2020 guys how you liking your transmission?

I always said the 3rd gen engine/transmission combo was a little quirky, but nothing that really prevented me from liking the truck. All of my automatic vehicles downshifted on inclines and such, especially when travelling 70+mph. These trucks are heavy and only slightly more aerodynamic than a brick, so it has to be making power to keep it moving through the air at 70mph and up an incline. The problem is it wants to keep the RPMs as low as possible for fuel economy, but it's not making any power there. For some people it's not a problem. Others can't stand it. It was never that bad to me, though I'm in south GA, so I'm not climbing many mountains down here.

I would also agree that some of these trucks just drive better than others. My 2016 felt a little better than my 2017. When my dad was looking at a 2018 SR5, there were two identical trucks on the lot, one blue and the other silver. The blue truck was pretty awful, but the silver one drove like a dream and is still running and driving great. Maybe it's the learning part of the transmission programming, I don't know.

Also, I now have a 2019 Tundra with the 5.7 V8 and out on the interstate, it downshifts in pretty much the same places as the Tacoma and my wife's 4Runner. If you want it to hold the same gear forever, you're going to have to get a manual.

 

Just pointing out your glaring ignorance.

Dismissing the very real problem as a myth and blowing hundreds of people off who CAN recognize the problem is being a dick. Grow up. Im sorry you have so little frame of reference that you are unable to recognize when the truck is hunting for gear. Im sorry youre one of the posters here completely incapable of acknowledging that their $35k purchase has any flaws and prefer to live in utter denial rather than admit it. Facts are facts, the problem is real. Calling it a myth is just outright dismissive and offensive. Thats why im being a "dick" you dick.

 

No, that was just you being a dick and also not knowing what you're talking about. You're reading way too hard into things and looking for an argument. Grow up.

 

Maybe try your reading comprehension skills there, bud. And I never said anything about my truck being perfect, but sure, keep putting words in my mouth

 

After about 1800 miles it feels better than when I got it. Might be that I'm more used to it or maybe something really does change after getting down some driving patterns. I drive a lot of highway to work so going into sport mode is a must or I am sitting at 3000 RPM at 75 mph all the time. When I switch into sport mode and bump it to 5th it usually drops down to just above 2k RPM. From what I understand, this is pretty much par for the course on the Tacoma.

 

Yes, cruise control is definitely when it's the worst and I use mine nearly 100 miles per day. I was planning on keeping this truck forever, but I honestly don't see myself keeping it if Toyota doesn't resolve this issue and a couple other unrelated problem I'm having.

 

This! I have driven 3 different 2020 Tacomas and each one drove completely differently. To my mind, this is a serious manufacturing QC problem in itself.

 

My '17 shipped with a horrible ECU calibration, then when I complained of 13 mpg highway, they updated to what was, at that time, the 3rd version of the ECU calibration. Still horrible. Drove great if you disconnected the battery for a day or so then would constantly bog, be in 6th all the damn time. It wasn't in my head. It was miserable to drive. Period. Drove me to buy into OVtune early, or I was trading the truck.

Then finally, in 2018 Toyota made a 4th update to the ECU for my '17 (B04 calibration). So I had my truck for nearly 2 years before they "fixed" the issues. That said, my truck drives great - stock. It never "hunts" nor do I experience any excessive delays. this morning while driving to work, needing to make a very quick left turn against heavy traffic, I without hesitation floored it to make the turn with full confidence the truck would MOVE. This was not the case on older calibrations and I nearly was t-boned multiple times due to the dangerous delay.

I literally almost never think about the transmission anymore. It doesn't find 6th very often at all in town any longer, tops out at 5th unless I'm on the highway (without me even using S-mode) and throttle is very predictable. I do believe that there's something to letting it settle in, while I felt like the AI transmission learning was absolutely bullshit for the first couple of years, but with nearly 20k driving on the stock, B04 calibration, it indeed does seem to know what I want when I want it.

It would come as no surprise to me that, unless lifted significantly with lots of armor and big tires, most owners are now completely OK with the transmission. The truck has power. Low end torque off the line, not so much but my truck will always get up and go when I need it to and loves to be wound up from time to time...

