2016 Tacoma 6th Gear at 30mph

After driving my first 100 miles discovered ect button is my best friend

 

I finally test drove a 16 today and I'm impressed how accurate everyone's description of the automatic transmission is. Pretty sure I never broke 2k rpm until I basically floored the thing. It was shifting sub 1500 rpms and hanging around 1000 rpm no matter my speed. I admittedly was going easy on the gas pedal because I'm accustomed to a sensitive throttle but none the less it felt like the transmission was trying to bog down the engine as much as possible without choking it lol. 6th gear at 30 sounds about right.

Thing is I'm not sure how I felt about it... I was expecting to hate it but it really wasn't that bad. It jumped pretty good when I got it up to 5-6k rpm and after driving a 6mt every day for 3 years, it was kind of nice to just sit back and let it do its thing... I don't know though, I love being in control of the powertrain.

I'm torn atm

 

With all due respect, only a few have seem to have caught on. Just leave the truck in the S mode and control the upper limit of the transmission depending on the traveling speed. That is all you have to do to prevent hunting and that is the way it was intended to be used. Every car with 6 speeds or more have this problem and that is the simple way to deal with it. Everyone wants a manual, well here is your chance !

 

What?

 

not just that its hunting for a gear that will keep RPM lower. Lower RPM = better MPG

Truthfully I do not see a problem with it, since you have the option to select gears or have it in S mode you have the options to choose which to use. In daily driving and in traffic the normal mode will be fine or on the highway. wheeling put it in S or the direct shift option.

I'm assuming like all direct shift transmissions you can just switch over while driving and at speed so I see no issues here. I want to find out is it an actual automatic with torque converters for selectable gears or is it like a proper dual clutch sequential that uses a manual with two clutches and hydraulic controls to make it an automatic like a typical DSG system

 

The people that have the problem are just putting it into D and driving around at speeds too low for 5 and 6 gears and even 4. Of course the truck will shift to the higher gear, but everyone has the option of overd riding it which is the best thing to do. Complainers are driving these things like 13 year old girls. No offense to th girls.

 

Yeah keep dreaming... no way it has a dual clutch. If it did they'd advertise it. I can't say for sure but I'd be shocked if it does not have a torque converter.

Oh and there is no "direct shift" mode. You can only select the tallest gear (highest number) that is allowed. So S6 is same as D. S4 allows transmission to pick 1,2,3,4 at will. S2 only allows 1,2. That's all the control you get with the auto.

 

ya I agree. I am looking around online and not finding any info about it possibly being a dual clutch. But still.
And I swear when you put it in S you can change gears down or up

there was a thread on here talking about that very thing because everyone is saying that its only first 4 gears then others are saying no its full range, and anything I have read online including directly from toyota it is full gear range. And considering its the same transmission as the Lexus SUV which lets you choose all gears I'd assume it hasn't changed for the Taco.

When I test drove it it was on city streets so didn't have the options of trying higher gears. I really only tried so I could get the RPMs high and see how it is once the revs are up

 

Dual clutch would be epic. They truly are the best of both worlds.

In most scenarios S mode will appear to allow you to directly select a gear. Scenarios where it will override you would admittedly be strange but the fact remains, it can.
1) in S4 and you accelerate causing it to shift to 3rd or 2nd. At that moment you could go to S5 but the transmission wouldn't do anything different. Same if you went to S3 after it had already downshifted.
2) in S4 going up a hill that the ECU determines requires at least 4th gear. shifting to S5 in that event would not do anything. the transmission would choose to stay in 4th until the load was reduced enough.

The take away is even when in "S mode" the transmission still has the ability to chose what gear it wants to be in. Go test drive one and floor it in S4, it will down shift. And needless to say it's not going to let you downshift into redline but that's a good thing.

 

Think you're both saying the same thing. You have access to all gears but it only controls the upper bound as mentioned above. Default is generally 4 when you go to S-mode from D but you're able to also shift to 5th or 6. Having it in S6 would be no different than having it in D as it's going to go through the full range of gears and upshift/downshift as needed. You can drop it to 1 and shift up through the gears or down like a manual but you can't make it stay in a specific gear or skip.

 

too be fair most DSG transmissions do the same.
You can not stall them. and from factory they will shift up if you red line.

My TDI has the DSG and if you do not down shift it will do it for you. If you do not up shift (from factory) it will change if you are red lining. But mine has been coded not to auto up shift and just dump off the limiter.

That being said the new Taco one will let you control to a degree. Which is normal for all direct shift. It will let you select a different gear as long as that gear is with in range of the speed. Still that will let you bring it closer to the red line.

I haven't test driven it yet in S mode just left it in drive. But I am curious if on the highway in direct shift option if you have it in 6th if it will down shift all the time.

 

buy a manual.

 

Trade it for a ford it's defective

 

Sweers also said somethings about a seat-belt bracket. He now has a nickname of a Mike "seat-belt" Sweers on this forum. Not saying he is a bad guy, but he had said a lot of not-so-true stuff about the 2016 "3rd-gen" Tacoma.

 

Just went for another drive. All you have to do is put your foot into a little bit more and the truck runs and shifts fine.

No need for S mode, no ECT just learn how to drive it and enjoy passing 2nd gen haters.

 

"S" mode to me seems more useful for engine braking downhill, at least that's how I've used it in other vehicles. It's not something novel.

However, I tried ECT today. I've had my truck since the first week of October, and today was the first time I decided to hit the button after reading so much about it here. It definitely makes it feel more powerful. More to it than transmission shift points as well. Gives the truck some balls in first 1/4 of throttle, whereas without ECT it is very, er, uhm... reserved.

I'll probably stick with normal mode because I live in tardville with lots of old people and stop-and-go lights. But if I was in a more rural area, I'd probably use ECT to take advantage of the extra pep.

 

The truck probably defaults to "Eco mode" which limits RPMS through till WOT. The RAV4 I was given as a loaner has Normal, Eco and Sport modes. When in normal mode I can hit eco and the whole vehicle just pretty much dies. If I hit Sport, it downshifts and revs to red line lol.

 

I quoted you because you're the only one who makes sense...

Can you still turn off the OD on these electronical abominations...? I would if you can...

 

The problem I have with this economy programmed auto is not enough revs for breaking in a new motor. I have 500 miles and 90% of the time it is in ECT for more revs.

If I wanted to manually shift, I would have bought a stick. I like smooth shifting automatics.

 

Well... maybe learn to drive a manual first.

Then go buy one.

Less bitching?