Always in "Sport" Mode...

This sounds right to me. S4 holds onto first gear longer than D in my truck. S4 also shifts into 4th sooner than D for me. S4 feels more natural to the truck whereas D feels "tuned" to my habits. I think you're right about this.

 

To me it seems easier to use the accelerator pedal to encourage a shift up or down when in ECT. Like non learning ATs of old.

 

2022 SR5 new in December of 22. 179483 miles. Been in s mode entirely since around 7k miles when I had it tuned. It’s not for temporary use.

 

Wow! That's a lot of S Mode driving. Thanks for chiming in. How do you use S Mode? In town driving or on the highway too? Also, what tune do you have?

 

Hometown ain’t lying, thee whole truth and nothing but!

 

Hometown ain’t lying, thee whole truth and nothing but!

 

I do not think that is true. The owners manual says s-mode is for engine braking. That also matches my intuition. You can certainly use it for other things.

 

I agree, this is not true at all or there would be all sorts of warnings in the manual written by these mysterious "Toyota engineers".

OP:Use auto-auto or fake-auto (S mode) and you and your gear box will be fine.

 

I will say that using s-mode constantly to hold the truck in a lower gear under normal driving conditions will cause increased gasoline usage, noise pollution, and wear on the engine. The same is true of leaving a manual in a gear higher gear than necessary. It’s not likely to grenade the engine though… unless taken to extreme excess.

Internal combustion engines are generally most efficient at low rpm and high load.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNspNdVkslA

 

FWIW.. I spend the great majority of my time in Sport/Manual mode with my 2018 Tacoma SR 3.5L 4x4 automatic. I have 110,000 miles with approx ~18k of that towing and the truck still feels fresh/tight.

 

You're averaging 90k miles a year?! impressed.

 

The extra oil pressure from higher rpm, combined with the lesser load from the gearing that results in the higher rpm, should pretty much make any concerns about wear or longevity null and void.

 

Higher rpm results in higher piston speeds, bearing loads, heat, etc., but yes I agree it could be a wash if the rpm is not excessive

 

I bought an automatic trans because I was forced to buy one.

 

This is great information. Thanks for chiming in. How do you use S Mode? Just in town or on the highway too?

 

What you're saying would be true if I was driving around at 40mph in 2nd gear constantly. However, I'm rarely spinning much higher than 2,000rpm in any gear around town which I assume would be better for the engine than lugging at 1,100rpm up a hill before the transmission decides to downshift. Engines hate being lugged so the extra momentum in the block can actually prevent wear and tear in the long run as long as the RPM isn't excessive like you said.

My question was about whether or not the transmission is designed to be driven in this mode constantly. I think we can all agree that the engine is probably much better off with a reasonable amount of extra momentum to prevent lugging even if it marginally hurts MPG's.

 

Highway also. I'm carrying an additional ~400 lbs in armor/cap/winch/tools and don't have a tune. Even with 4.88 gears I prefer to choose my own shifting (I'm 6 years in.. so I don't even have to think about it.)

 

ECT mode on my stock 2023 shifts into 4th at 40 mph.
As long as I stay below 40, I avoid that last up shift.

This shift at 40 winds up a bit more than 1,2,3 do.
It shifts into 4th around 2600 rpm on the analog factory tach, then drops to 2000 at 40 mph.

In my head, this seems right, so the rpm is still in the bottom of the engine torque range after the shift into a higher gear.
This would seem appropriate especially when towing.

 

I basically run in S6 now by default. With a tune on the truck it is much nicer to drive in S6 then D (even more of a difference than stock tune), and you can command it to downshift to 5th or 6th when needed for merging onto highways or going up steeper slopes.

 

I also live in a hilly area and to and from work Im always in S4 or S5. I dont use the 6th gear untill im on the freeway and its flat. The 6 speed auto trans in these trucks suck.