No longer need advice - my dad went with a 2015

The 3.5L has a fairly flat torque curve, 278hp, and runs aprox 15.2@ 92mph stock.
Tow rating is 6,500 pounds as per the sae J2807 test.


How quick a pickup truck does he have in mind??

 

The 4.30 Gears in the Manual also match up better with the 3.5 engine.

 

Aldo, I understand how you feel about a manual transmission. I would have got one with a manual, however; where I live the traffic is horrible with a manual transmission for a daily driver The automatic S made is simple. Put it in S and default is 4 gears . if you want 5 or 6 just push shifter up once it twice I leave mine in S 5 for the majority of my driving conditions. S4 for heavy stop n go rush hours and it handles nicely.

 

99% of tacoma drivers probably never give the power and shifiting a second thought -- it's only we obsessive folks on TW that feel the need to stress/find fault with it. Unless he's buying it for real HD load hauling or towing, I bet your dad will be perfectly fine with the 2016.

 

Well that’s quite a statement.

That’s like saying “Most Tacoma drivers don’t know any better. I doubt your dad will be able to tell anything, either. He will be fine with the automatic.”

 

this, ov tune, and an open exhaust on this truck is a damn fun combination.

 

I appreciate the recommendation.

My plan is to escalate things gradually: first bring it up with the dealer. Let them do their TSBs and what not, and then see how it goes. If the fix disappears after awhile, I will repeat once or twice if necessary.

At that point I will have to reassess: is that automatic still passing me off? No -> Great! Yes -> can I live with it? Yes -> Great! No -> What are my options: (a) try OVTune and see how it goes; (b) cut my losses and trade in the truck...

In the meantime, every time someone comes on here asking for other Tacoma owners’ experiences, I will freely share mine.

 

WTF is up with your avatar. It messed me up.

Are there shifting TSBs for the 2019s? I thought everything was rolled into production last year?

I would offer to help you out, but the version of TechStream that I have is only good for 2016s and 2017s. There is supposedly a version out there that supports 2018s, but I haven't needed to test it yet.


That was the steps that I was following, except short-cutted a bit. I installed the TSB tune myself. OVT features then reached the tipping point for me. And, you can pry this Taco out of my cold, dead hands.

 

LOL!

It’s less about winning; its more about following the process so the only Toyota dealer in town honors my warranty.

I just dumped Jeep because the only Jeep dealer in town was giving me all kinds of grief with the warranty to the point that they really pissed me off.

I am willing to play nice with Toyota. Not that I have a choice with only one dealer in town.

 

Yeah! I should clarify that since I have V12.10.019. It will install CUW files on newer Tacos. I did a 2018 MT for another TW'er. But, the free customization options are worth the effort also.

 

Yes, I noticed 92 octane gas —that’s the highest we get here— helped smoothen out the motor and sharpen its response. But the transmission still doesn’t like being asked to downshift.

I’ll keep filling up with 92 and see if the transmission adapts to the engine being more awaken.

I’ll add the trans fluid level check to the list when I take in to the dealer.

 

Yeah, I got you.

Still, I want to follow due process before I start spending money out of my pocket and get banned by the dealer.

 

Yah, I was thinking the same thing. I work with a guy who used to work for Toyota and he said to never buy anything earlier than the 4 the year of a particular generation. It takes Toyota about 4 years to work all of the bugs out.

 

I couldn't think of title that wasn't less than 2 sentences long. Thanks for support. I've been on here long enough to know thick skin is required.

 

Thanks. Truck isn't for me though. It's for my dad. I've been a lurker on here for several years. I did ask him about his thoughts on a MT. Not ideal. He plans on this truck being his last vehicle purchase and doesn't want it to be one a burden in the future. Thank you though.

 

I used to root my Android phones back in the day. I would consider this to be similar. It's a never-ending cycle of flash/debug/live with the shortcomings/repeat. Not too keen on the thought of bricking my dad's truck.

 

Probably pretty basic. No plans to tow (that I know of, but could happen) and no plans to use it for anything other than getting from point A to point B

 

You'd probably want to speak to Mat at OVTune about that but I don't think that's really an apples to apples comparison. Rooting a phone is a bigger change to the device's software than what an ECU tune does. It's simply replacing the values in the tables that control the different engine/transmission parameters. And for what it's worth, I flashed my truck to OVTune v1.04 a long time ago and then never thought about it again. Since then only one more version was released and I didn't feel the need to update. I think my experience would be the same as many other OVTune users. Also, I don't believe bricking an ECU is possible with OVTune. It is with some flashing software but not theirs from what I understand. In any case you probably shouldn't be doing anything to your Dad's truck without him being okay with it.