About to pull the trigger on a 23 Offroad Manual transmission Tacoma tomorrow.

well done! LED headlights too!

 

I hated my 22 manual offroad. I traded it in gladly.

 

I heard it didn't like you much either.

 

Post #80 in this thread probably sums it up.

 

I think I’m officially an old man, been a die hard manual enthusiast all my life owned many a manual including my current taco but in all honesty I’m meh about it either way, the thing I enjoy most about my manual is how easy it is to change the transmission fluid in all honesty

but I do understand your excitement and enthusiasm for it, before I got my manual I haven’t driven one in years

 

IMHO if you asking “do I really need a manual” then you probably don’t.

Im one of those folks that will only drive MT vehicles, it’s a must for me. If Tacoma didn’t offer MT, I would be rocking a Frontier.

FWIW I absolutely love to drive my truck on/off-road.

 

Good points.

2WD LOW mod solves tall R issue completely. I use the mod every time I’m towing.

I also use the mod when backing up steep driveways unladen.

 

Find the right dealer it takes time. My msrp was 40047 for my manual off road, sold for 38547. Then another 400 off for scratches. It takes time and I had to drive 3 hours each way

 

Would be nice to hear why.

 

So update. I found my white whale as I said.. I did "pull the trigger on it"

...or so I thought. I "Bought it" online. put in the credit info, license, insurance info. uploaded all the documents. Showed up 15 miles away this morning (they were closed Sunday.) Found the truck in seconds. It was 100% unprepped plastic bags on the seat.. literally super fresh. I walked into the dealer. Sat down with a sales guy and told him which one I "Bought"



He says "Oh. I think that one already has a contract on it. Let me go check" He comes back.. yup.. I bought it Saturday night. someone an hour earlier bought it before I did. It arrived on Saturday and was bought before hand. So.. I lost this one. I thought I had it too.

So, the sales guy said to me. Look.. Lets order it.. Ill scour every deal nationally and see if someone will trade us for it. That could be fast.. if not.. it could be a month,, or two.. or 4.. No way to say. So we talked about it and I said what I wanted.. and told him three colors that would be 100% fine.. Blue, red and the Metallic Grey.. all of those are fine.

so I put in a order for that and now we wait to see what comes up.

The Manual Taco fully loaded Offroad is a tough one to find. I put down $500 for them to look for me. Details to follow.

Kind of a crazy process.



I am trying guys!!!!

 

Last year in my neck of the woods every single manual Taco was sold before it was built, but the vast majority of the dealers leave that little detail out when they post incoming Tacomas on their website. Because they want you to call them or better yet go there in person.

Good luck and I really hope you get one!

EDIT: I just checked my dealer website Labadie Toyota and out of 19 incoming Tacomas 2 are manual and both are sold.


.

 

You’re gonna be better off finding one on the ground, flying to get it and driving back. There are 36 showing up on CarGurus. I’d cross reference it with Toyotas incoming inventory and start dialing with credit card ready.

 

I'll take a stab at that.

I enjoy driving a manual. I've been driving for 49 years now and had more manuals than automatics. But that was with old school trucks and SUV's that got torque at low rpm. My 1985 and 1995 Fords got their torque at 2000-2500 rpm. A 3rd gen Tacoma needs 4600 rpm. Combine that with higher gearing in both the transmission and axles and you have a lousy vehicle for towing and hauling. It's OK for a sports car, but I didn't buy the Tacoma to have a sports car.

The torque converter in an automatic gets the power to the ground much better without having to constantly slip the clutch with a manual. And I've yet to see an automatic that would not let you manually select the best gear for the road conditions. There are no upsides to owning a manual anymore. They haven't even offered a manual in 3/4 and 1 ton pickups for years because automatics do everything better.

 

This is why I post these updates and where I am. I 100% love the idea of my son and I flying somewhere and driving a car home. a GREAT american road trip.

One of my favorite books ever is Zen and motorcycle maintenance. (I read it because of the title.. and LOVED it) I 100% love a good road trip.

Cargurus.. ok.. I was wondering what sites would show what is out there. Chicago.. Indy. Boston.. there are plenty of direct flights out of Cleveland. Hell Id even go to Atlanta or IOWA.

Good Lord according to CarGurus there are 7 Nationally. 7 That is it. Now of course what I cannot see is the list of these trucks that are being made or are made and are in what he called "Allocation"

I wonder if there is time enough to order one and have it made? We are almost 2 months away from the annual Toyotathon event. Wouldnt that be cool if this lined up.

 

"Better" is a matter of perspective and preference
I have zero complaints about the RPM/torque/shifting

 

I had to basically buy my manual DCSB AG taco about 3 months before I got it

Toyota smartpath controls the distribution and i found one that entered the queue the day it was listed after refreshing it every day, and gladly paid to reserve it.

 

Last year I bought a 22' AC auto. 6 weeks later I was poking around online and a dealer in the next county over had a TRD Pro manual incoming. I called they said they expect it to arrive any day now. I asked if it was spoken for they said nope. I slapped a deposit on it over the phone and 2 days later it arrived. Traded the SR5 in and away I went. I never get that lucky.

 

.

Call Patty Alderton at Labadie Toyota in Bay City MI. If there is a way to get what you want Patty can get it for you!



.

 

Man, am I glad I bought my manual when I did, I paid 3k under and got exactly what I want, pulled out of the lot with 1 mile on the OD and an currently getting to that 100k spot, probably the first and last new vehicle I'll ever buy