My fanboy status has been slipping.

I have driven or owned Fords, Chevrolet, Jeep, but mostly Toyotas all my life. I have always been a big fan of Toyota products. To date if my count is correct between me and my wife we have owned 15 toyota vehicles. I have loved them all until now. I used to tell other people when they complained about their vehicles about the toyota commercial when they say oh what a feeling and how that rang true to me. I now have the new 2016 tacoma TRDORDC 4X4. I have had the hood vibration which is now fixed, the howling wind noise which I have also fixed. I considered those as minor issues even though it should have never been an issue. There are a lot of things I like about my new Tacoma but the big issue I can't seem to get past is my transmission. I have had it at the dealership twice to have atf added. The transmission fluid being low should have never been an issue in these trucks. I have the delay when cold from reverse to drive. I sometimes have a hard clunk when truck shifts. I don't consider these transmissions as a quality product. I think toyota really screwed up on this one. It bothers me seeing so many of us with this problem and Toyota not addressing it at this time. I wonder if these transmissions are going to hold up in the long run. I am scared to take my truck on a long trip wondering if it's going to leave me stranded on the side of the road. I want to get back the old what a feeling but at this point my old what a feeling is not good.

 

The low fluid seems to be tied to trucks with tow package, so not all tacos. It is a miscommunication on the need to add extra fluid for the cooler. You can't blame the factory workers, they do what they are trained/told to do, they are not techs. It does fall somewhere between corporate and the line supervisors.
If you are having trouble getting your dealer to check it, try a different dealer. And they need to check it physically, not just temps with techstream. You may need to open a case with corporate first, then the dealer will be forced to check it properly.
Once you have that resolved, I believe you will have that feeling back.

 

I hear what your saying, kerrdog, I wouldn't like it either. I need to know I can count on my truck for the next 10 years. But it seems to be an issue with lots of the new Tacomas.

Now that they have topped your ATF off twice, is your truck behaving?

 

My transmission has had fluid added. Its not as bad as it was but to me added the fluid to the proper level still does not cure these transmissions. I have noted on here others saying the same thing.

 

I would ask corporate for an extended warranty. There are several other people who have had luck getting them after having transmission issues due to the factory not filling the transmission correctly.

 

I bought extended warranty with my truck. I hope I dont have to use it tho.

 

Its taking me some time to get used to the AT but I think I got the hang of it. What amazes me is that other than this site there aren't a lot of complaints that I can find online. Even if people don't know about this site there are plenty of other places to gripe online...I found 2 places where this is mentioned and most of the complaints are from the same people here..Either way if there is something to be fixed I hope its soon.

 

It's not just tow pkg trucks. Mines a non-tow pkg and was 1.25qt low from factory. Took 3 visits and 2 dealerships to get it fixed.
First and likely last Toyota. Bring on the Ranger.

 

OP, I have a few threads written on this. ONE is on a 1500 mile documented trip. I had my Taco at the dealership last week for 4 days. I will write up and document today a thorough finding. In summary the AT Tranny will shift many times depending on various factors. These factors are wind, elevation, towing, speed, outside ambient temp etc. My Taco rarely shifts like a rocking horse as long as the speed is NOT OVER 65 MPH. Posted speeds in Texas are 75 mph and 80 mph. At 75 mph my Taco will shift over 100 times in a 220 mile run. My transmission was FULL of fluid. The 3.5L engine has a certain Power band where power is readily available with throttle actuation. At 2,000 rpm and in 6th gear at 75 mph; this engine is NOT capable of maintaining that gear (6th)if there is any wind or if a leaf has blown across the highway. My tranny will easily and smoothly shift into 5th no problem with maybe 200 - 300 rpm difference, but if I am going over an overpass; it will punch down into 4th gear and jump up to the power band of 3500 rpm.

Here is the summary. If you don't want it to shift like a rocking horse. DON'T use the CRUISE CONTROL. I paid $45K out the door for my Taco with the warranty, and the CRUISE is HORRIBLE. The cruise tries to maintain the SET SPEED like 75 mph. In older cars of YESTERYEAR, the cars used VACUUM to maintain the speed. If I am NOT using cruise the TACO will just slow down a bit going up a hill and stay in 6th or 5th. I tried this on another same highway 220 mile trip and it only shifted 8 times whereas with cruise, on the same trip it was easily over a hundred. My wife was documenting each time it shifted, and taking pictures of the instrument cluster while I was driving.

The tranny and reading this forum had me HATING my TACO; I was going to trade it in, take a loss and get a manual TACO or a RAPTOR, and my wife told me that I had done a TON of research and that I loved my truck. She was right. I did LOVE my TACO: The size, the Off Road, the nice interior etc. So now I drive at 70 mph with the cruise. If want to go 75 mph, I take the cruise off before going up a hill, then back on after the hill.

I have had no other REAL problems with it except for the tranny and 16 mpg. I get 17 - 18 mpg driving at 70 mph with out cruise now. I have the TRD OR, and I have used the 4x4 to go directly off the road and gone down bayou crawfish mud trails with no problems, and climbing up steep off road hills. I just had to remember that I wanted a GREAT 4x4 Off Road; that could immediately leave the road and get to OFF ROAD areas whenever I wanted.

I have 10,000 miles on my Taco, and I am again loving it, as I have learned to drive it so it is not a rocking horse. Whenever a supercharger or Tuning software comes out, I will upgrade and/or change the specs on the engine to gain more power. This is basically the same engine in the Lexus which is rated at 305 hp. Maybe Toyota will listen and upgrade our ECU to that unit.

 

It bums me out to hear about the Taco's new tranny. I hope Toyota chooses to address the issue, their are too many detractors for my peace-of-mind. Based on what I am reading I would be unhappy as well.

 

You are not alone, even fan boys eventually run out of patience and excuses. This year i bought my first Subaru since 2016 Tacoma turned out to be complete utter crap.
Looking at Subaru quality I don't think I will see Toyota dealership anytime soon. My 2016 Crosstrek reminded me what Japan quality supposed to be. Perfect fit and finish, and turn key quality every time I sit in it. CVT transmission that seems to always be in right gear, engine that despite its 4 cylinder limits feels like owns the road. Perfect design and execution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Dx9dLJ5To

 

That's it you troll. CVTs don't have gears. Get off this forum.

 

6th gear in these trucks was purely a EPA gear. If I drive in "S" mode and limit it to 5th and don't use cruise, the truck rarely downshifts and I get the best mileage, and that is gong up slight grades, wind, etc. And I add accelerator to maintain speed, funny is I still accelerate without it down shifting where as you experienced the crappy cruise control shits constantly even if it senses a slight incline.

So the cruise control is utter crap.

 

I thought I'd already ignored that moron. Thanks for the reminder

 

A cvt, 3200 lb 148 hp Crosstrek? With 145 torques?
Did you buy it for the quality or the low price? On hills do you walk beside it, or do you have it on a leash so you can pull it up the hill? And how do you feel about your car doubling as a vow of celibacy?

 

The Subarus are well designed, but the blue tooth set up is horrible. I can't believe I paid 20g's for that. And the El Camino owned the road. Literally.

 

So far my bluetooth has been working with out the problems, it does make it easy to make calls from inside the car and listening to music from my phone.
Its bit rough looking (Graphics on the screen ) but I thought its due to me choosing cheap radio instead of that NAV unit.
is your Forester the same way ? or better yet what problems you have.
So far knock on wood I have nothing.

"Did you buy it for the quality or the low price?" - Both, it maybe cheaper than Tacoma but it comes with disc brakes on the rear, and not with Model T technology of drum brakes...

"On hills do you walk beside it, or do you have it on a leash so you can pull it up the hill?" Not sure what you mean because it climbs hills with out downshifting million times, unlike 2016 Tacomas doing 55 MPH on third gear at 6000 RPM trying to climb a overpass, or work against the wind. I am thinking about making bumper sticker for Subaru saying "If you can read this, have you tried ECT button?"

"And how do you feel about your car doubling as a vow of celibacy?" - I rather be driving Crosstrek than getting towed in Tacoma with hood flapping on the wind.

 

What names do you use to troll other websites?

 

Have fun in your Crosstrek. Ride with Pride, even if your car looks like a Pontiac Aztek humped a Dodge Caliber, and begat your car as the result.

 

Oh, and BlewT, not only do I not own an automatic, (and a CVT is an automatic for dummies, seriously do you have one of the CVTs with paddle shifters? Do you drive around pretending to row an automatic? With your fingers? Like some kind of Wii shifting game?) I would never own a CVT. Manual>automatic>single speed bicycle>CVT.

Seriously, finding out that the big bad troll BlueT drives a cvt budget awd was the best part of an already very good day. People type LOL all the the time, but I truly did laugh out loud. He went from the ruiner of threads to comic relief in a single moment.