2016 Tacoma

[adrstout]

I'm with most folks here in that I would like to see more working functional models in the Tacoma line. It seems like every dealer has plenty of Prerunner TRDs with all the bells and whistles, but few bare essential off road trucks.

I had to hunt around and wait for my truck to be found and delivered last year when I bought it.

2014 Base SR5 4x4 V6 Auto DCSB - White, Tow Package, Fog Lights

If it had a rear locker it would be perfect.

How about no need to get a package for a locker. I built a Silverado a while back (just out of curiousity, no intention of buying) and you can get one for like 3 or 4 hundred extra on a base model 4x4. I'd love that option from the factory. PLus, more trucks out there with lockers!

 

[Skinny]

Regardless of what you think about the value of the truck, Toyota has slowly been phasing towards quantity over quality. Anyone with a Tacoma knows this all too well when you look at the steering, leaf spring issues, shift to Spicer drivelines, etc. It hasn't been like a big hit in the face but rather bits and pieces over time.

My friend has a new body style Tacoma and the rack input has measurable freeplay. Back in the day any free play in any steering component was unacceptable by Japanese standards. Now a days...this has become the norm. Sorry but people continue to buy domestic products for that kind of quality. So now Toyota gets away with it and charges a premium for it. Would I buy one? What else is left?

You want an out of the box wheeler you have many options like...Jeep, and uh...Jeep. Long gone are the days of Broncos, Blazers, Rams, Wranglers, Cherokees, Samurai/Sidekick, Hilux/Tacoma etc. all the way to the luxury crowd of Discovery, Defender, Range Rover Classic, Land Cruiser, etc. It was pick your brand, price, and poison. I'm sorry but I personally don't spend $35k on a truck, dump another $5k-10k outfitting it so it is usable (skids, gears, lockers, etc.) and then go bash it down a mountain.

Manufacturers have really left the US market out to dry. Even Jeep, you know the offroad brand of Chrysler group, primarily sells heavily badged mall crawlers.

It just sucks but one day the used market eventually will start to dry up. The Tacoma will always follow suite with the 4Runner for parts interchanging. Unfortunately both are chasing after premium luxury instead of premium durability that built the Hilux and Land Cruiser heritage.

 

[2025 deleted member]

I didn't know you could get a real locker in a new Chevy?

How about no need to get a package for a locker. I built a Silverado a while back (just out of curiousity, no intention of buying) and you can get one for like 3 or 4 hundred extra on a base model 4x4. I'd love that option from the factory. PLus, more trucks out there with lockers!

 

[DaveInDenver]

How about no need to get a package for a locker. I built a Silverado a while back (just out of curiousity, no intention of buying) and you can get one for like 3 or 4 hundred extra on a base model 4x4. I'd love that option from the factory. PLus, more trucks out there with lockers!

In the early days of the Tacoma I think you could order a locker without TRD, but I think it was an anomaly. That would have been an ideal truck, 3RZ, W59, manual hubs and a factory locker. I dunno if any of those made it into the wild but my memory is that it was possible.

Yeah, Skinny, that stuff irritates me but my poor truck is just worn out. The heart is still there, frame is sound for example, but all the little things are collecting. It needs to be taken out of service, given some serious frame-up love, an engine swap, lots of body work, etc. If I had the time and place I might consider it but I'm under no illusion that it would have been cheaper and in the interim I'd be without a truck.

 

[Skinny]

I was a Yota tech back around 2000. Manual hubs were pretty much 95.5-00 4cyl manual models only. I think they nixed them in 00-04 models regardless of options. The only thing more elusive was the v6 5 speed standard cabs which I think they made like 4 of them

Pretty rare and boy they drove great!!! The locker was pretty much on every TRD model till they started making the D cabs. Then TRD would show up on the bed side with no magic button on the dash. This was when **** started really going down hill. I saw a few lockers that were special order options but it depended on your driveline. They would only give it to you with certain gears.

I'm not saying the new ones are bad. I'd take one in a heartbeat over anything else. Still makes me sad that everything is at a premium and not really worth it. Like MP3 iPods. Super convenient and easy to use... About three steps back from a CD as far as sound quality goes though. Remeber CDs? They were in the 90s. IPods are cool but they really hurt the industry in terms of quality. Everything these days is convenience and looking cool...gotta keep up with the Joneses. Too bad the Joneses don't wheel anymore.

