daveylo

I'm looking into getting a 3rd gen 4runner and am wondering what peoples thoughts on the auto tranny and standard tranny are. What do you guys recommend?

JHupp

Wow, you will get a lot of different responses on this. I think the most important questions are:
Have you ever driven stick before? (i'm guessing yes)
Is it a daily driver? (some people don't mind driving stick everyday, personally I do)
Will you be taking it off road? (again, I prefer auto off road, little easier, but many prefer stick)

With that being said, I have had a few trucks that were stick, mostly Fords, and they were tough as faras daily drivers go, long ass throw, and hard clutch. I've driven a stick Taco, and the clutch was pretty smooth, but the throw was still long. It is a little more fun to drive stick I think, but offroad, it seems to be a little tougher, especially in some tighter spots. I also live in NJ, and there is some nasty traffic, and I hated using a stick while in traffic. I like the auto on my truck, makes it nice and easy to drive. They still have ECT on the autos, so if you turn it on, it delays the shift, and you can get a ?decent? amount of acceleration. So, it is a tough call, and like I said, you will porbably get a bunch of different answers.

ecchamberlin

I agree with Jason. I had a stick Taco 4x4 and it drove very well but off road on really technical stuff it was really difficult. With the auto in my Runner I can focus on the line more and enjoy myself. Old thought on this was that the manuals were just more reliable but autos have come along way and rarely do you hear of a guy who properly maintains an auto tranny having trouble below 150,000 miles in a Toyota.

I vote auto.

Elton

if your going do rockcrawling and slow trail wheeling then a auto is what want you if your just going to play around in the mud and stuff where you dont have to go really slow than manual is fine

JackKnife

I vote manual.

Toyota automatic are one of the worst I've ever seen. They have horrible shift points. They feel almost as bad as GM transmissions.

Save yourself the headaches. No one wants to be driving an auto in traffic. Of road, it gets worse. You will have very little engine braking. You'll be at the whims of the transmission about when it is going to shift and have very little control over how the vehicle will react.

ChickenLover

Seems just the opposite to me. I vote auto, for all the reasons listed above. I'll add another: If someone else has to drive your rig, an auto is much easier.

daveylo

I would like the easy/lazyness of the auto the 4runner will be a daily driver and city traffic can be bad when i have to shift all the time. The only reasons i was considering manual was because there is more power and you have more control. The point about someone else driving my rig is a good one as none of my friends drive stick.

I will want to be lifting the truck a little and putting bigger tires on. Can the auto handle this? or would standard be better. Chances are i will not be offroading to often and when i do it will be very easy stuff. If i were to get a 2nd gen i would defiently go for stick but for 3rd gens i am not sure if stick would still be better.

Schooler

Well that is what I was going to say. I have not driven a 3rd gen 4 runner but I do not like and have never liked the clutch in the taco that I have. It is way too heavy on my foot. I am really glad I have a manual on the 4 runner and I do masotly in-town driving. I'm just a freak. I don't know if that really helps you but whatever.

Paul H.

What happens if you hurt your leg. Car sits for awhile if standard. You can still drive an auto. I much perfer an auto.

97Limited

My vote is Auto!! For wheelin'
But for fun of driving 5-spd for sure!!

Godzilla

I had a manual on my 92Runner and it was pretty good as far as shifting ease. Clutch was good, and i didnt find it to be too far of a throw. Switching gears was a sintch, as it seemed to just fall in place. I have driven some other vehicles and it felt like i had to find the next gear. My 99 is an auto and I enjoy it for the ease of use and especially with the way my city is setup. tonnes of lights within a block of eachother. I do agree that at some times I am not happy with the shift points but that may be just my style of driving. And now with an auto i can drink a coffee, change my radio, talk on the cell phone, and scratch my ass all at the same time (just kidding, except the last one)

Tofer

i do all that and still able to shift.... lol.

i like my 5sp. my buddy just did a 5sp conversion on his 93 and he said the power difference was night and day. i dont know if that will still apply to a 3rd gen tho. wheeling with a manual isnt that hard either. put it in 4lo, and now you can use all 5 gears as you need them. i never use 4hi, if i need 4wd then i need to be going slow enough for 4lo. i vote manual. but thats my $0.02

JHupp

Uhh dude, Toyota autos are pretty decent. Granted it doesnt shift like a Beemer, it isnt as bad as a GM either. Also, I would always take an auto in traffic. Are you crazy?! A stick in traffic is no fun AT ALL, I'm guessing you drive an auto from this comment. Also, ever heard of ECT, it lets the tranny shift later in the RPMs. I'm sorry, I have an auto, I have had sticks, and I can see valid points to both of them, but what your saying makes no sense at all.

Elton

yeah gm autos suck i have to drive them for work they love to hunt for gears thats way i hate autos

JHupp

sounds like Fords too. This is the first time I got an auto in a a work truck(F250), and I am not crazy about it, it has some kind fo towing mode, but when I haul my trailer, it downshifts wayyyyy too early. I am interetsed in seeing how long the ford auto will last. When I had the manuals, the engine almost always went before the tranny, I have a feeling that will not be the case. I never had a problem on the Toyota tranny, it always seems to find the right gear, it just shifts a little rough. When I used to drive my ex-gfs Lincoln LS, it used to shift smooth, you couldnt even tell. But overall, I would buy an auto Runner again(that's al you can get anyway in a new one). The Ford though, maybe not.

linuxrunner

i just got back from wheeling with my 5spd and i love the control of wheeling a manual. I also use it as a daily driver, i honistly don't notice or even think about shifting so it's not a big deal. also i think it is funner to drive a manual as a DD you can make your truck do so many more fun things. wee.

Schooler

Ha, I broke my foot and was back to driving the 5 speed 1 week later. It can be done.