 

My 2018 sport would bog down when accelerating from a stop. Felt like it would shift 1st-2nd-5th if you gave it constant throttle input, then give it a little more throttle and it dropped down a couple gears and just takes off. Made it pretty hard to drive smoothly. On the the highway it was like others are stating, shifting between 4th-5th-6th with slight changes in incline. I found myself using s4 and ECT pretty much all the time just to get an enjoyable driving experience.

My 2020 fixed all of these issues, a much smoother driving truck overall. You can definitely tell it's the same transmission but something about it is different. Yes it still dances between 5th and 6th on the highway but it doesn't seem out of the ordinary for a 6 speed auto-box. I hardly ever touch s-mode or ECT unless i'm feeling kind of rowdy.

Edit: forgot to mention I have about 5k miles on the 2020

 

I had a 2016 with zero software updates, the 2020 is like driving a completely different truck. I used the ETC button all the time on the 16. Haven’t touched it in the 20 yet. I’ve only got 150 miles on the 20 so we will see how it goes. So far I’m impressed!

 

Please stop trying to speak for other owners. I'm so tired of people downplaying these serious and widespread issues. You have no idea how anyone else's truck drives.

 

Has anyone actually had issues with the transmission going out or breaking down on them? Since the gear hunting seems to be a software/program issue I haven’t read to many posts of actual failure of the transmission

 

My 20 trd pro automatic seems fine to me. I do about 70 miles per day on the highway and go about 75-80 mph avg at around 2k rpm. It doesn't hunt and I don't use cruise control. It picks up fast when merging and seems fine to me in comparison to 3 other cars I have driven in (in the past year). In comparison, a Camry, Highlander, BMW Z. The smaller cars are faster of course in acceleration, but I can do anything I want with a little more push on the skinny pedal!

 

I don't believe ANYONE has ever had a transmission failure. The transmission shifts a lot, and we (most of us) grew up thinking this was a bad thing. Yeah, that's true if it's a 700R4. I don't know enough about transmissions to sound intelligent, but evidently these new automatics can tolerate constant shifting.

I had a double cab 2006 Dodge Dakota with a 3.7 V6. It was a weak motor and anything over a 5mph headwind would cause it to jump in and out of overdrive. I drove from southeast Kansas to southwest Nebraska once, about 1200 miles round trip, and that POS bounced around the entire way. But in 2 years and 40K miles, I never had single transmission issue.

 

At 2K you're just at the bottom end of the powerband. Couple that with not using cruise, I bet your pickup settles in and runs like a dream.

It would be interesting to hear if you had changes using cruise control, a slower speed, or a particularly windy day. I have family in Manassas, Ashburn, Bethesda, and Baltimore. I don't remember the wind ever blowing there.

 

Yup, all works well imho. I drive the hov/hot lanes, so it's pretty consistent up and down 95 with little to no slow downs (surprise I know!). I just moved out of Fairfax, I get 3 times more house and 10 times more land at the same price of a townhouse. But, family and all the cool restaurants are in the DMV for sure.

 

believe me, I understand the frustration... I'm simply saying, there is no comparison to the way (many of) these trucks drove the first couple of years with what was then an even more atrocious transmission calibration. my 17 was a miserable thing to drive for a long time and I likewise was pissed when people told me it was "fine"

 

One thing we can agree on - the 2nd Gen V6/5speed auto/6 speed manual is a superior driveline. I miss that 4.0 smoothness but like my current manual transmission more.

 

For cruising it was outstanding. I drove across South Dakota on I-90, speed limit is 80 I was doing 85, and the motor just hummed. Only got 17mpg but whatever.

Towing was a different story. 5th was just a little too tall and 4th was just a little too short. The manual transmission in the 3rd gen is nice because it has the same ratios as the 2nd gen with 5th being that extra gear I felt I was missing.

 

Not my documented problem smart guy. Toyota told me THEY have it as a documented issue but no fix has been authorized! On my service record it states the problem I am experiencing is a known issue and goes on to describe the reason / cause. Sorry to disapoint! And I ALSO have quite a few friends with the Tacoma. Many of them have similar issues.