2020 Owner Impressions Wanted

My 2020 behaves quite similar to my GF’s 2017. She has the identical truck just different year.

Maybe it holds the shifts a bit better but I haven’t used the cruise much. The radar cruise seems good. The lane departure warning seems to work well.

I know when using the 2017 cruise it would stay out of 6th gear unless it was like a super flat road and not going very fast or what have you. Seemed to always want to kick down a gear.

The 2020 is maybe a bit better but it didn’t seem to be anything like amazing in the torque department so it shifts a lot. I just assume that’s the way these engines run with these 6 speed transmissions. Honestly I’ve been rocking my apple car play and haven’t been looking at the tach and can’t hear the tranny over the blasting tunes!

I think the stereo sounds better. The nav is way better. In all aspects.

The headlights are awesome for night driving and the auto high beams are pretty good. Not perfect but ok. Not having an off selection is different than the 2017 but I guess you won’t ever leave the lights on to kill the battery so that’s cool.

I’m super happy with the truck overall and the first 1000 km have been great.

Only complaint is my iPhone 6s rocking iOS 10.3.3 won’t run the remote start app. My iPad running 12.3.1 starts the truck and unlocks the doors no problem.
I’m gonna have to update or buy a new phone in that order.

 

The stereo and carplay are close to the bottom of my list of features I care about. When I was 15 I wanted a bad ass loud stereo, but today I just don’t care. I would trade storage space for the JBL sub.

I am mostly interested in the powertrain and comparing it to my previous Tacomas and 4Runners. It seems a lot of the early 2020 owners are new to the Tacoma world.

If sales run rates mimic previous months, there will be close to 80,000 2020 owners by calendar year end. Should be a better picture of the improvements by then, too.

 

I just drove 600km today. All hwy.

Unfortunately I think that the cruise control will disappoint you seeing as it’s the same or almost the same as the 2017 I’ve driven.

On a perfectly flat hwy at 110kmhr the transmission would just sit in 5th gear. I played around with the S6 manual mode and that did seem to force the 6th gear more often. But if you are waiting for this truck to shift into 6th most of the time I think you will be disappointed.

 

I just stumbled onto the fact today that my 2020 TRD Sport has remote start and that it works from both the key-fob (lock button) and the Toyota app. It's just funny that I bought the truck and had no idea it even had that feature. I never thought to check for it since my 2016 Sport didn't have it and and my sales guy didn't mention to me that this was a feature for the 2020. Pleasantly surprised!

 

Yea I found a pamphlet in the glove box telling me how to remote start the truck with the FOB. Shit the dealer had no clue and told me to get the app!

 

Linking in this info... https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2020-tacoma-an-unexpected-improvement.634867/#post-21829558

 

Can one of you 2020 owners take a video of the turn signals and lights for me? Please and thank you.

 

Cool info. I also stumbled upon a video (embedded below) today regarding the 2020 Tacoma. The lead engineer for the Tacoma talks about a lot of the improvements for this year and the fact they specifically made transmission/gearing/pedal input changes for 2020. So there is perhaps some confirmation straight from the source.

Now that I’ve had some time with my 2020 I do have to say it does seem to drive a bit better than my 2016. Not that the 2016 was bad at all, but the 2020 is a bit more refined with its shifting, especially on the highway.

 

You can remote start with the FOB but the engine shuts off when you open the door... I don't believe the app does that.

 

The app does exact same with your driver score(harsh corners, acceleration, hard breaking) and lock unlock and where you parked. Unfortunately is a little buggy and mine is stuck on stop engine until I can find out how to fix it. When u open the door it will stop the car regardless how u auto started

 

Please do the headlight and turn signal review. I need a new headlight and am considering upgrading to the new LED ones, but I can not find anything on them.

 

The new LED headlights and fog lights are amazing. They are light years ahead of the standard halogen equipment.

 

Exactly. The app behaves the same way because this "shut-off", in the eyes of Toyota, is a safety feature. I mean, I think it is silly, but that's where we are. The shut-off occurs no matter how one engages the OEM remote-start. I don't really understand Toyota's thinking on this one as my Jeep Grand Cherokee managed to handle this just fine. While in remote-start mode, the engine would remain running and you simply had to push the start button once you were inside the vehicle before you could put the transmission into DRIVE. Having to start the Tacoma again isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it is admittedly a bit silly.

Regarding the new app, I've definitely noticed some bugs with it as well. I had to call in to get the initial activation completed because I couldn't ever get an "activation email" sent from the app. While I was talking to the support folks they mentioned that the 2020 models are the first to use the new Toyota app for things like remote start and that clearly they were still working out the kinks. My app has also been stuck on "stop engine" for the remote start since sometime yesterday. It had been working fine all week. Hearing that other users also have this same problem is an indication to me that this is a cloud-based issue. Hopefully they resolve it soon.

 

Per the 2020 Tacoma Lead Engineer (in the embedded video above); the LED headlights throw about a 38 meter longer illumination area compared to the halogen lamps, with an increase of about 10 meters on either side. In terms of energy usage, the LED low-beams are about 36% more efficient while the LED high-beams are around 60% more efficient.

 

I think the biggest long running complaint with the third gens and in general up to this point by far was the garbage lighting which these vehicles came equipped with and nothing short of retrofits to HID really helped which was costly. To say the current equipment stocked on the headlights were DOT and SAE approved not to mention "safe" for road operation is and was an insult to our intelligence as human beings by Toyota. I'm glad to see they finally stepped up to the plate and produced a quality LED unit for these trucks that were in DIRE need of LED lighting upgrades.

I never understood how a less than 20K car like the Corolla got top notch lighting that rivals HID but a flagship mid sized truck with a premier price tag like the Tacoma got the table scraps when it came to that. Yet again another slap to our faces by them, so I'm glad they at least make it available now.

As for the Transmission programming, what a joke. I have not driven one but based on all the complaints of it hunting up hills in OE form, I gotta say that is pretty pathetic and sad. I feel for you guys, but I'm glad there is tuning and options out there available for you guys. Anywho, don't mind me, just a casual observer.

 

I keep hearing this. I'd like to see it before I drop the coin on them.
I have HID's as is, but since I have one headlight held in with zip ties...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcZILUUrTII

This is pretty much what I was looking for. The sequentials are sorta disappointing.

 

How are they disappointing? They are super bright.

 

Sequential aspect is disappointing. I made no comment about the brightness.

I mean, i'm still buying them lol.

 

oh ok, the sequential part is very noticeable in person.