6th gear is a joke!

I love my auto, its always in the perfect gear for the road condition.

 

i have the "ECT on at start" mod. my truck never sees 6th gear. having said that i live on maui and we don't have 70MPH roads.
as stated ECT changes the shift points putting 6th gear shift point further out.

 

Haha!

Our speed limits in town are anywhere from 50-80. If im going 65 or over on flat ground, i throw it in 6th, chugs along just fine and gets the best fuel economy.

I like doing a revmatch downshift from 6th to 4th. I barely use 5th anyways, it seems like its there mostly for towing on the highways. I skip gears all the time in this truck, a lot of times i go 1-3, or 2-4, or 3 to 6

 

Yep, i think its absolutely fine. Its not perfect, but nothing in life is. Our MTs are not perfect either, there are a couple mods to make them 99% perfect though

 

First off....let me say i agree.

I have to run my 16 in ECT and Smode to enjoy it, given the mods. I did recently hit 100,000 kms and had the tranny fluid exchanged at the dealer, it feels better for sure. Others have suggested because of the idiotic no dipstick thing the factory fluid level may be off? who knows!

Fresh plugs also helped mine with power and responsiveness.

 

I am going to try 6 out more than I do. I do however imagine it being like a Mexican resort shuttle. Those dudes work hard to keep RPM's at a minimum lol.

 

I hear you man.

When im in 6th, i barely press the throttle, maybe 1/8 of travel? If i feel like i need to press the throttle more than a quarter in 6th, then i downshift to 4th so i dont lug the engine.

 

The Shift Sense Pro solves the problems. Easy install and doesn't cost a lot. I've been using it since 2016 and cannot say enough good about it. It's still better that the TSB updates, although the TSB updates do help. I've gone thru 3 updates and still use the SSP.

 

That's actually one of the very few situations where I'll use 5th. Just enough added umph to maintain speed or slightly accelerate at low RPM.

 

You gotta be lighting fast when shifting from 6th to 5th, haha! But yeah, there are times when i do the same, not very often though. I barely use my 5th.

 

ECT on my truck will lock out 6th gears not put its shift point further out. I was on a highway doing 70 mph towing in the ECT mode in drive not the S mode. Truck in no way would shift up to 6th till i took it out of ECT. I figured it normal as toyota wouldn't expect one towing in 6th gear using ECT.

 

I wouldn't change anything on this auto. Imo, it shifts a bit smoother than my tundra ever did, and a lot better than some rams and chevys I've ridden in.

 

Why do so many people complain about their automatic transmission automatically shifting? It’s downshifting to give you a bit more torque to get up an incline or to pass. I do the same thing with my manual transmission. 6th gear is intended for maximizing fuel economy, minimizing noise, etc while cruising at constant highway speeds with low load (no payload, no trailer, no headwind, etc)

That said, you can use ECT, s-mode, evtune, or change the diff gears.

 

6th gear actually makes perfect sense...when you have enough torque to sustain it lol.

 

I have an idea. Do a transmission swap for a CVT.

 

I’ve owned an auto and manual taco, I’m traditionally a manual guy, and I complained a lot less about the auto than what I’ve seen on this forum. But then again, we’re likely likely listening to the vocal minority.

 

Do you have a link or TSB number? Thanks

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tsb-0092-20-is-awesome.696230/

 

@Tacosha

My dad used this van called "Latvija" when he was working on the market selling fruits and veggies, the chassis was from "volga" and it had a 4spd. He told me it was the most horrible vehicle he has ever owned, haha!


The second pic, was his first car "ZAZ Zaporozhec", had a woppig 32 hp and rear mounted engine