatly improved. It doesn't gear hunt like 2017 did.

jrich44 · Oct 24, 2019

WZ00R2[OP] said: ↑

https://www.auteltech.com/Code Readers&Code Scanners/358.jhtml
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Cobra Boy · Oct 25, 2019

Cobra Boy said: ↑

Partial Update: My service mgr called me for further info. He had the regional Toyota rep in his office at the time. I'm waiting for more info from the Service Mgr, hopefully yet today. I will update with good news or bad news when I get it.
Click to expand...

Update #2: Unfortunately, still waiting to hear from Toyota. Guessing now it will be on Monday.

SpeySquatch · Oct 25, 2019

WZ00R2[OP] initial post: ↑

About ten days ago, my 2018 Taco was totaled when Karen in a minivan decided to run a stop sign. I decided to pick up a 2020 to replace it. I had absolutely no plans to replace my truck with a new one and went into the purchase thinking the 2020 truck would be hardly a noticeable upgrade. Well, I was surprised. After about 1000 miles, here is my take on the 2020 Tacoma over the 2018. For reference, I put 37,000 miles on my 2018 in the 17 months I owned it; I do a lot of driving.

Interior: The new, larger head unit with Apple Carplay is a big improvement over the previous unit in every way. The physical buttons, the larger screen and new maps are all so much better than the previous equipment.

The interior also seems to be much more quite. The sound of the motor is much less noticeable while idling and driving. The typical diesel engine sound is barely audible and it idles very smoothly.

The seating with the new electric driver’s seat surprised me. I did not expect it to provide so much more room. I’m 6’1” and I now come nowhere close to hitting the ceiling. Being able to adjust the angle of the seat also makes it so much more comfy on long trips.

Lighting: The new LED headlights and fog lights are a huge improvement. Honestly, I was skeptical of them being worth the price of the upgrade but they are so much better than the halogen bulbs. They are a perfect white color and project much better. They look amazing on the truck and are absolutely worth the upgrade.

Driving: I did not expect a positive change in this one aspect. For reference, my previous truck ran OVtune 2.0 with 93 octane fuel. Returning to the erratic shifting, poor highway performance and the dead pedal that my previous truck had in stock form was not something I looked forward to experiencing again. To my surprise, my new truck drives great. No crazy shifting. No pedal lag. Nothing at all negative. At highway speeds at 65-80 mph, the truck runs really well. It holds 5th and 6th 95% of the time and only hit 4th on steep and long hills. This new calibration was a massive surprise and a big improvement over my ’18 factory calibration with factory equipment. If my ’18 had this calibration, I doubt I would had ever considered OVtune. While my ’18 with OVtune 2.0 was amazing, this 2020 calibration leaves little to complain about with the truck in its stock form.

Overall, I am happy to say the 2020 Tacoma is an unexpected and welcome improvement over the 2018 that I lost.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your truck man. Congrats on the new...I’ll just leave this here since she was named “Karen”...

Hope this helps with the mending...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J_kg0W3AeIU

reconstyle · Oct 26, 2019

I picked up a 2020 limited a few weeks ago, I have about 2k miles on it so far. My previous truck was a 2015 TRD OR M/T (currently for sale, if anyone is interested) The 2020 auto trans is hot garbage, if this is an improvement over the 16-19, I don't know how on earth you guys put up with it.

On flat highway if I turn the cruise control up from 76 to 78 it downshifts, then stays at 5th for 10-15 seconds before it goes back into 6th - for a 2mph increase it needs to downshift, seriously? In the city it will quick shift and pretty much skip 2nd gear altogether when accelerating at a normal speed from a stop. If I have the radio up and can't hear the engine, sometimes I think the truck has stalled because if shifts into 3rd so soon it feels like it has no power.

This is in addition to other quirky things the transmission does.

Hopefully it gets better...

FLA_Hoosier said: ↑

Somebody on another thread said they were told by a parts manager that the seat will go for around $6k. I find that hard to believe, but then it is Toyota.
Click to expand...

There's airbags in the seat, so there's a ton of regulatory testing involved in the manufacturing process, plus obviously the cost of the airbag components. I would not be surprised at all if it costs that much.

ninernation · Oct 26, 2019

WZ00R2[OP] said: ↑

On my drive to work this morning I set the cruise to 75 and paid close attention. My commute is about 25 miles of middle Tennessee interstates with rolling hills, far from flat. The truck spent 99% of the trip in 5th and 6th. No gear hunting or abrupt shifting. It only shifted to 4th one time on a hill steep enough to have an extra slow lane for semi-trucks to move into. Even on that hill, it was a smooth transition to 4th from 5th. There was no 6th to 4th to 6th to 3rd gear hunting like my 2018 did in its factory form. The truck pulls much better in 5th and 6th at highway speeds. I know in my 2018, with the factory calibration, 5th gear was pretty much nonexistent.
Click to expand...

What's fifth gear?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjulm_sNmM

Log in or Sign up

Welcome to Tacoma World!

2020 Tacoma, an unexpected improvement

#121
choose for me Not Sure

#122
WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#123
andrew61987 Well-Known Member

#124
nirav2011 Well-Known Member

#125
Cobra Boy Member

#126
TacoBuffet Well-Known Member

#127
WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#128
NMTrailRider Well-Known Member

#129
jimmerheck Well-Known Member

#130
CrispyTacoLover Well-Known Member

#131
jrich44 Well-Known Member

#132
WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#133
jrich44 Well-Known Member

#134
WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#135
Lanmrk Member

#136
jrich44 Well-Known Member

#137
Cobra Boy Member

#138
SpeySquatch Function over Form

#139
reconstyle Well-Known Member

#140
ninernation Well-Known Member

Products Discussed in

Log in or Sign up

Useful Searches

Welcome to Tacoma World!

2020 Tacoma, an unexpected improvement

#121 choose for me Not Sure

#122 WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#123 andrew61987 Well-Known Member

#124 nirav2011 Well-Known Member

#125 Cobra Boy Member

#126 TacoBuffet Well-Known Member

#127 WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#128 NMTrailRider Well-Known Member

#129 jimmerheck Well-Known Member

#130 CrispyTacoLover Well-Known Member

#131 jrich44 Well-Known Member

#132 WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#133 jrich44 Well-Known Member

#134 WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#135 Lanmrk Member

#136 jrich44 Well-Known Member

#137 Cobra Boy Member

#138 SpeySquatch Function over Form

#139 reconstyle Well-Known Member

#140 ninernation Well-Known Member

Products Discussed in Entire Site Forum: 3rd Gen. Tacomas (2016-2023)

#121
choose for me Not Sure

#122
WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#123
andrew61987 Well-Known Member

#124
nirav2011 Well-Known Member

#125
Cobra Boy Member

#126
TacoBuffet Well-Known Member

#127
WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#128
NMTrailRider Well-Known Member

#129
jimmerheck Well-Known Member

#130
CrispyTacoLover Well-Known Member

#131
jrich44 Well-Known Member

#132
WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#133
jrich44 Well-Known Member

#134
WZ00R2 [OP] Well-Known Member

#135
Lanmrk Member

#136
jrich44 Well-Known Member

#137
Cobra Boy Member

#138
SpeySquatch Function over Form

#139
reconstyle Well-Known Member

#140
ninernation Well-Known Member

Products Discussed in