New Tacoma, crap transmission, sorry dealer. Shoot me now.

I bought a 19 TRD, and sure I find the shift points can be weird in certain scenarios, but 99% of my driving I have no complaints. I do use the ECT every time though, can't stand the laggy pedal response otherwise. I'd say it took a week of driving for either the truck to learn my habits or for me to learn the truck. I still think a lot of the complaints have to either be terrain/ location causing the issues or driving habits. I'm no speed demon but I'd say I drive spirited. No issues with cruise set at 70-80mph and I drive highway 50miles a day.
Make a habit of using ECT every day and give it a week or two to adjust. Or go drive a JKU and then realize how much better the Taco is for everyday driving like I did LOL.

 

Uh, no thanks.

 

I noticed the weird shifting when I bought my 2019 but I just got use to it I guess. I just push on the gas pedal more now and seems like it doesn't shift as much. Still love my 2019.

 

My 2018 TRD Off-Road was pretty shifty, especially on hills, when it was new, or it would hang onto a lower gear after climbing a hill and then leveling out. Sometimes those RPMs would jump up to 4000-4500. After I reached 5,000 miles, everything settled down and it's well-behaved.

 

Its a love hate relationship. I'm on my 3rd Taco and all 3 had issues and quirks, rattles and squeaks. Some of the issues were the same and others were one offs to each truck. At the end of the day is it 100% perfect, definitely not, and nothing ever is. It does however meet 90% off my needs in a vehicle and 1 of those are reliability. Also it's better than any other offering out there and the #1 resale on planet earth is just a nice bonus.

 

People need to stop reading about trucks and drive them...guaranteed there aren’t this many people in the world so picky about shift points. Reading people bitch has driven these people to believe they are experts on powerband. I have literally never heard anyone bitch about this stuff in other vehicles. Maybe transmission experts only drive tacos...

Secondly, how can trans shifting ruin your experience with the truck? So much regret for something that is such a non-truck concern.

Thanks for being today’s complainer...

 

i felt like that when i first got my TRD Offroad 19 (auto) that it was always hunting for gears and lagging, generally "slow." but then again i had been driving a 4cyl Forrester for the past 4 years and was used to its pep.

Anyways after about 3000 miles either my truck "learned" my driving habbits or i adapted to the truck but either way now there's no gear hunting and the thing drives amazingly. I think you can give it time to learn your driving habits or fuck it trade it in and get something else

 

Agreed

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/12/01/why-your-vehicles-resale-value-matters/2155753002/

This year, trucks and SUVs dominated the top of the resale value charts as Americans continue the trend of buying roomier rides. The Subaru WRX was the lone vehicle, ranking in at number 10 in 2018.

The vehicles are:

1. Toyota Tacoma
2. Toyota Tundra
3. Toyota 4Runner
4. Jeep Wrangler
5. GMC Sierra
6. Chevrolet Silverado
7. Ford F-Series
8. Chevrolet Colorado
9. Honda Ridgeline
10. Subaru WRX

 

I'm 100% with you. In my forester i was so used to just mashing the gas because like you say "i drive spirited" but then realizing i need to adapt how i like to drive for my Tacoma. Reality is now it drives perfect in my opinion, and when i now go to drive my forester it is complete 180, i'm not used to the amount of burst it has off the line and need to coddle the gas pedal

 

Everyone here telling you to give it a grace period and let it iron itself out, you'll get used to it, blah blah blah. If you want, try to get used to it, if you can bare it. After you have that internal fight with yourself about it all just being in your head but don't win and come to realize its actually the truck, go back to the dealer and don't take no for an answer. Get the tech, service writer, service manager(everybody and they mommas) and have them hop in the truck with you and do the same thing over again. Then have them let you test drive another one of their new trucks, similar to yours, so you can COMPARE what it should feel like. That way they can't snake their way out of having to own up to it. Regardless of what the issue is, if there's an issue, THERE'S AN ISSUE! You have a warranty, don't let them push you over. I've been in this industry long enough to know the reason why they call them Stealerships, and I've only been in this industry a couple of years.

 

I find the Taco in non-ECT mode really likes to be babied off the line. That's its sweet spot for smooth shifting. Very light on the gas with a steady foot... if you feather the pedal, the tranny starts having seizures.

 

Go drive a 8 speed something and see what you think.

 

Yes absolutely agree with that. Now if you want to get off the line faster, throw on the ECT and go - i do that if i need to get up to highway speeds or to pass on the highway
But for the most part light on the gas to start with a steady foot then you can put more into it

Hell that or use the S mode to hold it in gear before you want to have it shift

 

I think the learning period is largely bs. What changes is the driver forgets the power of his last vehicle, stops constantly comparing the pedal response and starts to just enjoy his truck.

 

That's not learning?

 

Friends don't let friends buy ATs.

 

@Dogtown Darren

I've put about 12K miles on my 2019 I bought in late March. Maybe about 4K of that towing. Been going up and down mountains along the West Coast and in British Columbia and Alberta Canada. I have had a hard time with this freaking transmission. Drove me crazy at times downshifting 3 times, then back up 2, then down 2, then back up 3, then down 3...

But, after having the truck for almost half a year I have finally come to terms with the transmission. Maybe it was my driving style that needed to change and finally did or maybe the 'learning' finally kicked in, either way it doesn't seem to hunt as much (or, I don't notice it as much). Good thing too, cause that was my big drawback. Now I can simply enjoy the truck!

 

Well, there's a link in my sig that you might be interested in. Watch if it you want, but if you do, ask yourself how many ppl had to complain before a Toyota engineer would speak that way.

I guarantee it was more than a couple of whiners on TW.

 

It's 2wd so my honest suggestion on a budget is to find a totaled 6MT truck, rip the rear third member out, and swap that into your truck. Swapping to 4.30 gears does miracles for the AT and it was much less likely to hunt.

IMO 4.56 is the sweet spot on the AT for the larger OR/Pro tires so with what you have, 4.30 is probably pretty damn close.

 

That's how I drive my Outback 2010 2.5 and the "shift points" on that cvt are weird as well. Honestlt test driving two 19 Tacos, SR5 and OR I didn't find them really any different than my Outback and both were V6 Tacos. Granted I didn't feel like the 19 4R I took out was any different so I feel like I'd probably not notice anything with the power train if I get a new Taco.