Quote:
Originally Posted by Evergreen6
Modern automatics are...amazing, actually. They work well in Semi trucks and they work well in light duty trucks. They are able to adequately cool themselves, and with lockup in most gears, lower speed pulling doesn't cook a trans like it used to. And you can hold gears.
The driving enjoyment piece is subjective, sure, but automatics are not what they once were.
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I agree.
Tow/haul mode on trucks tends to come with additional features, such as being able to lock out over drive gears, or hold gears much longer to avoid overheating, and they also employ engine braking on downhills to ease the need for using and potentially overheating brakes. Sure the new mid-size trucks aren't the best at the engine braking thing simply because a 4 cylinder engine isn't going to do this as well as a bigger diesel engine.
Manuals are fun and all that, and cheaper for sure, but I wouldn't hesitate to tow with a modern automatic. The downside of buying that manual Taco is that you are also stuck with the base engine that is considerably underpowered compared to the version you can get with the auto, but I'm assuming that's not a big deal to the manual die hards.