First impressions of a 2nd Gen Taco

Awesome, that makes me feel a lot better about my deal. Thanks for the response!

They didn't have a truck quite to my liking at any of the dealers I went to so I ended up ordering my truck from the factory. This gave me the pleasure of specifying exactly what I wanted. Thankfully I'm not going to have to pay for anything I don't want.

Yeah, good call. From putawaywet's post it sounds like it is the combination of putawaywet living in a no sales tax state and also having the college rebate like me.

 

After a few weeks of daily driving, a couple more things I've noticed:

• The manual transmission isn't nearly as smooth as the one in my 2000. The clutch is softer and it is 'easier' to drive, but when shifting into 2nd or 3rd it just doesn't go in smoothly. Just like on every stick I've ever driven, there's two points of resistance when going into gear - an initial one, then the actual engagement of the gear teeth. After pushing in the clutch the shifter glides smoothly past the first point of resistance, but never quite seems to sync as the two gears go together. I end up with what feels like the heads of the teeth bumping before they engage fully. This happens most often when I shift below 2500 RPM. It's almost like things aren't lined up right or something. FWIW, I've got a class A CDL and have been driving manual transmissions for 18+ years so I'd like to think my technique is ok
  
  I'm also not a huge fan of how they geared the 6 speed. I think it's a great idea, but they missed on the gearing selection. I've heard others say it's great for country road driving (speed limits 35 - 55 mph), but on the highway (65 mph+) 6th isn't tall enough and in the city (< 35 mph) 1-3 are too low. Maybe they were really going for close ratios for towing/hauling purposes, but I don't know many people who buy manual transmissions specifically for towing/hauling.
  
  
• Three weeks in, I have my first squeek - the damn heater fan sounds like a squeaky hamster wheel on low. I didn't have a single squeek/rattle in my 2000 when it went to the crusher last month.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I had my first long drive (~ 3 hours) and the 2010 is definitely more comfortable than the 2000 was

 

My trans has had the same resistance from 30 to 21,000 miles. Not sure if new fluid will make a difference.

Agreed on the gearing. I take off pretty slow in this truck because the shifts are hard to rush. I don't even use 5th gear unless I am pulling grades. I have some 255/85/16s coming in Monday which I bet will make the gearing feel more 'at home.'

The only squeak I hear regularly is the darn leather clutch boot. It creaks like crazy.

Sorry to hear about your 2000. I hunted high and low for a nice pre 2004 but could not find one as I was living in OH at the time. I 'settled' on an '08 while they were heavily rebated. I think it is a great pickup. Maybe not what the last generation was, but time will tell. I will say it took out an 8" residential utility pole, a mailbox, and some trees a month ago and didn't damage anything mechanical...just $7K in body repairs

 

Squeeky fan X2.........

 

same issue here with the trans and ruff shifting..I changed to REDLINE MT 90 synth trans fluid, and it didn't help.....there is a tsb for slipping clutches....could this help? or is a slipping clutch something else all together?

 

Just got westin/wade plastic floor mats. After not being able to find any for the 2010 (due to recall) I had to find 05-09 mats on ebay. They fit great and can't find ant issue with gas pedal hitting or getting caught. I just couldn't go the winter in VT with no plastic mats. I have my stock mats (grey) for the front that I'm not using if any one wants them?

 

I ended up getting the standard Weathertech mats (not the full custom rubber tub-mats), and so far so good. About half the price, too.

As far as the transmission issue, I'm contemplating calling the Toyota service line and letting them know about the issue just to start a case file. Maybe if enough of us do it there may end up being a TSB???

 

I also have the squeaky fan issue on my 2010. Does anyone have a fix for this? Can it be addressed with WD40?

 

There's a thread on here somewhere about it - some people add some grease, others re-adjust a positioning screw. Both seem to work for some people.