Fed up with my Taco

See below for some of his more exceptional rantings...

 

they may be, I've just only read 5.29s if you have 35s or are armored up. I was assuming he was stock.

 

Yesterday driving my daughter back to college I saw 3 3rd gen Tacomas pulling fairly big 16-18ft travel trailers coming back to town after the long weekend. Very hilly highway. I wasn’t driving them but they looked to be doing fine keeping up in traffic. Drivers didn’t look like they were having a panic attack.

 

That’s because they haven’t read about how bad the transmissions are. Give it time.

 

Obviously, those drivers are not members of TW.

Hopefully they never find out the (TW version) truth about their trucks.

Beat me to it...

 

I was assuming he was on 33's. However, I thought he was pulling stuff.
... returning to 1st post for clarification.....

 

See it all the time around here. Some of them with seriously loaded work trailers. Every time I do I chuckle and think about this place. Ignorance must be bliss as they say.

 

Well, let me start by saying I’ve been driving (legally) for 47 years. I learned to drive on a stick and we have pretty much always owned at least one MT car, but my 3rd gen V6 is an automatic and after a few TSB’s I’d say it shifts OK. After almost 4 years and 65K miles driving it, I don’t think the transmission is the problem, but I do think the torque curve is not well suited to the trans and rear end ratios for Western mountain freeway driving. So stick it in S4 or S3 and while it does fine, it needs to rev much higher to pull specific grades and speeds than I think a 3.5V6 should have to. I had gotten used to this until recently, when we decided to put a hitch on our VW Golf (base model 5 speed MT 1.8 turbo 4, not a GTI) and use for a 1300 mile mountain bike road trip from California to Utah, with a hitch rack not a trailer. The Golf is normally my wife’s commuter car and I’d never driven it more than 100 miles from home.

I realize its a bit apples-to-oranges, but the VW pulled 75-80mph comfortably in cruise, usually in 5th with occasional downshifts to 4th, with two bikes on the rack and stuffed to the gills with camping gear. Almost always needing less rpm than the Taco would (I’ve taken it many times on the same route) and returning 36.8 mpg (on regular) vs 19.8-20.0 that the Taco has on the same trip. Of course, the VW has less payload and isn’t off road capable, but honestly it was more relaxing to keep up with I5 and I15 traffic in the VW than the Taco. Even setting aside the mpg, would an MT Taco with a 4.30 rear end be that much better than the AT? Whether you stick it in 3rd or 4th or have the AT in S3 or S4, 3500 rpm is loud and sucks fuel either way. At $300, the VW hitch was a good investment.

 

I have never had issues keeping up in traffic , cruising as fast as 85. Idk if i would have ever thought this trick had a tranny issue before coming to this site. If i went above my 265 tires maybe it would feel different. I think it behaves acceptable for me.

 

I’m sporting 285’s - no issues to speak of...

 

I'd like to go to a 4" lift, gears, cmc, and 315s, but idk about investing like 8k.
Have any pics?

 

Here is a whole thread full of pics for you:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/talk-me-out-of-285s-update-i-didnt-listen.616912/

 

Here’s another:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-quicksand-thread.391326/page-430#post-21624612

 

I just dont know if I want to make that much of an investment. It could be close to 10k with all supporting mods to get 315s. Would look amazing though

 

but this thing is sick! Perfect set up. Even my gf was like, whoa.

 

Wow that does look great. Something about a smaller lift on 35s

 

I think thats a 4 inch lift It looks so good

 

Very Nice truck,

I really like my 2019 Off Road 4x4, super fun truck, however I never ever get any use of 6th gear unless I'm rolling down hill. Yes I have learned to use ETC and Sport mode and I have 11,000 miles on it in the last 7-8 months from purchase. I purchased a house (that is 500 miles away from my main home) in an area that has back roads that have plenty of hwy patrol and you must heed the speed limits, 45 MPH is the highest speed and that is the only time I get closer to the fuel mileage on the sticker when I bought it. I have learned to time my throttle compression to my needs and there is no doubt this 3.5 has some ponys if you want them. I put a roof rack on and KMC 17" wheels with R/T Toyos and that changed my mileage down 2-3 MPG on the freeways at 65-70.

I think Toyota should offer optional gear ratios.

That said I would like real first hand responses from gen 3 owners to their stock truck MPGs are, and from those who have spent extra money re-gearing and added the OV tune and what their real average MPG's are?

 

Option:

 

Haven't read this whole thread, but IMO the OP has a point. I've had my Taco for almost 4 years now, and the tranny does kind of suck. I don't know if it's the ratios, or the programming, or an excess of focus on mileage, but it sure does jump around a lot, higher throttle downshifts have a weird hesitation and then windup feel, and it often feels like it's just in the wrong gear. ECT helps some, but not enough. I'm not towing with it either, just normal driving.
I like everything else fine, just wish it shifted better.