First long drive!

So drove out to New Mexico to pick my Daughter up from college,I now get what everyone has been complaining about with the Transmission and cruise control issue! So i pretty much never saw 6th gear ,when i did it quickly shifted to 5th or 4th depending on the slight to heavy grades i encountered. I could not maintain my speed witch was 78-85 mph in 6th gear and my mileage was 19.7 per at best and 15.2 on the bad end! Cruise control is useless to use on trips unless you are on complete level highways ,at one point it downshifted straight into 3rd gear and it red lined! I really thought i was going to come back and be blown away with great mileage and impressed with the performance and it was a complete let down! My 2007 Tacoma made this trip twice before and always made it without any issue tranny or cruise control issues. Now i am back in Cali so i wont have those tranny and cruise control issue anymore because i sit in traffic 90% of the time trying to go anywhere here! Lol Oh yeah on the way back i started to get that whistle coming from around door seals ! I still love the way this truck looks and i will be keeping her! And yes i had my stock wheels on for the trip!

 

Just did a 1500 mile road trip and averaged 22-24 using cruise a lot. Didn't set it higher than 70 though, speed limit 65

 

Yep cruise is worthless on anything other than perfectly flat. Funny with it off, the truck doesn't down shift as much. And if you put it in S5 it never down shifts even on slight grades.

 

These trucks are a joke. My high trans temp warning light came on the other day driving through the canyons , I assume because it shifts every 30 seconds with the cruise set .
Normally I would have used sport mode but the dealer asked me to leave it in drive and let the trans "learn"
I guess it wanted to be hot since it's a Mexico truck

 

I would get the ATF checked ASAP, the transmission temp going on most likely means it was low on fluid, which has been fairly common on the V6 with Tow Packages.

And then the fine print on Cruise


Situations unsuitable for cruise control
Do not use cruise control in any of the following situations.
●When your vehicle is towing a trailer or during emergency towing. Vehicle speed may exceed the set speed when driving down a steep hill. ●On steep hills ● On slippery roads, such as those covered with rain, ice or snow ● On winding roads ●On roads with sharp bends ●In heavy traffic . Doing so may result in loss of control and could cause an accident resulting in death or serious injury, and ape shit tranny shifting.

 

The dealer claims its full
The first thing I asked them was to check the fluid level (at 1000 miles).

I've complained about the constant shifting several times since then ., the service writer asked me to try to use cruise as much as possible over the next 500 miles so the computer can relearn.
I figured they wanted the cruise set thinking it might be me trying to make it shift more than it would naturally

 

What's the speed limit where you were driving? I highly doubt this truck is made to cruise at 80mph with ease

 

speed limit was 75

 

My trip the limit is between 60 and 80 depending on where you are at ,
With at least a 400 mile stretch of 80mph straight .
And if a 2012 can do the same speeds and higher with ease and still get 18-20
It just shows Toyota dropped the ball on their new gutless wonder

 

Man, it sucks to see you guys paying top dollar for this 'new' truck and having so many annoying issues, plus the disappointing gas mileage. I thought about trading my 2014 in on a 2016, before they came out, but I think I'll hang onto it and see how Toyota addresses these issues in 2017. My 2014 is used to commute about 400 miles per week, average MPG is listed below, and I use cruise about 75% of the time without issues. Hopefully they come out with a solution for the transmissions in these GEN3 trucks, the issues people seem to be having with them would drive me crazy.

 

Cruise control + manual transmission, can't go wrong.

OP your AT temp warning light coming on is not a good sign, despite all the tranny issues I've been reading about on here I don't think I've read about that happening yet. You said your dealer told you the fluid level was okay, but I'd be skeptical of that. I'd tell them about the light coming on and ask them to check again, or find another dealer that will do so honestly. An automatic transmission on a brand new vehicle should never overheat itself under normal driving conditions.

 

I have an appointment for Monday morning about the trans temp light and a handful of other issues with the truck , I took it to them on Friday the day after the light and they said Monday was the soonest they could look at it , also said to just keep driving it
I have a deposit down on a trd pro 4 runner so hopefully it shows up soon and I can dump this turd lol

 

I'm a little baffled, when did vehicles start getting top fuel mileage doing 85 mph? I always thought lower mpg was to be expected the faster you drive.
I've yet to use cruise control so I haven't experienced what everyone is complaining about. I am happy with my gas mileage though, roughly 19.5 on the third tank of gas and truck is showing 20.2 on this tank. My '14 never got better then 17.5 mpg. I always calculate the old fashioned way with my new fashioned calculator on my cell phone when filling up.

