Is manual trans on a 3rd generation lovely?

Hi all,

New here. Been looking for a used Tacoma or 4runner for quite awhile, to no avail. Price is out of control. Best bet for me seems to buy new.

Anyone have a manual trans in their 3rd gen? I'm coming from a WRX and years of manual trans before that. Not sure what to choose when I order.

 

I love mine. But keep in mind. This isn't a tuner/sports car you are looking at. It's a truck and there will be noticed difference. My advice would be to test drive one and see

 

Oh, just heavenly.

 

Lol to the test drive suggestion. There are none to be test driven; all need to be ordered, unless I drive 100+ miles.

Otherwise, I do understand what's going to happen here. I need to get out of the sports car thing anyhow. Also feeling that if I get pressured into an off-road situation I've never done, I'd be much more comfortable with a clutch

 

I'm going to take that as not sarcasm.

 

Oh, what a manual, what a lovely manual!

Buy it, and you will ride eternal, shiny and chrome.

 

Like pulling a spoon through mamas buttery mashed taters. Liberating and confidence inspiring.

 

I'm sold. Thank you.

 

The transmission is fine. The shifter is long and sloppy.
The engine is weak and the acceleration is mind-numbingly slow.
I came from a 2016 WRX back in March.

Core Shifters makes a Hurst replacement shifter which is great.


Aftermarket tune improves the acceleration, but it's still a 4k lb truck, so compared to a WRX it's kinda meh.

 

Yes, several someones do.

Absolutely ^^

So the real question is do you have to have a vehicle right now?

Seems like a good time to figure out alternatives and wait it out.

 

I like mine.

It's no Miata shifter. It's a light truck shifter. It's still better than the automatic...

 

Amusing thing about that is that the Miata transmissions were truck transmissions out of the parts bin. So apparently it is possible to have a smooth snic snic truck transmission.

 

I had a manual gen2 up until recently and I had to get a manual gen3. Yes, I do like manuals in general but I do think it's overall just better than the automatic. For a truck I think the throws are really good to be honest. They are not super long or anything like that, yes it's a little longer than a car, but you know you are buying a truck OP. Also, it's just cheaper for a manual which is nice.

I've got a shelby 350 for the small throw and fast experience if needed. I don't expect that manual performance out of a toyota truck.

 

IMO, I love manual transmissions, but Toyota missed the mark on the 3.5L 6 Speed manual. My observations as follows as an owner of a manual trans 3rd gen for a few years.....

For hauling or off roading 1st gear and reverse are far too tall. Further, the gap between 1st and 2nd gear is too wide leading to first gear needing to be revved out to around 4k before grabbing 2nd if you desire any reasonable amount of acceleration or especially taking off uphill from a stop.

I also find the clutch feel varies widely between trucks. One drives fine and has a reasonable friction zone and 'normal' engagement point, another may have a super narrow friction zone, and then some may start to grab nearly immediately after lifting the clutch off the floor or not until the pedal is almost all the way out. Can certainly make it a transmission that takes a good amount of driving to get a feel for. Plus the emissions-based tuning of the ECU leads to considerable rev hang when going to switch gears (but this is a thing thats been the case for a while, 2nd gens have it as well) so the 1-2 shift can be a bit difficult to time with the large gap between gears and the rev hang leading you to hold the clutch in longer/let it out slowly.

 

I come from a background of manual sports cars as well, so I of course wanted a manual in the Tacoma when I learned they still made them.

I wanted to test drive one before pulling the trigger, but once I did, I felt at home right away and all my concerns disappeared.

Is the shifter like those in the sports cars that you are use to? No, but it’s a truck, so I’m perfectly fine with it.

I will say it has taken me a bit to get smooth take offs in the truck consistently. I think it requires more clutch slip than I’m use to. I’m not sure if that is the result of the tuning on the truck or I just got rusty with my last two cars before this being auto (DSG GTI and then DSG S3).

