Auto transmission - feelings after 20,000km and a 8 hour trip

So I just completed about 1600-1800km over the last weekend (long weekend for me). Now my monthly travels tend to be almost exclusively in the 80-90kmh range. I believe that corresponds to 50-55mph according to google. Occasionally I do short runs at hiway speeds or trips 2-3 hours of hiway.

So this trip on the way there was 120kph (75mph) there mostly for 800km only stopping once for fuel. (Windsor Ontario to Ottawa) Wind was at my tail. Especially the far end there is a lot of hills up and down fairly constantly. Shifting was normal and infrequent. It did shift when needed and not always to 4th. It held 5th more than I was used even on steep hills.

On my return trip I wasn’t in much of a hurry so I kept right at 100kmh (62mph) trying to see how my fuel economy could go. I did have a slight headwind at times. Once again shifting was normal and not shifting back and forth like the common complains people have had. I did stop overnight on the return trip and the next day I did notice more shifting and lagging to shift up on cruise (I ran cruise the whole trip) but this was a shorter leg and more wind.

My personal observations are this transmission likes to be hot. Not talking transmission oil temp but the whole unit. The longer you run it the better it works. Also wind does add a load and it does affect the shifting more than we realize. I have concluded that older vehicles may be more geared to what our 5th is so running in 5th is equivalent to top gear in older vehicles. 6th is pure economy mode so when it drops down it is just saying hey there is a slight load and puts us back to “normal” gearing. So after lots of different conditions with wind in front and behind and none, hills and no hills I have concluded that this truck works as intended. Sure it shifts sometimes. Sure it won’t shift back up when in cruise sometimes. But in reality it does what it should be doing. It is much better as I have put more miles on but it still does those things we complain about. But at the same time it should. I know full sized trucks don’t shift as much but they have more power to hold the load without slowing down. I can’t compare other mid sized trucks because I have no experience with them.

I saw different behavior by the transmission in differing conditions. That should be expected shouldn’t it? I remember how an older ranger I had got seriously poorer economy in windy conditions which well is what happens when my 3rd gen transmission runs in 5th in the wind. Sure it held top gear but it lugged and got bad gas mileage in doing so. Different ways of doing it but same result. Just have to get my head to say “normal characteristic of the vehicle”. That line doesn’t need to be a bad thing.

So I guess what all those miles (km’s) droning on taught me is my truck works as it should. It sometimes runs in one gear and sometimes another. But it is just doing the same things my older vehicles did but it does it differently and we have to accept that. Like I said it works best on longer trips which can be expected as well and it likes tailwinds more than headwinds. So drive and turn up the music. You notice shifting less when you don’t hear the engine over the radio.

 

An automatic should perform flawlessly under those conditions, glad its working for you. Living in a mountainous region really highlights the flaws of a "bad" automatic. Constant speed and elevation changes can make for an infuriating drive if things aren't quite right.

For my uses a manual is the best option. On the highway I just set it in 6th and forget it.

 

Nice post OP!

 

I had to eat the loss of $2800 on a Ford with an engine lock problem so I am driving with one eye on the gas efficiency bar which drives my wife crazy. However, I enjoy getting twice the mpg's compared to the Ford. I don't like everything my transmission does especially in cruise control but I am not in a hurry and it functions like it should for the most part. Thanks for the review.

 

Yeah same here, on stock tune the truck would pull most any hill in 6th without issue. In fact, I'd say 6th could even be a little bit higher to bring the rpms down a touch for MPGs. It would also make 5th a bit more useful on the highway IMO. I don't tow at the moment and also don't have a lot of extra weight on board, so this may be why I don't quite get the 5/6 gear ratios on the M/T.

Anyway, glad your truck is running well OP - Have fun and give those OPP Smokeys the salute for me

 

I'm not surprised to hear the transmission was all over the place on cruise control. Even my last truck, a 2010 4Runner, was a bit of a mess in cruise control, and that truck had the rock solid 4.0/5 speed combo. Maybe it's just a Toyota thing.

 

The cruise isn’t all over the place but it can be sensitive. So I am cruising along and it downshifts due to an increased load of say wind or incline. No problem it should be doing this. But when the load lessens it is delayed in upshifting sometimes. It may be that it needs to see a certain drop in load in order to shift back up and it is a hair under than. I manually will stab the accelerator sometimes to climb a few revs and then when it drops back to the set speed it upshifts. I guess the other side is if the load required to upshift is lessened it will shift up and down more which is one of the original hunting complaints.