Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by DriveHard
Not anymore...most autos will lock the torque converter for everything except sitting at a light and while shifting.
I'd check on that first. Toyota (or Aisin?) seem to dislike lockup for some reason. I get the impression that they'd rather run unlocked in a too-tall gear instead of forcing a downshift. Problem is, every transmission is different this regard, as is trans programming per model and probably model year.
I know my Tundra does not use lockup in gears 1,2,3 (says so in the A760 literature no less). It will lockup in 4,5,6 but it prefers to not downshift but rather run unlocked when asked for more power. I also don't think it likes to lock up below 2k or so in 4th, it seems like with any amount of throttle it doesn't care for it altogether.
My Rx 350 has a similar V-6 and an Aisin 8-speed (different but if programming is similar) and my biggest issue is it's way too quick to upshift and downshift. Off throttle it's in a BIG hurry to upshift as many times as possible. Barely tap the throttle and it downshifts twice even when calling for a minimal increase in speed - many times just trying to maintain speed on a slight incline. Let off the throttle and again it upshifts to 8th gear as quickly as possible.
I drove my wife's Pilot yesterday and while the 1-2 shift on that ZF 9-speed sucks Honda did a much better job of making the vehicle drive better. Hit the gas and it will hold the current gear even with moderate throttle inputs and play with TC lockup if it needs a bump in RPM and it won't downshift until you hit the kick down point with the throttle. It's a much better way of doing things. Not sure if the programming in the RX is similar in the Taco but that's my experience with a Toyota V-6/Aisin product.....