Sierra 5.3 vs Tundra 5.7

I Traded my 2017 Sierra for a 2020 Tundra off road. The Seirra had the 5.3. Both trucks equipped with 6 speed transmission. My question is this. The Tundra with larger engine and more horsepower on cruise control will shift down a gear on the same roads where the Seirra would stay in the 6th gear. The Tundra has only 300 miles on it maybe that’s a factor. Or is this a normal Trans Engine setup on the Toyota Tundra.

 

You're comparing apples to oranges here so I'm not really sure what you are asking.

 

Welcome from Oregon!

 

My question is why is the Tundra with the bigger engine shifting down a gear when I think it shouldn’t. Is it normal or do I need to have it checked out.

 

I traded my GMC sierra for a Tundra as well. The GMC is designed around fuel economy so the shift points are different. The sierra also comes with a 3.08 rear end..Two different animals.

 

I’d say it normal.. mine does the same on steeper inclines...

 

I believe my Seirra had the 3.42.

 

Even still, your/our Tundra’s are geared way lower than even 3.42. I believe all the off-roads are 4.30.

 

Different shift tables.

 

Differential gear ratio.

 

You mention while using cruise control. That might be the bigger factor than gear ratios or horsepower and torque figures. I would guess that it's more a result of Toyota's aggressive/delay throttle in coming to an incline.

 

Very good point with CC. Every Toyota I’ve owned in the last 5+ being 3 Camry’s for work and 1 Tundra for personal use all do this. Take CC off when facing and incline or decline. Problem solved.

 

The Tundra transmission gyros. It helps brake with motor when going down hill. Once you hit the brake pedal it shifts to a lower gear. Very smart feature.

 

You have to remember they are both very different animals, gear ratio, transmission gearing, computers, etc

 

True indeed. They don't let you play engineer with the rear axle ratio...you get 3.91 w/4.6L, 4.10 with 5.7L, or 4.3 with 5.7L tow package. If you buy a used Tundra, you don't have to worry about getting stuck with an economy 3.08 axle in your work truck. Toyota makes the performance decisions; transmissions shift early maintaining power and torque, gas mileage sucks for simple daily transportation, but they do let you pick the color.

 

Sounds like its totally jacked up to me. Make sure to stop and get some toilet paper on your way to the dealership.

 

Why do you need some

 

That’s completely normal. In every way the Tundra is set up for power, not efficiency. ( which is why I got one ) Try driving some of the new ten speeds, they lug their engines in the name of 2-3 mpg and can make the truck feel underpowered even though they aren’t.

 

In a truck I really don’t want more speeds than six. Especially with a powerful V8.

 

Mine did that. Annoying as fuck. Truck was fine, but give it the world's smallest incline and it'd drop to 4th. A supercharger fixed the problem.

 

A friend of mine had to rent a 2019 Ford f-150 2 wheel drive with the 5.0 and the 10 speed auto and it seemed to be hunting gears all the time.I live in a rural area in Tennessee and alot of hills.I went with him to pick up his Sequoia from the body shop.He has a 2005 Ford f150 with 150,000 miles that started knocking and is looking at getting another Ford .He know I'm a Toyota man and my 2000 tundra has 387,000 plus miles.

 

Tundra's 6-speed trannies are geared so high they essentially have 2 overdrives.

 

Like others have said... They aren't trying to get the mpg so they don't lug it...
Try driving a Tacoma and then come back it's horrible in hilly areas.
Turning 2500 to 3k won't hurt a thing

 

Both 5th and 6th gears are overdrive gears, greater than 1:1. Also in play is an artificial intelligence factor that learns how you drive, as you drive. CC works hard to maintain the set speed, whereas you, while manually controlling the throttle, most likely will let the speed slip down a bit on a hill, either purposely or mindlessly. And actually, lugging the engine will not save you any in gas mileage, anyway, and may well reduce the engine's longevity.

 

I’m curious about your overall impressions of the Tundra vs the Sierra. I considered a Sierra before I bought my Tundra.

 

Some factors may be missing.... for example weather conditions, road conditions etc... I have experience with an 07 5.7 Tundra SR5 2wd and an 08 5.3 Sierra SLE 2wd and traveling through desert and higher terrain including climbing and descending from 5,000ft.. I can tell you they're both very different with wind speed resistance and how it impacts speed, the Tundra would downshift to maintain a certain speed or just over it, while the Sierra would wait much longer to compensate for the wind shift and resistance, but would cut acceleration just below the cruise speed. On steep climbs I've felt the Tundra sort of lunge itself forward more aggressively than the Sierra, I've found myself cutting off the cruise on certain sweeps vs the Sierra. Sierra appears more composed and calm, the Tundra seems more eager and full of energy. Suspension wise in that time I felt more tossed around in the Sierra than the Tundra...... Just my take on it.

 

It is completely normal. I had a truck with a manual and a Forester with a CVT so the downshifting on hills annoyed the hell out of me at first.

 

It's toyota's cruise control algorithm. That's the one thing I've dinged them on for years. Speed drops by 1 mph, downshift, speed goes over by 1 mph, upshift. My F150's could drop by 3-4 mph before a downshift It makes a huge difference in the total amount of shifting during cruise operation.

Take off cruise and you'll see it won't shift nearly as much.

 

I too just traded a 2017 sierra 1500 5.3 3.42 yesterday for a 2020 tundra 5.7 4.30 two totally different feeling animals same trip from dealer 23 mpg on gmc 16 mpg on tundra but I knew that I bought mine for the power and thats what the tundra delivers where the gmc delivers MPG your not going to get both.