New member/My not so good Tacoma experience

Hey all, brand new to this but not brand new to Toyota. This is my personal experience and I'm sure there are different opinions good and bad.


I have owned 5 toyota vehicles to date. I've been happy with everyone of them except this one. 5 months ago I went and purchased a brand new 2017 toyota tacoma trd 4x4 off road pick up. I was rather happy with it until I started my once a week commute on the highway. This is when I began noticing the erratic shifting behaviors of my transmission. It starts with overpasses and cruise control. I would set the cruise control at 75. Didn't realize that It was going to be this trucks mission in life to stay at 75 at all costs. This is where the erratic shifting begins. Going uphill the truck would down shift and there was nothing smooth about this. Same thing on the downhill side and the upshift. Driving in a head wind? same thing down shift up shift down shift up shift. In a race/not in a race etc..Transmission couldn't make up its mind. This became more apparent in the months to follow. Driving around town I would have to baby the throttle to get the transmission to shift smoothly. If you drive the truck "lightly" it felt way under powered. Or you could drive it like your in a race and it had plenty of power. Drive in between and the constant hunt to find a gear starts.

Spoke with the master mechanic at my dealer "off the record" he said he has heard about this from other owners and there is nothing toyota is doing about it at the moment. "On the record" he hooked it up to his computer and all systems are normal.
I also spoke with a second Mechanic at a different dealership and he gave me the same story.
Basically toyota is aware of it but is mute on what there plans are to fix it.
Can't believe a toyota signed off on this truck. First real disappointment with a Toyota vehicle.

I had every intention on keeping this truck for 10 years but the shifting issues and some small other issues are not something I could live with. Ended up taking a financial hit on the truck. The dealer that I purchased the truck from helped me out in the best way that they could and being the Toyota fan that I am and not wanting to give up on Toyota.
I traded it for a 2018 tundra. So far I am more than happy with it. Much smoother transmission, hoping this one works out for me.

Just putting it out there for all you guys thinking about the purchase of a new one

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

OP. I am in the same situation you are. I am in a lease though, but I cannot afford to take that kind of hit. That would be a HUGE hit for me.

 

2nd Gen = Best Gen. Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TW! I thought there was a re-flash for the trans that would get rid of the constant shifting.

 

Howdy

 

Per my mechanic most of the 2017's have the upgraded software.

 

Check out @OVTune on here, a lot of people are very happy with his ecu flash. It sucks you have to pay more money to make your truck run right but it seems to be the only option unless Toyota decides to fix their stock tune to function better on the highway.

Edit: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2016-toyota-tacoma-v6-ecu-tuning-alpha-release.495735/