Future Toyota 4x4s for the US Market

[Clutch]

While so many here prefer diesels and manuals, my preference runs to V8s and automatics. I've had sticks before and while they're fun in a musclecar, or a sports car the auto is much more forgiving and easier to drive offroad.....and if need be I can still drive it easily with a broken leg......

I just feel you have more control with a stick, that control really shines off-road for me at least....and really really shines for towing. Have been driving them since...well, since I learned how to drive, 30 years ago. Our Trooper is auto and quite frankly I hate driving it, we got a screaming deal on it, so we couldn't pass it up...the Trooper is my girlfriend's primary vehicle (thank gawd, I would rather walk than drive an auto), while she likes it...she did say she wishes it was a manny trans. It just has to last another 1.5 years until she is done with grad school...I hope (crossing fingers) the tranny holds up (I hate putting money into a vehicle I do not care for)...we baby it, and the tranny is already acting up....autos just seem hyper sensitive to me, even under ideal situations they don't hold up for very long.

Every automatic we ever had in our family was fussy, while manuals, just keep on going, never have to touch them, other than changing out the gear oil.

I am near 300,000 miles on the manny trans in my Taco, original clutch too. I'll probably be driving manual transmissions, until they pry it from my cold dead hand.
All of these new fangled vehicles that do everything for you, is utterly disconcerting, heck the Gen Y'ers don't even want to drive anymore...what is our ever advancing technology creating here?

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...120701_1_young-people-millennials-car-sharing

 

[jim65wagon]

I just feel you have more control with a stick, that control really shines off-road for me at least........autos just seem hyper sensitive to me, even under ideal situations they don't hold up for very long.

Every automatic we ever had in our family was fussy, while manuals, just keep on going, never have to touch them, other than changing out the gear oil.

I am near 300,000 miles on the manny trans in my Taco, original clutch too.

To each his own, my off road experience is far more enjoyable with the auto. They also seem to hold up just fine for me with regular fluid and filter changes (and big coolers). The one in the Tundra is almost to 200,000 miles now and going strong.

 

[Clutch]

To each his own.

Yep.

 

[Rattler]

My Tacoma is the first auto I have had in 15 years when I bought it. My wife can't drive a manual worth a darn and she doesn't mind sharing the driving on trips so I got an auto. I wouldn't ahve had any say anyways. I have never seen a 2001-04 factory doublecab manual. I was coming out of a built '02 WRX so it would have been a disappointment to release a clutch.

 

[Rallyroo]

heck the Gen Y'ers don't even want to drive anymore...

They're the same ones that expect their parents to shuttle them around like a chauffeur until they're 25.

Japan has the same problem where the young generation have zero interest in cars. The auto industry in Japan has said that the car culture is dying there.

 

[cruiser guy]

The auto vs. manual debate is not really part of this thread but being someone who ventures outside of the Conus I prefer manual all the way. Most of the rest of the world does too. There are plenty of advantages to the manual that for me at least far outweigh the lack of shifting gears especially for expedition use when you could be miles and days from any mechanic and weeks from a qualified one.
1. push start, not possible with an auto
2. have a screwed up gear? Skip it with the manual, not possible with an auto (you might say you've never seen that but I have). A friend was stuck in Mexico for 3-4 months waiting for a auto tranny repair and a cousin abandoned his auto tranny vehicle when the tranny couldn't pass the screwed up gear. I drove from Mazatlan, MX to Vancouver, B.C. in third and fourth with a manual because I couldn't get into 1st and 2nd. Easy no, but little down time till I was where I could get parts and fix it.
3. low oil level, put almost anything greasy into the manual to get by till the good oil is available. Do that to an auto and you'll be rebuilding, don't do it and you'll be pushing

 

[Clutch]

The auto vs. manual debate is not really part of this thread but being someone who ventures outside of the Conus I prefer manual all the way. Most of the rest of the world does too.

Sure it does...some of us want LC70's....and they better be manual/diesels when whey get here. (dreaming of course):ylsmoke:

My English friend, said where he is from autos are for the elderly and the the handicapped. Not trying to offend anyone, just the way the rest of the World is.

1. push start, not possible with an auto
2. have a screwed up gear? Skip it with the manual, not possible with an auto (you might say you've never seen that but I have). A friend was stuck in Mexico for 3-4 months waiting for a auto tranny repair and a cousin abandoned his auto tranny vehicle when the tranny couldn't pass the screwed up gear. I drove from Mazatlan, MX to Vancouver, B.C. in third and fourth with a manual because I couldn't get into 1st and 2nd. Easy no, but little down time till I was where I could get parts and fix it.
3. low oil level, put almost anything greasy into the manual to get by till the good oil is available. Do that to an auto and you'll be rebuilding, don't do it and you'll be pushing

Great points. I have had to bump start a couple times due to a failed battery. Never had an internal failure though, my last Toyota did have the slave
cylinder fail, but you can still drive it with the clutch engaged. Drove it for a week like that waiting on parts.

