Auto vs 6 speed: Help Me Decide!

Get the MT. Should've made a poll.

 

When I started looking at Tacomas I was thinking MT, my wife was thinking AT. A double cab with a 6’ bed was a necessity, and I wanted the Off Road package. Toyota made the decision for us, those only come with AT.

My AT works as it should, I don’t have any complaints.

 

run for your life from this AT.

Manual or a different vehicle. 4Runner or any other truck.

 

My two: previously had various MTs, including a ‘05 Tacoma, chose a AT for the new Tacoma because I now live in the city and a hilly one at that. I have no problems with the tranny and how it shifts. I occasionally tow a small 5x8 trailer loaded with construction supplies. No problems with the AT there either. I drive and use my truck like a truck and I feel it performs well in that capacity.

 

MT

 

The auto isn’t that bad, not the best, but totally livable and smooth for the most part.

 

Get the MT

 

I got the AT due to traffic around here.
I use the Sport shifter a lot though.

 

I just bought a MT 2016 and really like it. My only complaint is the clutch pedal feels a bit squishy, but there are mods to help with that. I'm used to a '95 Toyota pickup and an '88 BJ73, so that just might be the way most newer clutch pedals feel....

 

The manual is night and day better to drive than the 3rd gen auto. Honestly, if u want an auto mid size truck the Ranger shifts MUCH better with it's modern 10 speed auto (my dad has one). The 6 speed auto in the Taco feels 10 years behind what the Ranger has.

 

I just bought this ‘19. This is my first ever Toyota, I have had Fords, Nissan trucks (3 Titans, 2 Frontiers) I still have the 97 7.3 Ford. Anyway a coworker bought a 17 Taco and hated the auto. So my car just got hailed and totaled, and since snow makes my 65 miles suck unless I have my 7.3, I bought the Taco with a MT. I love it. We have bad traffic here also, it has the radar cruise works great with the MT, just leave the cruise set and you can upshift and downshift and the cruise control takes back over and doesn’t cancel.

I leave a lot of room in front of me when the highway gets jammed up and can usually just stick to 2nd or 3rd. I did a drive to Vegas for the 4th of July from CO and I was surprised how many times I had to shift pulling hills. Not many less than 10 which I’m impressed with. My power stroke seems like I do more shifting in than this new Tacoma.

 

The Taco is the only MT vehicle that I've owned that doesn't cancel cc when depressing the clutch peddle.

 

I am heavily considering trading in my 18 sport automatic for a 20 off road manual when they come out. I'm not bothered by the constant shifting of the auto (which OV tune helped improve) but I can't stand the sloppy mushy shifts..... And I miss having a manual more then I thought I would. I figure either way I'm out about the same cash if I put 4.88 gears and rear locker in my sport or loose it on trade

In your case try and test drive both in some traffic and see how each treats you.

 

Pardon my lack of knowledge, “Does not cancel cc” ??

 

cruise control.

 

THIS AUTOMATIC SUCKS BASEBALLS. STAY AWAY!!! My 05 4runner shifts 100000x better.

 

This has me dying . How come my doc didn't give me the low top boot! A lot of good points for either the auto or manual. I knew there would be a good amount of MT people, but still surprised at the number of pro MT posts. I guess I shoud have a talk with my Ortho Doc and see what he thinks about having a clutch. I will drive both to give them a fair shake. Based on some posts, it sounds like the auto was improved since 2016-2017. Historically, our truck use has been daily driving with trips to homedepot and loading the kayaks up. I don't see myself off-roading; the most it would see is probably sand, I go to Montauk, NY quite a bit. Super appreciative of all the input from you guys.

 

I love some of the colorful terms some use to describe their displeasure with the AT. As if there was something wrong with them. Just means an adequate test drive was not performed. The ATs perform EXACTLY as designed. I have no complaints at all with it. If I wanted a manual, I would have kept my BMW from years ago.

 

If you've driven stick for a long time and you go to the auto in this truck you'll fucking hate it. I do. Last 10 years had stick, then went auto. Hoping for ease of driving, nope. Never in the right gear you need, shifts constantly, terrible throttle lag, clunky shifts, etc. I find it unlivable, in all conditions except off-road since it doesn't need to shift like mad once is in low gear.

 

Based on a thorough and complete profile analysis and much scientific evidence, (10 seconds reads of your cons), I'd suggest your only alternative is to get both, generally recommend getting different color Tacos so you can otherwise tell them apart.