cruise control frustration

I think it depends on how well you pay attention to your driving. The problem with CC on these Tacomas is that, with the lower torque at lower RPM, whenever you hit a hill or headwind, the transmission will downshift and hammer on the throttle to maintain the requested speed. This is the worst thing you can do for gas mileage. And when you're going downhill it lays off the gas to try and keep you at the requested speed, where if you were not using the CC, you would use the gravity of the downhill to accelerate for free, as it were. You should always be able to do better without the CC on these trucks. Always. And, coming back from Monterey a few years ago, on the leg from Monterey to Paso Robles, I was over 27 mpg - 27.4 by the dash and about 27 mpg even by calculation on a 140 mile leg. I do have a shell which helps the wind profile and keep the tires at 40 psi for road trips and kept it between 60 and 65 mph down US101. I was rather shocked at that, but the second leg heading east on CA46 you give up quite a bit because of the climbs with the full trip average being about 24 mpg by the time I got back to L.A.

It's a whole different story when I'm driving my 911 with a manual and it's own CC. The power to weight ratio and torque peak are so far different than the Tacoma and even going over the Grapevine in 5th gear, there's no straining, but you actually can shift up or down without losing the CC.

 

@Sasquatchian, yeah, I get the handicap the automatic models of the Tacoma has given the shift happy transmission (yet another reason why I'm glad I have the 6MT). I am still wondering if the OP has tried turning off the Adaptive Cruise; I know in my Tacoma the two cruise control modes react very differently to both on-road dynamics as well as driver input, as such, my working theory is the automatic models may not shift as much when the Adaptive portion of the Cruise Control system is disabled instead of being enabled by default.

 

Completely agree regarding the 6MT. My 2018 performed exactly how the OP describes. My 2022 6MT works like I would expect it to.

FWIW, I rather enjoy the Adaptive CC in the 2022. I got used to how it performs in other vehicles before I had it in a truck. Personally, I don’t think Toyota’s version of ACC is any different from the others. I think the primary issue is the AT transmission shift map. Just this guys opinion though.

 

I guess the one thing which really bugs me regarding the ACC is it doesn't disengage when I tap the clutch pedal.

 

When I have adaptive cruise control on, I shift to S mode, 5 or 6, depending on how I'm loaded. The shift points are a little better. Without S mode, the tach will get "stuck" at about 3K, even after cresting a hill. With S mode on, it shifts more quickly.

 

What happens if you engage cruise control without the adaptive mode?

 

I find that the standard CC does perform better and with less shifting. Yes it shifts up on hills and has to take too long to shift down again but it does not respond to the car pulling in front of you with an even greater use of acceleration.

 

Seems to behave similarly. It was frosty this morning, pre-collision system was not working due to the frost. I engaged regular cruise control and put transmission to S6. I didn't notice any different behavior from when I do this in adaptive cc.

 

I want to mention to those that use their ACC on hills or curved that it is dangerous especially if the roads are wet. The ACC's job is to keep the vehicle at the set speed and of course it will rev up or down depending on the speed change when going up or down hills and curves. Just saying

 

Thanks everyone for the responses! I think im going to try out the KDMax tune and ill let yall know what i experience in changes. until I get it, ill try the normal CC for the first leg of the trip, and no CC for the second leg, and share those results too for those curious.

 

Mine works fine, not as seamless as my wife Subaru but works good.

 

@Nirango kid

This is definitely not the time I would use Cruise Control...Dynamic or otherwise on wet roads.

I've used Cruise on my 5-Speed 1993 Isuzu Rodeo...way back in the 90s...and if I remember correctly, the brake pedal disengages Cruise.

 

Each of the 20(ish) cars my wife and I have had in the last 40 years which had both a manual transmission and cruise control would disengage the cruise control when the clutch pedal was depressed. The only exception, sort of, is the Tacoma; when Adaptive Cruise Control is engaged, depressing the clutch will NOT disengage the Cruise Control; very annoying.

 

@Horseshoez

Maybe I was doing it wrong? lol

That SUV is long gone and so is the owner's manual.

 

No, I think you got it right; I think the Tacoma does it wrong when ACC is engaged.

 

I agree totally that cruise hurts gas mileage if you have a gentle throttle foot. I am unbelievably surprised how many people use cruise that are on here. I only consider it on long interstate driving to give my foot a rest.

 

When I was a lot younger I used to collect speeding tickets like an old nag collects flies out in a field in August. I learned using Cruise Control, even when in moderate traffic, dramatically cut down on the tickets; I've been using it ever since.

 

My 2021 SR5 4 x 4 AT @ 75 to 80 mph will cruise around 2000 rpm.
But I normally when using cc it’s set around 70, getting close to 22 in the winter, and pushing close to 26 in the summer. No compliants.

 

OP- I can 100% recommend the KDMAX Pro 9.0 tune. I had the same frustrations as you are having because I use CC all the time in constant speed mode. With the KDMAX 9.0 all my frustrations went away. This tune is exactly what you are looking for!

 

That's actually my favorite part about the ACC in my 6MT, that the cruise remains on when shifting. IMO that's how it should be, but it's unlike any other manual with cruise that I've driven. I don't want cruise to disengage every time I need to downshift for a hill, it makes sense in my mind that it disengages with the brakes and not the clutch. Behaves like an automatic in that regard, besides me picking the gear and when it shifts myself.