 

[Clutch]

haha that's funny. I bet that's quite the upgrade! All of my co workers have brand new BMW's, Audi's, Mercedes, etc so I need to be semi on par with them considering they are my competition.

Why would you want a luxury interior in a pickup? It is still a Tacoma no matter how nice the interior....of course, it will hold its value better than any of those brands you mentioned. I would brag about that to your yuppie co-workers if anything.

I dunno, I am hard on interiors, still wish they came with heavy duty vinyl seats. The imitation leather they have feels frail.

 

[austintaco]

I have a unicorn non TRD with the e locker. I think the only thing different from mine and a TRD was the actual shocks. The coilsprings were the progressive ones, which I didn't want, but found out later that's what they were. It was an SR5, but it did not have factory cruise or a sliding rear window, but I had them add that at the dealer. I liked the TRD decals and bought a set for $11 on ebay or something like that.
I like some bells and whistles, but as I get older, some of that crap just doesn't appeal to me anymore. I keep looking at Tundras, but I want a bench seat with a column shifter with a few extras, and that's the new unicorn apparently for Tundi.

 

[Clutch]

I like some bells and whistles, but as I get older, some of that crap just doesn't appeal to me anymore. I keep looking at Tundras, but I want a bench seat with a column shifter with a few extras, and that's the new unicorn apparently for Tundi.

You can find that in the regular cab Tundy, that is if you don't need a rear seat.

I go back and forth between a Taco and a Tundy. I really don't want to give up my manual trans..I do like some of the the other fluff though. (getting old! )

 

[DaveInDenver]

The stick shift is not an insignificant reason we got a Tacoma. I don't know how much longer Toyota holds out, the market for manuals is shrinking. Young people never learned and don't care, older people can't push the clutch anymore. It's a small window of 40-somethings like us who drove nothing but stick shift Toyotas and Hondas that still want them. Car companies don't like them because it makes emissions and MPG numbers hard to meet. Honestly I'd consider an auto as the only option if it was bolted to a D4D.

 

[DaVikes]

Things I want and think the next gen probably will have:

1) Heated mirrors (I park outside during the winter.)
2) Height adjustable driver's seat. Manual adjustment is ok. The seat is too low for my wife.
3) Better rear seat ventilation for the kids.
4) Better sound insulation
5) Better gas mileage. I think the next gen Taco will be a true third gen with a new engine(s) in the lineup.
6) A frame that won't rust. (Should not have to put that on the list. Jeez.)
7) Rear disk brakes. For ease of maintenance. I hate working on drum brakes.

Things I want that I think it won't have:
1) Room for 33's without chopping cab mounts.
2) A rear driveshaft with a double cardan joint that doesn't vibrate.
3) An improved front diff gear carrier that won't create vibrations.
4) Better front wheel bearings/seals.

I've read that Toyota is developing an entirely new lineup of engines featuring the Atkinson cycle. They've used engines with the Atkinson cycle in the Prius and lot of other hybrids since '97 so they have some real world miles on the concept. The articles below basically say that Toyota is now planning on using the technology in larger engines that are not part of a hybrid drive train.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20131010/OEM04/131019989/toyota-lays-out-future-powertrain-plans-in-catch-up-bid#axzz2hQ3Oj0Av

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140714/OEM01/307149926/toyotas-massive-engine-overhaul

 

[DaveInDenver]

2) Height adjustable driver's seat. Manual adjustment is ok. The seat is too low for my wife.

This is legit. Her car is a '02 Jetta and both seats have a lever on the side to raise and lower them. That would be hugely welcomed. Compared to my old truck the visibility is reduced already in the Tacoma, so the need to be at the right driving position is increased.

I totally agree on the frame issue. The 2nd gen has the same issue as the first, so Toyota never fixed the issue. The more I read the more I think it had less to do with Dana workmanship than to Toyota screwing up the finishing spec. Not enough paint and insufficient rustproofing from the factory. In any case, Toyota figured out how to make a decent frame a long time ago. I just washed and periodically Fluid Film'd my '91 and 24 years on you can still make out the wax pencil alignment marks from the factory. There are places that are rusty, like the cross member tube near where the shocks mount is full of scale. But it's still 1/4" thick and will probably last another decade.

