Manual Transmission fanatics, sound off here. XD

Hey everyone,

Just wanna say I am looking forward to driving the new Tacoma with the 6 speed manual again in a few months. I have always loved manuals, ever since my first manual which was a 1981 Toyota Corolla in 1991. I’ve had a couple manual transmission cars and trucks since then but now have the manual itch again. XD

I was even a CDL truck driver for eight years from 2004-2012 when health problems forced me to retire. (670,000 miles driven, CDL and regular license since 1988)

I want to hear your Toyota Tacoma, (or other) manual transmission stories and how good or bad they were. Funny stories, sad stories, even the OMG ones if ya like.

I want it to be my mission to keep the manual transmission fans going until I’m 100 years old and refusing to give up rowing the gears and using a clutch. XD

Let’s have some fun here, and pictures if you have any… ^^

-DG

 

Been driving a manual for ~30 years now. It wasn't necessarily a planned thing, just how it worked out. Initially, anyhow. With overlap & oddballs in-between, it's gone as:

• 1989 Toyota 2WD 1/4 ton. This truck is what sold me on Toyota. 22R, 4 speed, AC & radio delete from the factory. Bought it with 125K on the clock, put another 100K on it and sold it to my dad. He put another 50K+ on it before he stopped driving altogether. It lost a water pump in all of that time, IIRC. I think it spent half the time with me loaded down to the bump stops. I beat this truck to death and it just. kept. going.

• 1963 Chevy C10. This was a toy. Started life as a long/wide, 292 ci I6 and 3 on the tree. I initially bought it planning on a simple engine & tranny swap, and bomb it with rebrand house paint from Parts Plus (anyone remember them?). When the dust settled a few years later, I had bought 3 trucks of this era for parts, swapped & robbed over to one short wheelbase frame, completely blasted & painted the frame, added a short-step box, relocated gas tank, disk brakes on all corners, 9" out back, power steering, ect, ect. The initial McLeod clutch & PP I put in meant every day was leg day, so that clutch didn't last too long. It was sprung with a warm 377ci & a Muncie M21. I purposely didn't keep receipts, so no clue on how much $$$$ spent. I didn't know, and I didn't want to know . Lots of O/T at work & Ramen at home.

• 1989 F150 4x4, 302 ci, 5 speed. I dumped the factory auto hubs & added Warn manual hubs and 33" (IIRC?) KO2's. This thing was a card-carrying brute. I went places I had absolutely no business being in, and it would just roll right out. I loved this truck, but I was under it, over it, or in it every da** weekend with a wrench in one hand and cash in the other. No bueno for a work truck.

• 1990 Jeep YJ, 2.5 I4, 5 speed & soft top/doors. Not much to add to this one, other than it was just a disappointment. Period. Got stuck once on flat ground, dewed grass (that was embarrassing) . My boys were about 10 and 12 at the time, and they didn't even like it. That didn't last real long. Lesson learned.

• 2005 Dodge Ram. My first brannew truck . 4 door, 4.7L and 6 speed manual. This truck has been my daily driver up until this last October, and I've really had 0 complaints with it. It was getting long in the tooth and the repairs were starting to add up. My youngest wrecked his truck & had been shopping for a replacement, but prices have been so high that he couldn't find much he could afford that wasn't a rolling grenade. Dad to the rescue. I bought my current Tacoma and put the Dodge in a local trusted shop & told them to make it mo' gooder. That hurt, but my boy's set now.

• 2023 TRD Sport, 3.5L/MT. 13K & change on the odometer. This is where I'm at now. Took it down to the river bottom last week. It's not a bad road (my Dodge would do it when dry), but can be challenging through a couple spots. She took it in stride.

 

ironically, the same people making massive statements are the same that are terrified of turning traction control off...

 

Traction Control, whats that? XD

Traction control, what’s that? XD

 

Dunno if anyone wants the list of manual cars I owned since I started driving in 1988.

