Manual or automatic?

Bought a '22 TRD Sport end of June, manual trans. After accumulator delete mod, I am finding that the manual trans is well matched to the truck. Shifter has positive feel, clutch engagement is smooth and comfortable. It's my first truck, enjoying it more than I thought I would!

 

I have grown to love having a MT when off roading. I have always had a MT but never to off road in. i had been looking for one and lucky for me one got traded in at work. I had to learn some new things, learn to trust the truck and let it do the work. I hate when people are like "o but traffic sucks in a MT" ya it sucks no matter what. I lived in Houston for a couple years which the traffic there is worst then Cali. It just part of daily driving one. I know have another daily so my truck is only driven on the weekends.
I was going to get a short shifter like some of my other cars, but tried it in a friends Tacoma and I hated it. I am short, but just didn't like the feel.
As for getting unstuck at times I have felt I didn't get stuck at times because of the MT. IDK maybe I'm getting better at certain things but like i side before, just learning to trust the truck helps a lot. We where driving down a old busted up hwy on the beach in high tide out in Texas and I really think I would had been stuck like most others did if I had a AT. BUT like i said maybe I have learned to really drive it and its more me IDK

 

The Tacoma is my daily and toy hauler on weekends. For what it's worth, I'm a die hard MT fan but am very close to switching out to an AT for one major reason. Traffic. Not all traffic is created equal. The 7 miles home can take me upwards of 50 minutes. I probably depress the clutch pedal a hundred times during that drive. Leaving the city to play on weekends is the same mind-numbing trudging until you get 20 miles out. If you live somewhere where traffic conditions are similar, you're going to sour on the MT. It took me 20 years of driving MTs daily but traffic has finally ground me down.

Daily driver: AT. Weekend toy: MT.

All that said, the Tacoma MT rocks and I'll probably miss it.

 

I firmly believe that all this new fangled nanny crap was invented just to help keep drivers of automatics safe on the road around everyone else.

Driving a manual, you are forced to pay attention 100% of the time to what you are doing, otherwise you will find yourself revving to the moon or bogging to the point of stalling out.

Autos are easy enough to go numb and drift into the uncontrolled "auto pilot" mode. Thus the lane assist, radar cruise control, head flop alert, etc...

Driving in stop and go traffic.....what a silly silly thing to say as a reason to drive an auto. You folks do realize that creeping along in bumper to bumper traffic has been around A LONG time and when manuals were the majority and autos were the minority. Real men (and women) were not weenies about it back then.

Further, back in the day those manuals where married to a finicky carb'd engine as well. Nowadays, you don't even have to factor in the potential carb induced stalling from vapor lock while creeping along in traffic.

It's sooooo difficult. Cry me a river!

 

Hey, it’s really hard to watch and record Snapchat/ TikTok in a manual. Jsyk

 

Over the years, I have had several manual transmission cars and trucks. I like having an automatic. It's an easier drive.
Now for a motorcycle, it's a different story. I love running through the gears on my 2 wheeler!

 

40 years for me, never owned or desired to own an Automatic.

 

Go manual!

 

I did the same for over 20 years, and countless events on my 2 stroke race bikes. I really enjoy having the automatic.

 

I've loaded in my old bass boat many times and tow my SxS across state lines just about every weekend. No problems driving the manual in those situations at all. IMO, the Taco would be kind of a boring vehicle without it. If you've already had a 3rd gen tho why not just wait a year or so (might be wishful thinking with supply chain) and get the 4th gen with an updated powertrain? Just seems silly to get a new 3rd gen at this point if you don't need a car right away. Just my .02.

 

I personally enjoy the simplicity of auto but I do think manual would be fun!

 

Automatic air dam and active grill
Shutters? Really? I had no idea.

 

They are all fun and it’s possible to like both automatic trans and standard. I’d also give some thought as to intended use. I’ve driven some higher end cars with paddle shift and it was a blast. Going the other way I owned 1955 Chevy 2nd series with 235 6 and 3 on the column shift. Fond memories of driving that beast while smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee. Straight axle front, drum brakes, believe me when I tell you it took full concentration and some muscle, no power brakes or steering. Top speed between 50 to 60 mph. Felt like driving a wagon

 

Just like the Cayenne Coupe. Costs just as much, too!

 

Waiting on a manual is why it's taking over 7 months to get a Tacoma. It'll be worth it.

 

Agreed^2

I put a deposit down on a fully tarted out TRD Sport (with the 6MT) in February in BCM, a week or two ago my dealer got an allocation for the exact Tacoma I requested, except in BRM; I jumped on it.

• Time between deposit and manufacture: 6-Months (estimated)
• Time between deposit and taking ownership: 9-Months (estimated)

Totally worth the wait!

 

This is a no brainer. The manual is ridiculous fun to drive. I currently own a g2 manual and a g3 auto. The manual feels like a truck, a soft dirt, and rock eating mother fucker. The auto feels like a cruise ship. And the truth is, the auto sucks balls at downhilling. You have to lock it all down and use crawl control, or shift it into manual mode to let the motor break. Which defeats the purpose of an automatic.

My g2 has 300k and I've replaced the clutch once after I towed a J24 sailboat (3400 pounds) over a 8000 foot pass.

If you can actually find a g3 manual, buy it!

 

Thats where I am and LA before that and it't still worth it to have the manual.

 

Love my manual pro. Had to make concessions on the color to get it, but still worth it.

 

I had a 5 speed 4.0 ranger edge back in the day… 10 years ago… just last night I caught myself almost trying to push the clutch in and shifting into first when coming up to a red light right hand turn in my AT taco… it’s embedded in me!