 

[SDDiver5]

Why would you want a luxury interior in a pickup? It is still a Tacoma no matter how nice the interior....of course, it will hold its value better than any of those brands you mentioned. I would brag about that to your yuppie co-workers if anything.

I dunno, I am hard on interiors, still wish they came with heavy duty vinyl seats. The imitation leather they have feels frail.

Honestly, I want the change. I've owned 3 vehicles. 78 Scout II, 97 F-150 and now a 98 F-150. All of them have been very basic and I am tired of crappy cloth seats, no power windows, seats, mirrors, etc. So I basically want an upgrade of my truck but also able to use it as a truck. I looked into keeping my truck and renting some luxury car but I don't like driving little cars.

 

[Skinny]

Frame rust has nothing to do with quality of manufacture...it has to do with the slurry most places use and the fact that no one actually washes a car anymore. Yeah some frames are poorly made and have little lips where **** collects but overall the recall had nothing to do with quality. That was a play by corporate to keep people happy, keep sales moving in a time that was rather desolate, and keep techs working rather than laying them off. If you look at the big picture, lots of stuff happened outside of a rust issue during that time. Cash For Clunkers was the same concept just paid for by our government (ie. us).

If people really cared about their large investments, they would be doing Fluid Film or any other substitute religiously and washing vehicles in a proper interval. Fact is no one cares because its easier to just say **** rust within 5 years when the payment stops and to go out and get a new one.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Frame rust has nothing to do with quality of manufacture...it has to do with the slurry most places use and the fact that no one actually washes a car anymore. Yeah some frames are poorly made and have little lips where **** collects but overall the recall had nothing to do with quality. That was a play by corporate to keep people happy, keep sales moving in a time that was rather desolate, and keep techs working rather than laying them off. If you look at the big picture, lots of stuff happened outside of a rust issue during that time. Cash For Clunkers was the same concept just paid for by our government (ie. us).

If people really cared about their large investments, they would be doing Fluid Film or any other substitute religiously and washing vehicles in a proper interval. Fact is no one cares because its easier to just say **** rust within 5 years when the payment stops and to go out and get a new one.

I personally Fluid Film my vehicles, but the Tacoma frames rust faster than the Pickup ones did. I don't know why for sure, just what I read here and there. The 2008 we just bought is more rusty (it's just surface rust on few welds) than my 1991 generally and both have been in Colorado their whole lives. In fact I am the second owner of both and the first owners just drove them. I got my 1991 when it was 9 years old at 100K in 2000 and obviously the Tacoma is just 7 with 43K. It's anecdotal, but still mostly apples-to-apples.

If anything the road conditions have improved, Colorado used to use rock salt, sand and cinders on the roads but have since gone to mostly liquid magnesium chloride. They do have some stuff called Ice Slicer that has pebbles or something in it, but that's used less. They had to stop widespread use of the sand and cinders because all the tires grinding it up was causing a brown cloud over the city. The liquid stuff coats more evenly but there is less abrasiveness to it.

I plan to clean and start coating the new-to-me truck just like I did on the old one, so I hope it just stabilizes. Maybe all of them do rust faster now, but to my eyes Toyota-wise the frames are of lower quality finish compared to pre-Tacoma.

You know, if it was something they did for customer service it might have been poorly handled on Toyota's part. They now have a reputation for poor frames. I know it's always said that they have the best support in the industry, I dunno.

 

[Clutch]

Honestly, I want the change. I've owned 3 vehicles. 78 Scout II, 97 F-150 and now a 98 F-150. All of them have been very basic and I am tired of crappy cloth seats, no power windows, seats, mirrors, etc. So I basically want an upgrade of my truck but also able to use it as a truck. I looked into keeping my truck and renting some luxury car but I don't like driving little cars.

I like the power stuff, I can do without cloth and carpet...between me and the dog....quite abusive on the interior. My Trooper has a fairly nice interior, which I am trying to keep nice...which is damn near impossible. The dog isn't allowed in it, I won't eat in there either. When my Tacoma was down for an overhaul for 6 weeks...it became my Hardware store runner...I got quite annoyed not being able to "use it" like I do the clapped out Taco...was throwing down card board and blankets over everything, trying not to ruin it. Thought my better half was going to kill me when I was making runs to the steel supply.

Thought this is just dumb...I might send the Trooper down the road, because it is mostly useless.

Luxury and pickup seem like an oxymoron to me. Want luxury buy a car...