2023 Tacoma Manual Transmission...likes and dislikes?

It's obviously subjective but I find it underpowered in terms of power under the curve. Looking at peak figures it seems reasonable but you have to flog it to do work. I got into the truck knowing this as I was looking for a basic truck with 3 pedals.

For comparison I've had a V8 Titan, 5.4 F150 and 4 cylinder Nissan Hardbody. None of those trucks felt underpowered even though the Tacoma is faster than 2 of them. As far as the clunky transmission, it is hands down the worst feeling and least engaging MT of anything I've owned; including the Nissan Hardbody.

 

It’s definitely way underpowered in the bottom end in my experience, and the throttle response is just terrible. Sadly, in my opinion, a tune barely does anything to fix it either. It makes it feel slightly more eager to go, but it still has the same weird random throttle hesitations that overall make it very lethargic feeling.

If I keep it at high rpm then the performance is ok, not great but acceptable. But the low end is terrible and no one will ever convince me differently. My 4.0 6-speed was so so so much better feeling. Too bad that truck was a junker in other ways. Had I had an earlier frontier that was built with not worn out tooling, I think that would have been my forever truck. Though at this point I may as well push the Tacoma as far as it’ll go.

 

I’m surprised that people call this transmission clunky. I think it’s pretty smooth. I once owned a car with a tremec tko. That was an unbearable pos.

 

coming from driven a 98’ f150 with a v6 5 speed manual for 12 years I thought the Tacoma had poor low end torque so I tuned it with the valley runner from valley tuning. It’s much better now. 32k miles 22’ AC white.

 

Just in case it’s not obvious to everyone, ECU tunes have no effect on the manual transmission.

 

Our 1995 F150 had the venerable 4.9 I6 with a 5-Speed manual, now that SOB had torque!

 

That’s correct. No effect on the radio or A/C either, but…they definitely have an effect on the engine performance

 

But this thread is about the available transmissions. I realize treads often get hijacked and I’ve been guilty of that myself, but why do ECU tunes have to leak into almost every thread?

I will also say that I have to see any objective evidence that ECU tunes make a significant difference to engine performance. The only engine performance mod that I have seen objective evidence of significant change is the magasun super charger.

 

now who’s hijacking threads?

 

I don’t know what else to call it besides performance but the OTT tune even on mild changed my truck significantly. There is now torque available at lower rpm that was definitely not there before the tune. That and the deletion of the accumulator have made my 6spd so much better

 

I have a '23 manual, I wouldn't change to an auto. I have driven manuals for 27 years now...damn that makes me sound old, but don't feel it...it's not the best manual I have ever driven but not the worst either. The gearing is a bit weird in 1st/2nd which took some getting used to. Removing the clutch accumulator made it feel better with engagement and got rid of the slipping clutch feeling. In terms of reverse I bought the 2lo harness (haven't installed it yet) to help fix the gearing on reverse which is terrible. It's really hard to back uphill without roasting the clutch. Overall I wouldn't change a thing.

 

This is what I grew up driving, and probably why my expectations of truck engine performance are what they are..

 

I dickered around with OTT and...some other tune I don't recall a fair bit, but anyway I tend to agree. I think they largely remap the gas pedal more than any actual engine parameters.

No one is going to be able to convince me that the 3.5 isn't a good little motor that Toyota neuters though. Those glorious first few seconds when it's cold (and probably just dumping in gas like there is no tomorrow), it has fantastic, snappy throttle response and a wonderful low end. I usually take it easy on cold engines but I got in a hurry leaving work one day and misjudged some oncoming traffic and had to get on it...was like a totally different truck...it just ripped. I paid close attention to how it drove cold after that, and was really sad it couldn't be like that all the time.

 

I've heard it described as a "box of rocks" and I was left there scratching my head.

 

Yeah some people's opinions, I just don't understand.

I can understand for 1st to 2nd gear only (even then, I've learned to shift above 3k RPM for it to shift smoothly), but otherwise, I've found this transmission to be smooth. This applies to all 4 manual Tacomas I drove.

And it's not like I have a small sample size. I've driven various manual cars with meh and awesome feeling gearboxes, like various M3s, Lancer Evolutions, S2000s and Type Rs, Miatas and RX7s, and many more

 

straight 4.9 was basically a v8 for its time. The 4.2 v6 was fun. It had the lower intake gasket issues where it would suck coolant into the pistons through the intake. Fixed that at 120k and it ran for another 75k before I sold it.

 

It helps with the drivability of the truck. I don’t have to press the pedal as far down. Also louder.

 

Had one of these too. Could start in 2nd no problem. Murdered out, easily parallel parked. Can’t imagine filling those tanks now.

 

Yeah, the two fuel tanks cost a pretty penny to fill, but hey, the truck goes a long way on two tanks.

 

I asked about this shortly after I got my 2021 TRD V6 MT6SP. and didnt get any good answers. So, a tune didn't help?