2020 Gear Hunting Like CRAZY!

The probability of you getting two shit trucks four years apart is not likely at all.
Let's look at what's in common between the two trucks.. you.
Toyota sells a crapload of these every month. There are usually a half dozen threads every month like yours, except they usually didn't test drive, you took it to beast mode when you owned one, hated it, then went out abd bought another one!

Are you mad at yourself yet? Trade in values are at an all time high because everybody wants one. New ones on the lot last less than 19 days on average, the best in the industry.
Sounds like your expectations are different than most. Good luck and I hope you get something you like next time.

 

You want to start a class action lawsuit because you dont like how it drives?

Do you understand the testing requirements they use to calculate mpg?

 

So what am "I" doing wrong using cruise control on the highway exactly? Man I am sick of people saying it is me. ITS HIGHWAY WITH CRUISE! There is no driver input. Hell I am out in a part where I rarely even have to change lanes.

 

Since you said it has under 1k miles, if you did any towing while in the first 500 part of the break in period I wonder if the transmission learning period learned some really funky settings and is carrying it over to when you are not towing. Also, are you absolutely positive it's shifting gears and not constantly locking and unlocking the torque converter? A fair number of people think these trucks shift a gear when it is actually adjusting the torque converter. And the torque converter constantly locking and unlocking would certainly effect gas milage and may be a symptom of the before mentioned transmission learning picking up some bad habits during break in.

 

Alright. I now own a Tundra. Lots of power and perfect shifts. HOWEVER, there is a narrow speed range where it will shift up and down a lot if I use cruise. Below 60 is fine, above 63 or so is fine. 61 or 62 it just seems it can't be happy if there's even a slight hill. So, if I have to go that speed I don't use cruise. I find that much easier than complaining about it.

 

Cruise maintains speed regardless of condition so it's always going to be worse the using your foot. It can't "see" what's ahead so it wont slowly increase speed when an incline is ahead like a driver would. Acceleration is smoother because driver anticipates, cruise control only responds after the fact.

 

I get 22 all the time, mostly highway around 70 mph, less than 2k rpm.

 

2016 TRD Off Road here, 46,000 miles and counting. Never been to the dealer since the day it was purchased. Drives fine, shifts fine, holds 6th if I'm above 70-75 mph. Below 70 it will drop to 5th on even a small incline or against a headwind, I say big deal it's like 300 RPM difference between 5th and 6th at 65 MPH. 20-22 MPG average on 21 mile daily commute @ 65-70 mph. But then I don't dump in the lowest grade cheap shit gasoline I can find either. 91 octane name brand gasoline only, I don't even look at the price anymore so I'm not tempted to save a few measly bucks (avg. cost about $7 more per fill up, fill when the gauge shows 3/8 tank) So, maybe an extra $300- $350 per year? Pretty cheap in my book, plus I actually enjoy my Tacoma instead of raging like a maniac about how much I hate it. It's not perfect by a long shot, but there's nothing else available that I see as a better choice for me.


Never driven near Denver, maybe high altitude is the culprit?

 

Dude I am so jealous. I wish I had that kind of luck. My first one I lived in Ks at 800 ft so that wasnt the problem then but maybe it is now. Its not me when the master tech said " I have never seen or heard a truck do this that bad" when I showed him the video.

 

If I were you the first thing I would do is manually check/top off the trans fluid. Do not believe a word any dealer/tech says about they checked it using Techstream or a psychic reading from Miss Cleo

 

I just got back from a 55 mile round trip to my brothers house to deliver him my old iron cement mixer that barely squeezed in the bed, plus some bags of leftover concrete....truck had to be carrying at least 500 lbs. plus the air was on both ways, if that makes any difference. Traveling hilly back roads 45-60 mph i still got 22.1 mpg on the entire trip.

 

so whats the verdict here, Ridgeline time? or Suburu time?

 

I vote OP gets the new Chevy Canyon ZR2 and its a diesel too!

 

My tank wasn't full at the end of the drive?

 

Not many hills in southern NJ lol

 

About average for me.

 

My 2nd gen (4.0L, 5AT, AC, SR5, 4x4) had similar behaviour. There's a long stretch of highway North of me that I drive often, it's 110km/h with rolling hills. It would shift erratically most of the time, super annoying having it hunt between 4th and 3rd then "forget" to upshift after cresting the hill. Premium fuel helped it hold OD longer, especially on hot days or when loaded.

Later I bought a 4.0L 6MT Frontier and on the same drive I'm in 6th at ~2000rpm the whole way, it uses a lot less fuel on that drive than the Tacoma. The Frontier has better aero and more power but it's also 400lbs heavier and rolls on 265/75R16 ATs. I see no reason the Tacoma couldn't hold OD on the same hills.

 

So today I decided to do a little test while heading out to do a little wheeling in an area I like. 2020 3/20 Texas built OR DCSB AT. 265/75R16 E Load Duratracs, Martin OR Roof Rack with 2nd spare (Approx 70lbs), Hybrid Steel front bumper, Extang Exceed Tonneau with approx 50 lbs gear. Temp in high 80’s to mid 90’s, high humidity.

Fueled up before leaving Austin until autoclicked, reset odo. Drove at highway speeds entire trip at speeds from 55-70mph through the Hill Country. i did not use ECT or S Mode on purpose for this test. In general, shifting doesn't seem to hunt any more than my old GMC Canyon, which had a 6 speed double OD as well. As mentioned in an earlier post, if in hills, I will use the S5 sport setting on occasion.

Drove 59 miles to end of highway, showed 19.1mpg on display. Wheeled for about 2 hours, with display showing avg mpg at 4mpg while off road. Distance just under 10 miles, about 3/4 of the time in 4lo, used Crawl four separate times for short distances. Display showed total mileage for trip to that point at 16.0mpg.

Drove back to Austin with a headwind and rain. Total mileage 130.7, display showed 17.2mpg avg. Fueled truck to click stop, 7.095 gallons. Manual mpg calculation 18.4mpg.

The truck is stock other than mods listed at top of post. From my experience, my results are pretty average for most drivers with the same truck.

Your results seem to be very much atypical and I believe a Class Action would be a difficult proposition, but that would be your decision. The Taco is not perfect, but I would never go back to the GMC Canyon again, and I personally feel that I have made a good choice with the TRD OR. I hope this helps you to understand what the majority of drivers experiences are. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

Seen at my local dealer when I was getting my work van serviced.......the grass is always greener, lol.