I would buy a car, drive it around, fix it up if it needed, then sell it if someone offered to buy it a few months later. Mostly all were pretty cheap, around $500 to $3,000. (Except the Mercury Tracer, which was new in 1995)

The manual transmission cars:
1981 Toyota Corolla, first four speed. Just couldn’t kill this car.
1986 Chevy S10, basic 4 Cylinder Iron Duke with four speed. Basic shop truck, light blue with rubber floor mats, no carpets.
1984 Ford Escort Wagon, junker that was $250.00 from a guy my brother arrested. Paid the impound fee for it.
1995 Mercury Tracer LTS, first nice car purchased from the dealer. 4 Door Violet Metallic paint.
1986 Ford Ranger Extracab, v6 with 5 Speed, Rwd, did some GREAT burnouts with that truck too. Single tire fryer. XD
2000 Ford Mustang LX v6 5 speed. Got married to my wife when we owned that. It was a car that very comfortable and just fit right. XD
2003 Chevy S10 Extra cab, black 5 speed RWD. Used for delivery work.
1991 Ford Explorer 4 door with five speed. Great truck and pretty much indestructible. Wish I owned it still.
1988 Ford Probe, sister gave it to me for $100. Was almost the biggest turd on four wheels, only to be eclipsed by the 2003 Ford Freestar we owned.

My wife owned only one manual transmission car, a 1996 Plymouth Neon 2 door, paid off too. Great car.

I can’t wait to buy the Tacoma when we get the finances cleared from my SSDI case (in litigation after the Federal level, ten years plus, waiting for the favorable decision in my favour.)

-DG

(I’ve owned far more automatic cars than manuals of course. But that doesn’t apply here. XD)

 

Grew up watching mom & dad driving manuals, several VW`s (bugs & campers....were in Germany at the time). I learned on an 83 S10. My 1st manual was was an 89 Ford Tempo coupe...had 2.3l HO and 5 speed. That car was a blast to drive, would smoke em in 1st & 2nd and scratch it in 3rd.

Years ago picked up a beat to death CJ5 that was cobbled together from various years of parts. 6 cylinder w/ 3 speed. A lane changer with sketchy brakes, but it would climb a tree. Loved it.

Drove an 86 Mazda B2000 as a commuter for about 10 years, ending 6 yrs ago. A 2.0l and 5 speed. Had about 375k on it when it got wrecked. Most reliable vehicle I've ever owned until I got the Taco to replace it.

I enjoy driving a manual. I can choose whatever gear I want based on road conditions, tire size, cargo, trailer, etc.

Traction control gets turned off at first sign of snow fall or heavy downpour. The rattle of ABS and retarding of throttle is very distracting and frustrating. I want to feel and hear how tires and road surface interact, and feel which way ass end is moving.

 

Can’t say I have many stories per se, although aside from one truck (automatic Nissan frontier that I didn’t like the auto of, but loved the rest of the truck), all of my vehicles have been manual and will continue to be as long as possible. It’s just impossible to beat the control you have. You can manipulate an auto into doing what you want but I find it to be more exhausting because in an auto I expect to not need to do anything…and get annoyed when I feel like I need to constantly need to mess with the shifter. With a manual it’s just part of it and so that changes my mindset.

I will say, I did just install a 2024 Tacoma transmission in my 2021, and that’s been pretty sweet. That’s the only real “story” or “event” I’ve got.

Vehicles I’ve owned:

1994 Wrangler YJ 4.0L AX15 - 83k - still have

2005 Ford Ranger 3.0L M5ODR1 - sold at 207k

2019 Nissan Frontier 4.0 auto - sold at 32k

2019 Nissan Frontier 4.0 FS6R31A - sold at 36k (had problems - otherwise amazing truck)

2021 Tacoma - No real complaints besides the ultra lame V6.


I think buying a 2024-2025 manual would be a very enjoyable purchase and I wish I had the money to do so. Until I get that money to spare, I’m rocking what I’ve got.

 

That’s pretty sweet indeed! Mad props. One of a kind I’m guessing nobody’s done that. Can you put a link to your build thread? (Be good in a signature or profile info) I failed to locate with search

 

I think I have a build thread link in my signature…but I didn’t put any info about the swap yet. I am still writing up a pretty long detailed thread about the whole job and then I’ll post that and then link to that in my build thread. Don’t really update the build thread much these days.

However, there is a long thread where I posted quite a bit. Great thread with tons of info from good sources before the 2024 trans even was available. Just lucked out that Toyota made it a bolt in fit for the earlier years. Mainly, the input shaft length was what needed to be correct, and Toyota made that happen. Previously the transmission was only available from overseas and the input it came with was wrong (short).

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-including-4th-gen-taco.629019/#post-21539369

 

A love story . . .

Had a Nissan X cab 2WD with 7500 miles on it, manual TX, those two features were the only reason I bought it. Biggest mistake ever.

