For those who have VFTune/OVTune...

You can road trip over to CT and @lapoltba can get you taken care of

 

Worth it for either trans. On my M/T it improved low end torque and got rid of that horrible surge of power at about 3500 rpm. On my dad’s A/T it’s like another transmission. It is no longer obsessed with getting into the highest possible gear at the lowest possible speed.

 

Pickupman, any possibility I can come to M'Boro and you'd help me with the install/tunes? I am in Johnson City.

 

Yes sir. I love mine. I have a how to/my experience as a new owner installer of ovtune. Search new vftune install

 

Best money I’ve spent on the truck so far. No more gear hunting on slight inclines.

 

Seems to be 2 school of thought on OV. The main group can't stand the stock Tacoma transmission bipolar disorder and are very happy with the tune. The other group don't seem to notice their trucks driving very bad from the factory and don't notice a huge improvement with the tune although you need to question their basis if they didn't think their trans was a shitbox from the factory in the first place. Even those people seem happy with the bump in MPG though.
For me, OV and gears were unquestionably the best money spent on the Tacoma.

 

There are two groups of people one drives their trucks, others put around town.

The people with more seat time and time spent on the interstate, have many more complaints than the grocery getters flexing on curbs at the supermarket.

Tune is well worth it. If you think the AT trans is great, just set the cruise for 75 and hit the interstate for a few hundred miles.

The MT fixes the wonky throttle response and gives the truck a significant boost in low end power

 

totally agree. if you have an MT and don't have the tune you are missing out on all that expensive hardware you bought that is sleeping because of Toyota's software. it's a big difference. if you're a driver you need this.

 

I should've added that most of the people that don't think their truck drives crappy have newer Tacomas (2019-2020) and those seem to have a better driveability. 2016-17 are the biggest piles of crap factory tunes ever put out by Toyota and no one likes the factory tunes on those years

 

I have a 17. I was so excited to finally be able to get my dream truck since 1985. I wanted a Toyota for 35 flippin years. Never saw a good deal when I could buy one, or needed something different for business, or family. I bought this one, excited about having a stick shift again. ( 240sx, probe, s-10, miata, Ford f100 colum shift) and it just felt like blahh. Ov tuned and it is just a joy every day to drive.

 

for the auto trans it helps A LOT BUT, it does not cure it all. throttle response, smoothing of the power curve, is IMMENSELY BETTER. the trans, gear hunting up and down is A LOT better below 60-65 mph driving with your foot but, when you get into highway speeds and or cruise control (i disable the radar cruise on my 19, EVERY TIME), it still downshifts too much on flats, and hills, and holds the higher rpms/gear too long, after cresting the hill. it really is a gearing thing in the trans, combined with a poor gear selection in the axles, to make fuel mileage for the window sticker/epa.

i still like the tune and the tuning options OV offers, not bagging on it at all. they can only do so much, with what they have for a starting point with the terrible gear/trans from toyota. cant wait for the final update to the 2.0 tune that gives us a performance/towing/gear lock, for the trans, features. that will be the icing on the cake for me.

with that said, if you can take the guys up on the flashing for less than full amount of an entire kit, it would be worth it. good luck!

Ski

 

Damn... This thread is making me seriously think about doing the OVTune. I dont hate how my Tacoma drives but I could use a little more low end grunt to it.

 

whenever i see a post like this i want whoever posted it to drive my truck. after taking a drive with me first.

 

I would love to test drive a Tacoma with the OVtune!

 

I PM'ed you about this.

 

Exactly. It would take about a minute of driving to sell someone on tuning the MT. It’s immediately noticeable

 

My 20 was frustrating for the first 2500 miles. After that I drove in s5 everywhere all the time and was less frustrated. After 5500 miles I went back to just running in drive, apparently it learns in s mode and applies it to standard drive mode. Completely different truck. Runs through the gears fine, down shifts while needed and doesn’t even attempt 6th gear unless it’s over 71 mph on the speedo (75mph) corrected. As much as I like the idea of the tune at this point it’s not necessary.

 

I'm gonna need to test drive an OVTuned truck to see what's supposedly broken with mine to be worth the investment.

 

I have never driven a 2020 model. Maybe they have taken the problem to heart, and fixed it?