Is manual trans on a 3rd generation lovely?

Is acceleration mind numbingly slow among trucks of it's class?

 

I'd say it's definitely worth it if you like rowing your own gears. This is only my second MT vehicle I've owned, so I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I do know that my daily commute got more enjoyable after switching to a manual. I knew I wanted a manual Tacoma because I couldn't imagine going back to the mundane experience of driving an automatic.

Despite its imperfections that others have noted, a manual Tacoma still seems like the lesser of two evils after reading complaint after complaint about the auto trans.
I don't mind 1st gear on or off road, but I haven't towed anything yet. 1st to 2nd ratio is crazy, but you get used to it. Reverse is super tall, but 2-Lo mod helps.

The shifter throws are longer than my last car, so much that I laughed out loud at how ridiculous it felt during the first few shifts of my test drive. But that doesn't take long to get used to either. I find the shifting is smooth and easy overall, and like I said, much more enjoyable than sitting and letting a car drive for you.

 

I have time. I'd like to have towing capability by next spring. At least on paper, I'm pretty well sold on the Tacoma. Not interested in anything the Big 3 have to offer right now.

 

It's not a gen7 GTI but I didn't expect it to be that refined. It's better than my '71 Scout.
GTI - Tacoma - Scout
Great - Good - tractor

 

i just came from a mk7 gti and thought it was going to be way worse. it’s actually pretty smooth compared to older manual trucks. i knew I wouldn’t regret going with manual especially after seeing so many complaints about the auto. plus 6mt tacoma is automatic cool points

 

I went from three manual trans Jeep’s to the auto taco. Also have owned probs 10 other manuals. I drove the manual taco and didn’t feel good. The gearing is odd for an off road minded vehicle. 1st and reverse are too tall and the clutch has a weird bite to it. Maybe the accumulator delete might help. Wasn’t something I could live with. The auto has its own issues. So either way it’s something.

 

So, this is why so many "taco mods" exist. The ovtune/vftune will help a lot with engine accel, the accumulator mod will help with clutch feel during shifting, the "2LO" mod will allow you to reverse much much easier, and there's a lot more. You should look in the sticky section for all of the "tips/tricks" and "things you must do" posts and see which are relevant to your situation.

 

After 3 years I still miss the go-cart at times. Such fantastic cars.

 

Thank you all for the solid replies! Way more detail then I expected, and very appreciated! I do wish I could test drive one, but you guys have given me a good idea and confidence that I can make it work.

 

So, as an original owner of my manual 2.7 first gen with 268K miles on it, this thread has me wondering. How do these compare to the first gen from a shifting perspective? I know we are maybe talking apples to oranges but just wondering if anyone has driven both?

 

It's unfortunate, but this is the reason I originally looked used. I guess yolo, but I really hate to go mod crazy before I've even made a couple of payments. Not sure what's up with the vehicle market, but used toyota 4x4s from the 90s pulling $25K and better, make me scratch my head. In 18 months, these trucks will be worth 1/3 of what everyone payed.

 

I will also miss my version of go-cart when the time comes. It will be for the better. I cannot catch 110 in and out out of traffic on many drives home from work without eventual consequences. Statistics say it's a good time for a change.

 

Agreed, little turbo cars are a lot of fun but can be hard on the license. The MT Taco keeps some fun but certainly lowers the speed.

 

I think they get hard on mortality as well, if one gets too comfortable.

Looks like a good weekend of reading.

 

The 3.5L V6 is very wimpy at low rpm and this is best addressed, imo by the M/T vs A/T. I run it up to 4k rpm in 1st gear and then shift to 2nd. In city driving I usually stay in 2nd gear and don't drop bellow 2k rpm and regularly run up to 4k+ rpm. I think 2 of the 4 valves/cylinder open up at around 3.8k rpms as I can feel an uptick in power under load going up a hill.

6th gear is mostly useless. I only use it on the highway at 100+kph (62mph) and if need to accelerate in 6th gear, might as well downshift to 5th.

I don't think it has been mentioned yet but the M/T has lower rear diff gearing vs the A/T.

It has been mentioned but needs repeating because it is the M/T's worst feature: reverse gear is way to high and useless if backing up a hill. You either have to stop and shift to 4lo or ride the hell out of the clutch or the truck will stall.

 

We're not the typical use-case for a 3rd gen I'd say, and I recognize this. We've done the accumulator delete and replaced the clutch twice in the truck already (27k miles). Factory clutch was not great after 20k miles, we'd glazed it from rock crawling the truck a bit too much perhaps (regeared, 35s, long travel, etc) so replaced it with a URD stage 2. It lasted all of 1000 miles before catastrophic failure at which point another factory clutch went in. New clutch is better than the one fresh off the lot brand new so hopefully it stays like that. Plus we arent going to be crawling this rig as much in the future.
FYI I'd still take the manual over the auto if we were to buy a different 3rd gen so trust me I'm not hating, but having owned the 1st gen and 2nd gen Tacoma manual trans trucks I think they're better set up than the 3rd gen IMO which is where my criticisms come from.

 

The transmission itself is very smooth, gear shifts are very easy. One of the smoothest transmissions I’ve ever driven.

Keep in mind that the R is pretty tall and there is an accumulator that make the clutch inconsistent. There are 2 easy mods though.

You will not be disappointed with this 6 speed, I find every excuse to go drive!

 

Interesting take.

I never go to 4K in first unless I’m in a hurry. I usually shift to second at 2-2.5k. Also, in the city I barely go over 3k rpms. I use 6th when cruising down in the city even, plenty of power to accelerate. That was on the stock tune as well.

There is an easy fix for tall reverse gear.

Are you on the latest ECU calibration?

 

The engine is weak?

 

Toyota doesn't really do "orders," dealerships get allocated what they get allocated, and then if they want something else, they try to make a trade with another dealership. I'm not sure dealerships are really trading anymore with the shortage of vehicles, so you'll probably end up traveling 100+ miles if you want a manual anyways. That said, test drive it. You don't want to be out $35k+ buying blind.

I don't tow, and there's 4LO for offroad, but I find that 1st gear is int his weird space of being both too tall and too short. I would either prefer it be taller so that I just always start in 1st and it's closer to 2nd gear, or both it and 2nd gear be shorter so that I can just comfortably start in 2nd all the time, and use 1st as a crawler gear. That's my opinion anyways. Reverse is without a doubt garbage. I feel like I have no control just backing up a driveway with a moderate hill. I can't imagine trying to push a trailer.

I had a '99 v6 T4R, so same drivetrain as the 1st gen Tacomas. I don't remember having any issues with the gearing, it had plenty of pep and was a blast to drive. If I had a way to go back in time and buy it back from insurance after it being totaled, I'm pretty sure I would not have a Tacoma today. That said, I love the Taco. I haven't done the ADM or 2LO mod (though that one is tempting). I get great clutch response, the gears are smooth, not a ton of slop, and it's not too long of a throw.

Agreed. I see a lot of people talking about redlining the motor in 1st and I don't really understand it. I might take 1st up to 3k if I'm pulling out into traffic. I'm usually hanging out around 1500-2000 RPMs unless I desperately need acceleration.