Third gen's worst nightmare...

Think you are over exaggerating it OP, should've been noted on test ride, keep it in higher RPM.

 

I called my service dept about it they said not to override what the transmission wants to do as it should always know what the best gear to have the transmission in when pulling stuff.

 

Do you have the 2.5 4-banger or 3.5 v-6?

 

3.5L 2023 SR DC 4wd Auto

 

I know these little trucks are not the best in towing, I am going full size next. However, I tow a JD2025r on a 6' x 14' landscape trailer and as much hay as I can on same trailer and in the bed here in NH without any issues. I do have a MT with the larger pumpkin and better ratio, but still.

 

they let me pull my 5k boat around with one of the new frontier 3.8 ZF 9 speeds and it was night and day difference on the highway. And its geared higher at the diffs so I guess the issue is in the transmission on the Tacomas.

 

I need pics of a 17' john boat that weighs 5000lbs. Buddies decked out alumacraft doesn't weigh that. The 17' g3 with a 90 doesn't even weigh half of that. The 18' nomad is just shy of 3500.

 

proceed

 

Could be I can push it around by hand

 

On the high end you likely closer the 2000.

Get a tune it helps with these things temperamental transmissions.

 

do you know one that wont mess with the warranty. I have 3 years left on the powertrain and 1 on the B2B.

 

Everything i have read and been told says a dealership cannot tell if there is a tune applied to the truck. If your concerned make sure you have it done with a local tuner that can re flash if need be. But as far as I know no one has had warranty denied based off a tune. Now failed emissions test is a different story.

 

Interesting?

 

It comes down to who you think knows best; the people that designed and built it, or the guys at the dealer?

 

I don't know what this means...

For crying out loud, rev the engine. let her loose!

 

Sounds like operator error. Welcome to TW.

 

I would take that with a grain of salt. Sounds like an answer given just to get rid of you. The truth is the 6AT and the 3.5 don’t mesh well, with gearing and programming aimed at maximizing mpg.

These transmissions will gear hunt excessively if not told what to do when loaded down and in hilly county. It will constantly try to upshift, realize it can’t maintain that power at lower rpm and then downshift hard again under load. It’s honestly one of the worst modern transmissions I’ve driven, if it wasn’t so durable, it would be hard to forgive.

The problem is the truck has no clue what the right gear is under certain circumstances.That constant gear changing while climbing and under load will actually put more strain on the transmission, heating up the fluid excessively and shortening its life span.

There’s a lot of clueless people at the dealership service department that don’t know the specific quirks of this platform or cars in general. They will give you an easy answer even if it’s not entirely true just to get you off their back.

After 10 years of ownership and 236,000 miles I’ve learned to live with this trucks poor drivability. There’s absolutely no problem using s3 and s4 the keep the truck in the correct gear. As long as you’re not banging off redline constantly. It will keep the truck from constantly self guessing itself and overheating the transmission.

It has been such a major point of contention that that they did complete 360 on the 4th gen. The 2.4 hybrid is designed the climb an 8% grade at highway speed without downshifting. I’ve test driven several. Best engine ever put in a Tacoma. Diesel like torque curve, smooth and accurate transmission, can easily stay between 1500 and 3000 rpm, even on the steepest grades at highway speed, loaded down and running 35 inch tires. I’d definitely recommend test driving one if the 3rd gen is driving you crazy.

 

huh, I'd like to test drive a 4th gen. Is this true of the non hybrid engine too?

 

Same story with the non hyrid, all the torque at 1700 rpm. The hybrid eliminates turbo lag. The power gains from the hybrid are more noticeable loaded down, towing and off roading.