Went to trade in, guy is trying to sell me a 4x4 Ford (AKA Found On the Road Dead) auto with the shifter on the column (lol.) Being the grease monkey I am, dropped to the ground for a look, entire bell housing and tranny was wet. Told him no deal. Of course he says they just fixed the tranny and forgot to clean it up. :-D Who puts a tranny back in without cleaning s**t up? Wasn't buying it, he said "OK if I put it on my mechanic's jack and we look do we have a deal?" I said "probably not." So he forges forward, drives around the block to his "mechanic" (back shed converted to garage) and the bays are all full. As we pull in the driveway there's this lil' red Taco Xcab (see profile pics,) I said "now THERE'S a truck" he said "yeah just got it in, only 63K miles on it, haven't even priced it out."

He starts arguing with the mechanic, I go over and pop my head in the window and see MANUAL shifter and MANUAL 4x4, and that was all she wrote. Dropped to look under, super clean frame. Told him "we're done. This is the truck." Knew he was going to gouge me but love at first sight doesn't respect a wallet. :-D

Driven sticks since I was 16, VW's, trucks, cars, never liked autos.

 

All I've ever owned has had three pedals (or a clutch lever on the left handgrip). I have to drive auto rentals when I travel which generally sucks. My wife is a hard core manual driver as well. Both our kids learned to drive stick as young teens. I have no beef with folks who prefer to drive an auto, and I know there are plenty of good reasons to do so, but I'm in the MT gang until my knee wears out.
Current stable: 1999 Taco, 2021 Taco, 3 P-cars, 2 moto's, wife's VW, kid 1's mini, kid 2's honda fit. All MT's.

 

Oh, and, Pepperidge Farms remembers.

 

I've never owned anything other than a manual transmission vehicle since I started driving my own rigs in 1969.

Mercury Cougar 1969 to 1976.
Buick Opel 1976 to 1982.
Toyota 4-cylinder 4x4 (Hilux??) 1982 to 1995.
Toyota SR5 V-6 Extra cab 1995 to 2020.
Toyota TRD Sport 2020 to present.

All were great vehicles with the exception of the Buick Opel and even it was great when it was running well. The Cougar has been my only experience to date with vehicular theft and that worked out amazingly well. It was stolen and recovered while I was asleep if you can believe that. I was awakened by a call from the sheriff's office asking me to come get my car. The perps were caught after they ran from a roadblock set up to capture inmates who had escaped from the state prison that was in the general area. "A high-speed chase at speeds up to 110 MPH" resulted per the local newspaper. The perps were juveniles, and I was serving an internship at the local county youth court at the time. They were told by the cops that they had stolen the judge's son's car. . They were pooping bricks when they appeared in court.

 

LOL what a great story… XD

 

Lemme see (M/T's I've owned over the last 40 years, best recollection):

62 VW Beetle
78 Pontiac Sunbird
89 Ford Escort
94 Toyota Pickup
89 Mazda B2200
89 F150
93 Ford Festiva
99 Mazda Protege (Wife's car)
95 Nissan Hardbody
99 Toyota Tacoma
01 Honda Civic
02 Toyota RAV4 (Wife's car)
07 Mini Cooper S
07 Toyota Yaris
08 Toyota Matrix
01 Mazda B2300 (Ranger clone)
12 Golf TDI
07 Porsche Cayman
24 Tacoma

Have driven M151 Jeeps, M35A2 Deuce's, M800 Series 5-Tons, and various old pickups to include 3 on the tree.

I like the way the 24 Taco drives. Lazy shifts and you can really hear the turbo wind up briefly. Very truck-like (a la old F150), almost like a bigger hay truck. First is a little low, 2nd a little high, and all the other gears where they should be. At highway speeds you can pick any gear from 4th - 6th. 6th has plenty of power. Not at all like the old Toyota pickups or early Tacomas.

 

Absolutely love my manual taco, Im keeping it till I cant fix it anymore. This truck is an absolute joy to drive. Smooth shifts, good power = tons of fun!

All my vehicles were black and standard except for this silver 2003 accord with AT that i absolutely hated and couldn't wait to get rid of it.

Ive had:

1990 Black mazda B2200 AC MT
1987 Black camaro MT with the 2.8L(!) haha
1990 Honda civic Si MT
2003 POS accord
2007 Mazda B4000 MT

Here is my current good ol trusty horse:

 

Haha

 

Sorry…that joke of an engine is by far the worst part of the truck for me. I don’t really dislike anything else. Luckily my opinion doesn’t affect your opinion so my thoughts don’t matter too much.

 

No no, all good over here.

Its just everytime i drive my truck, Im trying really hard to understand this "complaint". I still cant figure it out