No Off-Road Manual Tacomas available in stock

I just bought a 2013 Double Cab TRD Off-Road with a manual transmission from Toyota of Greenville in South Carolina.

 

I share your confusion. about a lot of things in this thread. both trans are good bets even if you want a manual. I have had zero problems with mine, though others in earlier year models have complained. the automatic is stellar.

I would not trade my truck for an automatic but maybe that's my personality. it will not break. you can burn clutches, destroy throwout bearings, but the trans is good.

towing will not destroy a manual trans. you may burn a clutch, but how do you hurt a manual transmission? even if the gearing were wrong, which part would break? in my experience, the motor doesn't go when overloaded. that is all.

the manual will not shift like the dodge. I have not driven a dodge mt that didn't make a nice, firm "CLOCK" with every shift. im not up to date with the new dodge (2500+) six-gear, but have driven it and it is very nice. the last one (nv5600), was fit for a semi and is well known in the diesel world to be absolutely un-breakable.

 

I think the main thing that can happen is under increased loads you can shear oil which eventually compromises its ability to lubricate, but that of course can be combated with different oils or more frequent changes.

I don't really know how prone our transmissions are to shearing oil- that's a residual piece of information in my head from one of my old bikes, which had straight cut gears and would shear oil like there's no tomorrow.

 

The reliability issue with the MT is mainly the throwout bearing. Several people have had their's replaced several times.

The gearing is a totally different issue. With SIX gears it does not excel onroad and struggles off. My truck easily crawls over obstacles in 4hi without any sign of struggle. Others with the same truck with the only difference being the MT struggle in 4lo making it over the same obstacles. Usually getting over the obstacle involves a lot of over revving and clutch riding, and again this is in 4LO! You're really going to notice this aspect towing a large trailer.

 

i had to special order mine!!! 6speed off-road DC r only bouild for the west coast….. this info is as per Toyota cust service…. could they have made it up?…maybe!… but all i could say is "im in NJ and I called dozens and dozens of dealers within the eastern seaboard for weeks….with no luck!!! finally just went to a dealer with $ to show interest and had the truck made to order and delivered in 8 weeks!

 

When we were buying our Venza last spring I was driving my 05 double cab TRD that I sold last fall. It was an auto. The salesman asked how I liked it and I said I wish it was a manual. And he then explained that double cabs with manuals had always been extremely rare and most of them they sold they special ordered. My current 05 double cab is an auto too. If I had the means to buy one brand new I would probably get a six speed but finding one is hard enough. Finding one that's mint could take a long time. And honestly with my commute the 2MPG loss in mileage would add up quick. I've spent a lot of seat time in my brother in law's 05 Sport with a six speed and actually I think the 5 speed in the 4 cylinder trucks shifts way nicer and has better gearing. I put 102k on one of those I bought new and loved it. I like the control of a manual but I have to say the 5 speed auto's in the 05-up trucks are really nice. And they tow just fine. I've towed around 5k pounds with my old 05 a number of times and it did fine. You really need a trailer brake controller though. And there are some issues that can come up with the autos too. My last one needed the wire harness inside the transmission replaced. The plug on the side of the transmission corrodes and causes the check engine light to come on, they start shifting hard, etc. Plug faces up and can get full of crap. Fortunately the shop that fixed mine was able to fix the truck side of the harness otherwise I would have needed that too. That was at about 130k miles. Nowhere near as common as throwout bearing failures on the six speeds but I have heard of a few others especially on tundras that use the same transmission.

 

It could be that they need practice. Masterfully manipulating power at partial clutch is one of the most difficult MT skills to master. I know I'm still working on it. The AT doesn't magically solve this with "better" gearing- it just automatically takes care of slipping.

 

I love my DC OR 6speed