Learn From My Mistakes...

OP - sorry to hear about the issues you have had with your truck. I have been lucky and my truck has been everything I wanted it to be and more. I have a co-worker with a brand new xc-90 with under 2500 miles. It has been to the shop 4 times as of last week. She now wants to trade it in... Every car or manufuactuer has issues

This thread

 

Sorry to hear, Im sure it is very frustrating.

 

OP sorry to hear about your troubles. I most definitely agree with point number 3. The quality of Toyotas has definitely gone down. My wife and I owned five Tacomas prior to the 2108 that I purchased five months ago. I trusted that the fit and finish on the Gen 3's would be equal to that of our previous trucks. Not true. It is no better than any other truck. After carefully detailing my 2018, I found numerous paint nibs, considerable orange peel, and a misaligned hood and grill. I thought that I had carefully checked the truck before purchasing it, but I guess I was counting a little bit on Toyota quality. Lesson learned. Now about the transmission. I have not had the problems that you have had, but in all of my 60 years of driving and owning new vehicles, I have never had a vehicle with the erratic shifting that I experience with my 2018. My wife had a 2011 V6 AT and now drives a 2015 V6 AT. No shifting problems at all. I had the famous stumble on WOT TSB done and that corrected that problem. However it still shifts like a POS. To get decent performance, I drive in S4 or S5 and and ECT. Driving in this manner does not affect mileage all that much. The folks at my dealership admit that the transmission is basically a POS as far as performance. Some of their techs have already installed some of the aftermarket devices that are supposed to improve the shifting problem. My 2018 is not my "dream truck". Don't have a "dream truck" in mind right now so I'll just take good care of my Tacoma, count on its his resale value and trade when I find something better....a quality mid-sized truck with decent performance.

 

Chilton is definitely stinkin' garbage, best repair manual I ever had was from Robert Bentley for my old VW Golf, had damn near everything in detail in it.

 

Well d'uh. that's cuz you bought the Chilton. Shoulda bought the real thing, or a Haynes.

 

OP, I feel your pain. I've owned 5 Toyotas, and this 2009 is not on par with them. QC has gone down. I honestly feel like my 2004 Mazda truck was twice as well built for half the price.
I bought a 2015 Nissan Micra for $9998 new, and it has half the miles of the Toyota on it now with ZERO issues.
I work on my own vehicles. I scratch my head at how Toyota designs some things.
Not only that, but the cabin ergonomics are wonky. The pedals are not in a great position, and the seat leaves much to be desired. I still love the truck, but I'm just not in love with it.
(Especially now that I have little to no heat because apparently the foam on the hot air diverter door falls off and blocks he flow of air. Toyota decided to use 3 servo motors for this unit, and it takes 8 hours to take access the heater box.)
Not cool.

 

I am not getting this at all. You wanted to accelerate to a faster lane, you were almost hit from behind, and then accelerated and almost hit the person in front of you ?
No issues here, when I punch it, it puts you back in the seat, when nobody is in front of me of course lol. First time I did it after break in I was like wtf when that hp kicked in ! Fun.
I'd buy another Taco in a hearbeat.
2.5 years out and just a dead battery. Fit finish ride and everything is exact and I read every thread here and know what to look for.
People here just bitch becasue they don't like the way the tranny acts, but look again, no failures. And the heck with pushing a clutch forever more. Those antique days are gone.

 

Can confirm. Had auto, now have manual

 

I will say an extended test drive is a must. I have at least 6 long term rental 1/2 tons a year Ford, Chevy, Ram, and they all drive different even within the same brand. My experience is they don't grow out of it either.

 

My experience with automatics is they all have lag issues .. so not really Toyotas fault . You need to learn the sweet spot on a automatic since its throttle by wire system . I would look into a peddle commander . Or use higher grade fuel 89 and above . The truck runs a lot better . On the freeway if I need to pass someone I use the sport mode helps a ton and don't have to worry about it shifting for you. Get the tsb update .

 

i have the ECT on at startup mod and for me it did fix what OP described.
"The first time was when I was turning left in front of oncoming traffic. Instead of accelerating through the turn, I pressed on the gas but the truck did not accelerate."
would advise getting the TSB also.

 

Your issues don’t seem insurmountable, annoying, unexpected, (for a TOYOTA) frustrating, absolutely yes.

But driving around with ECT engaged and S mode (4) around town and S(5) in combined driving should help until the drive train is fully adjusted to the wear state or sum of all its components.
TSB may also help as some members have stated, but I trust ECT and S mode more until the ecm has made all the adjustments.

As far as quality goes, I disagree to some extent mainly because we are using far more sophisticated technology than ever before these days, with new materials to cut weight in order to gain mpg increases demanded by both customers and government and at a much faster pace.

TOYOTA customer service I have found at both dealer and factory level to be as as good as ever or as any other maker, provided one uses the right approach and language.

With all these new technological advances and fast paced changes going on in the Industry, I find myself very uneasy and uncomfortable in any vehicle made today.
Moreover, while my truck is rock solid at 40k+ miles on the clock, I’m fully aware that if anything was not correctly installed at the factory drivetrain wise, I’ll be toast.

This 3rd Gen is not like my first 4 cyd. TOYOTA truck used in “back to the future” you could just blow up or dismantle and then put back together again cheaply and good as new, all is well.
Those days are gone and today the cost of failure is prohibitive, and frightens me.

Best of luck
Cheers!

 

THIS RIGHT HERE, MORE PEOPLE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS