New here but not new to TRDoff road

Yo peeps this forum has been helpful lately as I have bought myself a 2018 TRD offroad. I have always been a consumer that is very cautious and guarded especially when it comes to buying cars/trucks. Over several decades the only vehicle I have bought new from a dealer, out of many was my 2005 TRDoffroad Taco, 4 door, short box, manual tran. at the end of the year of its make in 05. 280,000 miles and over 15 years later it has enough of a list of things that need $ thrown at it and lack of new era creature comforts and tech, that I decided to get a new truck and immediately could not think of another truck I would want than another Taco. With my 05 besides airbags in the rear and the OEM roof rack with the movable bars (so dope! will get another one soon for the 2018) I left it bone stock and saw 1000s and 1000s of miles of trades work out of it and SO many amazing adventures into the dirty roads and snow of the high Sierra (mostly with BRAAAAP toys).

I had a great experience with my slow cautious approach to buying pre-owned a 2018 TRD.O.R. What is very obvious immediately is the 3.5 vs the 4.0. Please help me anyone!, understand the justification Toyota Corp has for this change!?!?! I am still not used to the 2018's 3.5 and its at least once a week I say to myself "I don't want my new Taco!"(I have only put 3000 miles on it) I mostly notice it's lack of Torque in the 3.5 and because my 2018 has a auto transmission I also feel like the engineers who developed the throttle position sensor and none ECT mapping have not and likely never will need or use a truck for its long list of intended uses. I am getting used to it slowly but it seems very unintuitive (maybe you all have the scoop on how peeps are doing with chipping and adding units that help with torque and better throttle response). With the ECT off I think for the tiny bit you save on MPG the trany is always shifting to higher gear and working super hard wich is not the case with the ECT on. The big thing I DO NOT like is ECT off and cruse control being used The computer has been mapped in combo with how ever the truck picks up on load or change in load on the wheels is really frustrating example: cruse on truck is ascending, it makes sense the truck will down shift to maintain the speed you have chosen (125MPH) J.K.) the computers will take forever to shift back up after the load has decreased i.e. we crest the hill to flat or even descending. ECT on is slightly better but still not like many other good Japanese vehicles I have like our Subaru Outback (F*^$ing awesome car)

I did have a snugtop shell on the 05 Taco and being a dirt biker I did not like having to use a hitch mount to haul the bikes because going off road to stage for a days ride or going in deep to camp and ride was none to good because the the dirt bike rack would regularly drag and hinder the crawl of the truck, = unwanted damage in several ways. So with the 2018 and my hopes for a bed rack with a RTT and still be able to have the toys in the bed and not hinder the Taco's rolling and crawling on all sorts of offroad conditions is proving to be not easy. I am very happy that I have a moon roof and unlike many I have had on other cars. The wind noise is really low when it is closed and I find I can still enjoy leaving the inner shroud open and have some light come in when the glass is closed. That being said I also do not think I want the RTT on the roof proper, or have a overland roof rack beside the OEM collapsable because I am none to fond of unwanted wind noise (although the JBL is so fricken bad*ss I could just rock out more and drown out all vehicle noise).

To shorten this up and not bore the heck out of anyone brave enough to read this. I do love both rigs, I will miss the 4.0's torque and love Taco because of how diverse I notice the walks of life that are smart enough to own the best all around ninja truck $ can buy.

Thanks

 

There are TSB's that address the shifting issues with the 3.5 for 2018, if you are under 60,000miles you should still qualify for it under warranty.

 

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