They're the same ones that expect their parents to shuttle them around like a chauffeur until they're 25.

More like 35...:sombrero:

My Tacoma is the first auto I have had in 15 years when I bought it. My wife can't drive a manual worth a darn and she doesn't mind sharing the driving on trips so I got an auto. I wouldn't ahve had any say anyways. I have never seen a 2001-04 factory doublecab manual. I was coming out of a built '02 WRX so it would have been a disappointment to release a clutch.

Mine prefers manuals, we plan on selling the Trooper when she finishes school, probably get another Taco, most likely a DCSB.



Yeah the 01-04 DC's didn't have mannies from the factory, have seen a couple swaps.

 

[p nut]

I'd also prefer a manual, IF it were going to be a trans-continental expedition vehicle. That is just a daydream for me, so an auto works well for my uses within the continental US where the risk of being stranded is a few hours, maybe a day at most. But that risk is pretty miniscule, so it's not something I really take into consideration when choosing between auto and manual. Most important are: (as jim said) ability to drive with broken appendages. And someone else being able to drive if I am unable to. Truth is, out of all these expedition and hardcore-crawler auto Land Cruisers, I hardly hear of transmission related failures. It's just not something that is concerning to me. Now I'll set aside $4k and wait for my transmission to explode this week.

 

[Clutch]

I can drive one with my right arm in a sling...heck with that practice I don't have to put my coffee down when I need to shift.:sombrero:

Say if I lost the use of my legs I would devise some sort of hand controls.

When my dad was first coming down with MS, he still drove stick...would let go of the steering wheel lift his leg onto the clutch, the other off the throttle,
grab a gear...what not and so forth...needless to say it was a wee bit scary!:Wow1:

 

[cruiser guy]

Most important are: (as jim said) ability to drive with broken appendages.

Been there done that with my manual tranny BJ60 Land Cruiser from Guatemala to Vancouver B.C. in 2008 I think. I wrote it up in Toyota Trails and they printed it. I had to actually look at the pedals to be sure the cast only hit the clutch and not the brake!! Made an interesting drive. My wife could and would have done it but she's not a long distance driver.

 

[Rallyroo]

Say if I lost the use of my legs I would devise some sort of hand controls.

I have a buddy that has hand controls for the clutch, throttle, and brakes on a WRX. We even placed 3rd place in a Monte Carlo Road Rally.

Sad to say, my FZJ80 is my first and ever auto that I have ever owned. To this day I still attempt to step on the non-existing clutch in the Land Cruiser. I can no longer say I've never owned an automatic. Well, now I have to rephrase and say: Since I started driving I've always owned a manual transmission vehicle. My 80 is a secondary vehicle.

 

[Rattler]

They're the same ones that expect their parents to shuttle them around like a chauffeur until they're 25.

Japan has the same problem where the young generation have zero interest in cars. The auto industry in Japan has said that the car culture is dying there.

One of the guys from Autoweek was bitching about his kid not getting a DL until he was 18 and wanted to be driven everywhere. They did live in Detroit though. Can't fully blame the kid.

I think manuals are easier to drive in the snow myslef.

 

[Rallyroo]

I think manuals are easier to drive in the snow myslef.

...and driving in the mountains.

 

[Viggen]

Auto or manual, I dont really care. You can always shift an auto into a lower gear and its easier to control, and easier on parts, off road.


As for the future of Toyota 4x4s in America....no fuel efficiency, no care. The fact that below 20 mpg is still acceptable with 19 or 20 being considered 'good' is ridiculous. The technology is there, make it happen. Cylinder deactivation, alternative fuels, direct injection, forced induction, more efficient transmissions, etc...


Also, stop the bloat. The new 4Runner is bigger than my 60 series Cruiser, which I thought was too big.

 

[Clutch]

You can always shift an auto into a lower gear and its easier to control, and easier on parts, off road.

Always seems cumbersome to me, especially if it is a column shift. Never did like those 3 on a tree mannies...either.

As for the future of Toyota 4x4s in America....no fuel efficiency, no care. The fact that below 20 mpg is still acceptable with 19 or 20 being considered 'good' is ridiculous. The technology is there, make it happen. Cylinder deactivation, alternative fuels, direct injection, forced induction, more efficient transmissions, etc...

Would like to see at least 30 mpg's.

Also, stop the bloat. The new 4Runner is bigger than my 60 series Cruiser, which I thought was too big.

Yeah they are getting a little big, I do like the size of the current Tacoma though. Seems just about right. I feel lost in the Tundra though, good lord that
thing is huge. Thought I wanted one, went and test drove one last week...it is just too big.

While the vehicles are getting bigger, they are becoming more efficient and more powerful.

http://jalopnik.com/5710652/how-cars-are-getting-fatter