Glad you still love the truck!

 

Exactly! They're expecting too much out of this truck. They think they're driving a hybrid super truck. They want better mileage and the truck to be able to maintain high speeds in 6th gear. Name any 6 cyl that can pull in 6th gear at 75+ mph.

 

And as much as I don't like my truck either, I will have to agree with you here. 80+ mph will pretty much kill any chance of great mpg in almost any vehicle, unless you're taking about going downhill the entire way with your foot off the gas!

You're taking about a 6cyl. engine in a relatively large truck, and going 80mph?! Yes, some of you guys are being unrealistic. Sounds like the OP also has a pretty heavy right foot, which doesn't help. I was getting around 12-13 mph when I towed a trailer 1200 miles over the mountains, and there were times I hit 80mph actually, but used common sense and started to learn how to actually drive the car (meaning how the engine responded best with the gas pedal) and the truck did ok. Also though, I don't use cruise control.

But the transmission hunting around and constantly shifting is not acceptable. Hopefully enough of us are complaining about this issue and Toyota will take notice, fix it on the 2017 and also issue a TSB for the 2016's, but I'm being realistic here, i sincerely doubt that will happen. Toyota still seems to think they are untouchable and this truck is the best thing ever, but it does seem like the truth is starting to get out. If a TSB isn't issued eventually I'll for sure be ditching my truck in a year or so. Toyota's obvious lack of acknowledging these issues and actually listening to their customers who own the truck just shows me they don't give two shits about us, the customer once we bought the vehicle. They'll kiss your ass and tell you what you want to hear before you buy the truck, but once you've bought it prepare to be ignored. I don't blame them though. Why waste your time with someone you've already got their money? Plus, I bet they need all the resources they can find to keep selling these trucks, since the word is getting out more and more everyday that this 'redesign' is a polished turd!

I was getting 25+ mpg with the stock tires on my '16 TRD Sport 4x4 on freeway trips when I was conscious about my right foot (65-70mpg average), and get 22+ on the same trip with the BFG KO2's that I put on and went up a size from stock, which I still think is good for such an aggressive tire being used on the freeway. What really kills the mpg on this truck is around town/city driving. Its not too hard to milk respectable omg from this truck on the freeway though if you use common sense. Any vehicle will get shitty mpg if you have a heavy right foot.

 

Good call. But I would not buy from that dealer, he's incompetent to say the least and all so full of b/s
Good luck with the new 4R they're great
Cheers!

 

I just drove from Knoxville to Pensacola ..... two tanks of gas both tanks were about 22MPG, I used cruise control 90% of the time and it did shift quite often from 6th to 5th and sometime to 4th. I just let the truck do its thing and I wasn't too disappointed. I am going to do a return trip on thursday and will see how it does on the way back.

 

Normal. The 3.5l and this tranny are pretty bad.

 

Some of you think i am complaining about the Mileage , that is not my concern here at all !!! It is the the constant searching of the tranny for gears when it should be able to hold its speed and RPM's on the slightest of inclines, dropping into 4th gear and not shifting back to 5th or 6th on its own and at one time downshifting to 3rd gear and red lining the motor. Again i have no issue with the mileage i didnt by a truck to get great mileage i bought a truck to do what trucks do best and that is to look BAD ASS! as the Tacomas always have,to have the power to drive up some grades ( slight or even steep inclines) this tranny kinda makes you feel like you are in the driving and gutless 4 banger sometimes. Yes i think they should be able to fix this problem with a computer mod to improve the shift points,but like so many have stated Toyota will not make the change to help this unless we complain loud enough and often enough! I have been a Toyota truck owner way back to 1981 and in this time i never been disappointed in any truck and i have had every year model! So when i got my 2016 i was expecting the same Quality and performance as i have gotten with all there other models and it has been a slight let down! Again i still love this truck because it looks BAD ASS and no other mid size trucks out there can compare to it!

 

They should've just left it a 5 speed auto. My previous truck was a 2005 4cyl Tacoma. if this truck feels like a 4cyl, my old truck must've felt like a riding lawnmower lol.