Either way, just go for it. I really doubt you’ll regret it. The number one complaint I see about 3rd gen Tacomas is with the gear hunting on the auto, so the manual solves that plus it’s fun to drive.

I have zero regrets… except it’s been way harder teaching my wife to drive it than I expected…

 

yes, but i had to work for it. i thought it was kind of awful when i got it. so i did a bunch of fixes and now it's pretty great.

- Coyoza tune for throttle control and power where i need it
- ADM https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/mt-accumulator-delete-mod-adm-and-bs-thread.568303/
- FJ all metal pedal swap
- URD stage 2 clutch
- Solid Offroad motor mounts
- reinforcement, especially at suspension mount points
- Core shifter
- custom open-flow exhaust
and much more!

took a while, but it's now the dream truck... lovely.

happy Friday!

 

I'll echo the same experience. 1st gear and reverse are definitely too tall. 1st in 4 low offroad could be about 1/2-3/4 speed of what it is, same for reverse. The rev hang is noticeable, but I've driven worse, just have to shift it like a truck and not a sports car. I'm almost always up to 3-3.5k in 1st before shifting to 2nd to avoid being below 2k, which is absolutely useless. My clutch grabs when the pedal is almost all the way released, still need to do the ADM and maybe try adjusting the clutch throw.

I will say I don't think they entirely missed the mark though. I've only owned manuals (I think this is number 6) and it's still by far the smoothest and most rewarding to drive overall (however it is also 20+ years newer than everything else I've owned). I wouldn't trade it for an automatic, you just have to learn to love the quirks. I'm thinking 5.29's will solve most of my gripes with it sometime in the future.

 

I was in a similar situation, previously drove coupes with MTs, then went for a Tacoma with MT. No prior off road experience (excluding mountain bikes). Some observations:

• The V6 makes peak power at redline, and this by itself is a powerful argument for a MT.
• The rpm reduction between 1st and 2nd is almost exactly 2:1, so there are many situations where 1st needs to wound out a bit. This is my biggest complaint.
• I was immediately at home driving a MT off road. It's so nice to have the clutch as a tool in the rough stuff.
• Rev hang is exaggerated. I came from a 2017 BMW MT, and my immediate impression was the Tacoma only had about 20% of the rev hang the BMW had.

From what you described, sounds like a stick shift is the way to go.

 

When I came across a 17 TRD with a manual I grabbed it. But there is a lag between pressing the accelerator and the engine spinning up. Definitely a very weird feeling being used to a 100% connection between foot and engine speed, via cable or control rod. So picked up a product called Sprint booster that speeds up the TB opening. Sport 8 seems to give me that 100% feeling I'm used to. As I understand automatics also have the lag but since the autos slip you'd think it was just a lazy pedal. Which is exactly what I thought when I first got a 2020 Tundra.

 

My thoughts are pretty much the same as this post. Driven manuals since I learned how to drive and I will say that this transmission is a jack of all trades but master of none. It does great for commuting around town with a pretty forgiving clutch and relatively smooth shifter - you really don't have to put much thought into getting the shifter into the next gear. As has been stated before, first and reverse (especially reverse) are too tall. Backing up with a trailer on any sort of incline will be difficult unless you put the truck into 4lo. I'm a fan of the 4lo gearing while offroading but I also don't do crazy rock crawling. I would recommend 5.29's if going that direction. Having the traditional hand break is nice if you find yourself in a situation where rolling an inch backwards is not an option.

I didn't give much thought to the automatic when purchasing my truck but I'm happy with my choice after hearing all of the complaints. That being said, I will be test driving the new Tundra when it is released and might be saying goodbye to my manual after all.

OH - last thing. In extremely cold weather the clutch pedal will not come back up quickly at all. Get a little heat into the engine and it's good to go. Never really had this issue with my other manuals but I wasn't living in an area that got extremely cold either.