Interesting. After more than a year of driving the car, I'm completely over the initial throttle response issues. I'd love if it were better, but there's nothing to complain about now that I'm used to it.

I was convinced that even my GF in her Tacoma could get off the line faster than me, but I was wrong. She took off from a stop as quickly as she could and while we were neck and neck while the clutch wasn't fully engaged, as soon as it was, I was gone. She never got in front of me, which is what I expected to happen off the line.

 

I agree webman, I'm completely used to it. I think the key (in manual mode) is to shift to 2nd as quickly as possible.

 

Omg, yes. First gear is extremely unpredictable, but with the right shift time, you can floor it and not smash against the rev limiter.

 

After driving my car a bunch at sea level, I've come to realize that the slow throttle response is near non-existent at sea level. At 10k up it's the worst.