Why no manual transmission with 6' beds?

I knew that the crew cab long beds were never available with three pedals from 2nd Gen onward, but it is no longer possible to get an access cab with a manual?!?!

 

Technically, it's no longer possible to get an access cab, went back to the xtracab, semantics but no more doors for the rear. However, yes they no longer offer the xtracab in a manual config.

 

There are a few factors at play here. First the MT is rated 1 mpg worse in the city. That's huge in modern-day corporate avg fuel economy / carbon credits boondoggle. Toyota is probably limited in how many MTs it can offer per year as a result. Hypothetically, if CAFE didn't exist, Toyota will probably build a few more. Then again, if CAFE didn't exist, we'd probably see the 2GR V6 offered in the 4th gen Second is changing user preferences. We're still discussing AT vs. MT, when having a shifter at all is on decline. Last year, Tesla changed PRNDL shifting to swiping on a screen. Many of today's elementary school-age kids have never seen a physical keyboard - swiping on a screen is the familiar and default way for them to operate machines.

The stupid thing is the 8-speed has been 4th gen's Achilles heel in reliability. Some 4th gen owners are on their third transmission. Hopefully in a couple of years the bugs will be worked out.

 

People don't really want that. They are pretty smart and if the demand was really that high then they would make it. Sadly you and the few others that want one are in the minority. Manuals are a dying breed.

"Manual transmission cars are less common than vehicles with automatic transmission, accounting for less than 2.5% of sales in the United States." that is ALL cars and trucks in the entire US. You are the minority.

 

You don’t seem to understand that the automakers build to meet EPA criteria, they don’t really build what the people want. If they wanted to cater to manual owners, they would build more of them and they would sell all of them just fine. Even access/xtracab style configurations. Obviously people who prefer manuals are in the minority, but it’s a larger minority than the sales numbers would reflect, because sales numbers are not meeting the demand.

 

Ok if you think so.

 

I heard an actual explanation that made kinda sense: The manual transmission is smaller than the automatic, and uses a longer driveshaft. So the short bed 6MT would use the long bed’s 8AT version driveshaft. They’d have to have a unique extra long driveshaft just for 6MT long beds and the numbers would be so small it wasn’t worth the extra SKU. I can’t verify any of this but it seemed to me like an explanation that sounded plausible.

 

I can believe it, that's a pretty common thing. Happens on a lot of cars from a lot of brands.

 

The MT isn't THAT short. Plus there are already multiple permutations: 2WD, 4WD, gasser, hybrid, small axle, big axle...

 

Probably because there are a grand total of 23 people who actually want that configuration. 17 of them are on this forum so it seems like more.

Tongue in cheek, but seriously there’s just not enough demand to justify it.

 

Another common difference is for the driveshafts and halfshafts on manual cars to be thicker than their automatic equivalents in order to deal with the shock loads of clutch stuff. Beefier components in the driveline cost more to produce and now you have a second set of parts to ship and stock in parts warehouses, so there are additional costs on the back end.

 

Can confirm... Shaft is longer and thicker.

 

More like 7th set of parts. The hybrids (available in both LB and SB) need their own set of driveshafts, both to handle the massive electric torque, and to accommodate the extra length of the electric drive unit sandwiched between the engine and transmission.

 

Even back on the 1st gen, the 4 doors did not offer MT in either short bed or long bed, (not sure a long bed config was even available). No more Access Cab on the 4th Gen and no MT on the Xtra Cab.

 

only the first few months worth. Nothing since the middle of last year has been subject to the TSB

 

There’s no such thing as a 1st gen double cab long bed…

 

Good point, but a lot of this stuff is off the shelf in the global market too.

 

I’d keep the ‘92 that thing is sick and looks to be in good condition.

 

Anyone have statistics on what final selling prices are/were vs sticker prices for both manual and auto trans variants of vehicles? (maybe also for comparable used vehicles where only the trans was different?) Because that would easily put a damper on this nonsense that nobody wants them...

Case in point... Not a single dealer of five I went was willing to discuss pricing on a manual when I bought my '18 (well, one did offer a measly $1K off)... However each one of them were very eager to sell me an auto... Why do you suppose that is? They certainly would not do that if nobody wanted them... It's at this point where many people simply give up and 'settle' for the auto.
So I went to a car-buying service that pre-negotiates prices for you... The dealer I went to with this deal was absolutely not happy I was looking at a manual. The sales manager there repeatedly put the pressure on me to buy an automatic because he knew full-well someone else (without said discount) would be along after me to buy the manual (even trying to spin the (skewed) MPG numbers on me and telling me how much "better" "reliable" the auto is, blah blah blah). Again, this wouldn't happen if manuals were languishing on dealer lots... A deal is a deal though, and the transmission (along with the Access Cab) were non-negotiable items for me. For those keeping tabs on people who wanted an Off Road, but were forced into a Sport because no AC MTs in the States, you can add me to that list as well.

Something else is what's driving the low sales of manuals, lack of demand is not it.

 

Got it. So the guy at the Apple Store trying to really push you and sell you the 16 Pro Max because it is the most expensive means there is huge demand for IPhone 14’s. Your definition of demand is about as funny as the few manual lovers thinking there is some huge demand for manuals yet Toyota just won’t sell you one.