Tacoma tranny: 6spd vs. auto

[bplumley70]

I own a 2014 double cab TRD off road with a 6speed w/ short throw and its a love hate relationship for me. its been stated before that low range is difficult when needing to feather the clutch, especially true when pulling my boat out of the water. my truck is one year old tomorrow and its been put through its fair share of off road and on road. 25,000 miles later, i still love it besides what i mentioned. ive even pulled my brothers lifted rubicon out of the woods more than a couple times without getting stuck once. i say go for the 6speed, its alot of fun

 

[tacollie]

I hear a lot of people criticize how close the gears are together. I think it's a good thing. I have been told that sixth gear is to low for 75mph. I disagree. It pulls really nice on the highway and I averaged 21mpg with 265/70r17 tires at 75.


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[Paddy]

What makes you feel like like they suck? I would end up in a 6spd, just as a result of the trim and options I am looking at. Gears would be on the to do list as I will likely end up running a 33" tire and want to keep the truck as well rounded and reliable as possible. As for getting stuck due to injury, that has actually happened to me before. I fell bouldering a few years back and had to drive myself out as my phone had died. I only needed the clutch to get it into 1st and get it rolling. With careful driving and rev matching, I made it to the hospital only depressing the clutch to come to a stop.

Just clunky, hard shifting, lazy. Like when you roll up to a stop, getting first gear can sometimes take some jiggling and maybe even bumping clutching. The 5 speed in my 84 Honda and my 99mercedes were both vastly superior in feel and operation. Along with every other 5 sp including bigger commercial gearboxes. Toyota just missed the mark in them somehow.

 

[SIZZLE]

I usually prefer a manual, most of my cars and trucks have been manual, including a first gen Taco. I would have gone either way on my 2nd gen (DCSB, Off Road, White, were all more important to me), but prefered the auto.

Doing a butt load of research, there isn't much difference in reliability, but i heard a lot of complaints about gear ratios: two third gears, OD is too high, reverse is too high. I didn't like the feel of the clutch and shifter, but i'm sure i would have gotten used to it.

I like the auto in this truck, it's reliable, there are a crap load of them out there, better milage, better when crawling, easy to downshift with the skinny peddal, downshifts and holds gears downhill and uphill. In my experience it doesn't hunt around, which is the worst.

Just my $0.02. You can't go wrong either way.

 

[jpachard]

manual, love mine. 125K of towing, off roading etc. and shifts like a dream with MT90.

 

[robert]

If I had to do it over I'd have gotten an automatic- and I've never owned a vehicle with an automatic in my life and really don't want to. In all fairness though Toyota has updated the six speed at least twice since 2005 and supposedly fixed the throw out bearing and reliability issues.

I've been keeping my eyes open for a used later model transmission as mine recently started popping out of gear which means it's going to need to be opened up soon. There are lots of threads dealing with the 6sp's shortcomings on the various Tacoma forums including TacomaWorld.com, TTORA, etc. Honestly, this Tacoma has taken a lot of the fire out of my support for Toyota and I've always been a die hard fan who's pushed the brand.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I love the 6 speed manual. It feels like a proper truck trans. I know Toyota made some changes to the bearings and synchros over the years, so a later trans is likely more durable. I run Redline MT90 in all my Toyota manual transmissions to help with the shifting. If you run an oil that's too slippery (ie- Redline 75-90) the gear changes are not as crisp.

 

[McFly2003]

Thanks again guys. Here's another cog in the question. Does anyone have any experience or input on transmission choice when there is a supercharger on the motor? I am thinking, with the altitude, a supercharger may not be a bad idea. I had one on my 3rd gen and it was glorious.

 

[cam-shaft]

I have 120k on my auto transmission and I tow also. I have flushed it every 30k and it holds a gear very well. For me a manual transmission is good for a sports car. The only thing you can't do with the auto is push start your vehicle if the starter fails or I guess if you tow it on its wheels behind a motor home. The nice thing about the auto if you offroad is you can use the brake with your left foot and keep the torque converted engaged. This is great offroad vs having to heel toe with he manual. I know a few years back the manual transmissions were blowing up the internet with problems but not the auto. Make sure to get the tow package with the auto so that you get the tranny cooler also. Maybe I'm getting old but I don't have any desire to grab gears in my off-road adventure vehicle.

Cameron.

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

I have a 2012 six speed and find the rev hang to make it miserable to drive. If I was buying again I would buy an auto.


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[McFly2003]

I have a 2012 six speed and find the rev hang to make it miserable to drive. If I was buying again I would buy an auto.


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By rev hang do you mean the time it takes for the revs to drop between gears? A lightened flywheel should fix that right up, though I get wanting your vehicle to perform right out of the box


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[2025 deleted member]

Does anyone know if its hard on the autos to manually downshift and use the motor for grade braking on long downhill runs?

 

[tacollie]

There is a lot of info on tacomaworld about the manual tranny and its issues. The rev hang is supposedly due to the programing for the fly by wire, at least according to the Internet. I find it interesting that everyone says their 1st gen manual was way nicer than the second gen. My 1st gen shifted like crap for all 167k miles I owned. My 2000 4Runner shifted just as bad. Maybe I got lucky with my 07! I do get some of the reverse vibration occasionally but I always attributed that to buying a vehicle with 86k miles on it.


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[Stoffregen Motorsports]

By rev hang do you mean the time it takes for the revs to drop between gears? A lightened flywheel should fix that right up, though I get wanting your vehicle to perform right out of the box


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It's more likely the fly-by-wire throttle mapping that is keeping the revs from dropping quickly. It aids in smooth shifting. A lightened flywheel would only confuse the issue and the net result would be a loss of torque. I know guys who want extra weight in their 4.0 V6 to smooth out the torque delivery from a launch.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

There is a lot of info on tacomaworld about the manual tranny and its issues. The rev hang is supposedly due to the programing for the fly by wire, at least according to the Internet. I find it interesting that everyone says their 1st gen manual was way nicer than the second gen. My 1st gen shifted like crap for all 167k miles I owned. My 2000 4Runner shifted just as bad. Maybe I got lucky with my 07! I do get some of the reverse vibration occasionally but I always attributed that to buying a vehicle with 86k miles on it.


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Yep. The earlier trucks had the transmissions with the shifting "problems". A synchro redesign and new throttle mapping was the "cure".