So thats why I see so many Tacoma's for sale cheap now <sarcasm

There is a reason resale is so great on Tacoma's and it isn't because they suck.

I have a 2017 Off road double cab short bed, Manual trans for 4 months this weekend. No issues. Love the truck. I went in with both eyes wide open and well aware of the complaints. Would I prefer the power of a hemi dodge ? Or the much better gas milage of several other choices ? Yes. Would I make the same choice tomorrow with agun to my head ? Yes.

I have a 2015 Frontier which is almost always rated bottom on CR. I wish to thank all the upset Taco truck owners for bumping the Frontier to next to last. Not sure how everyone dislikes them.

Yes my turning radius makes the Titanic look like a zero turn lawn mower. But I don't care.

I stopped reading CR several years ago. They're reviews are all over the place, they'll criticize something on car a then excuse it on car b. In fact, they're reviews on everything are pretty much worthless. I cancelled my subscription because they didn't tell me anything that I couldn't find out elsewhere for free.

Probably a grain of truth to it, but you have to consider the end user and what they buy it for. I am not a Toyota guy as I own a f-150, but I have had Toyota cars and they are solid and reliable. I think it all depends on your expectations. It is not a Mercedes, but at the same time a Mercedes is not a light utility truck.

quote:

Originally posted by Wishbone:
It's not just CR, I subscribe to several car and truck magazines and they all rank the taco at or near the bottom.

Motortrend had the Chevy Colorado at the top of their truck list at the same time all of them were on recall and dealers were forbidden to sell any of them. Yep, great call Motortrend. I've since stopped reading that magazine too.

I've had two Tacoma's now.. both TRD Off Road (2007 and currently a 2015). It will likely be my last Tacoma unless they make some major changes. The new TRD Pro has taken some steps in the right direction.. but with how hard it is to find and even more expensive for what it is - I'm looking at going a completely different direction in a year or so. Hard to say since I've been a Toyota guy since I got my driver's license.

A huge complaint of mine is that it's a $30k+ truck and I didn't even get power freaking seats, no dimming rear view mirror, no heated side mirrors, and I have had nothing but trouble with the Navigation/Stereo system. 2-3 times a day it just freezes and restarts. The USB charger has NEVER charged my iPhone, and the stealer says it's "fine".

And I saw a YouTube video with the senior design engineer talking about the TRD Pro where he proudly stated his reasoning for keeping drum brakes on the rear - and basically vowing that they would never change that.

Interior fits short guys like me, and I don't have any real issues with it.. but the midsize bed is proving to be too small for me. Of course, that's not Toyota's fault, it's just never enough. Hell.. I even have trouble fitting everything in the bed for a shooting trip, and end up putting a bunch of things in the back seat.

I'd like to see how many things have fallen off, broken, or quit working on that top rated Chevy Colorado vs that Tacoma after 150k miles.

I just traded my 2014 FJ for a 2017 Tacoma TRD Pro. I had a 2012 Tacoma TRD before this.
The truck seems flawless. Very tight feeling Truck. Handles and rides great.
The quality seems on par with every Toyota I've owned and I've had several.
I remember Consumer Reports trashing the FJ Cruiser because it didn't have enough Cup holders and didn't take curves at high speed like a crossover. These Idiots were missing the point of why people buy FJs in the first place.

CR is not where I go for info on trucks - and hopefully they don't have input to the factories on how a truck should handle.

I don't believe CR has ever check-marked the Tacoma.

quote:

Originally posted by DevlDogs55:

A huge complaint of mine is that it's a $30k+ truck and I didn't even get power freaking seats, no dimming rear view mirror, no heated side mirrors, and I have had nothing but trouble with the Navigation/Stereo system. 2-3 times a day it just freezes and restarts. The USB charger has NEVER charged my iPhone, and the stealer says it's "fine".

Agree on the power seats. My 2016 has heated side mirrors and a dimming rear view mirror. The nav system restarting, from what I recall, has been dealt with by a few others on the Tacoworld forum. They got the unit replaced under warranty. The USB sure as hell charges my iPhone just fine, too.

Sounds like you may need a new dealer, or a call to Toyota corporate.

I have a 2007 Tacoma TRD Sport double cab with nearly 163,000 miles on it. It runs as tight as the day I bought it. That being said, the forums I have read aren't the biggest fans of the new engine. HP is down sightly and the engine supposedly searches for its gear at certain RPMs. With that in mind, I am interested in the new TRD Pro.

The same attributes that make a vehicle off road capable go against it in CR tests.

I've been following the 2016 redesigned Tacoma since its inception with the intention of replacing my 2004 Tundra because I like the size. Unfortunately Toyota doesn't offer the short 6' bed with manual other than TRD Sport which I wouldn't want. They only offer manuals with the micro 5' bed, TRD OR Double Cab so I'm just keeping my Tundra.

IMO styling is OK other than the front end or nose. The biggest complaints I see from new owners have been the engine's flat spot in torque coupled with the new automatic transmission. Toyota has made at least one software update for the transmission shifting which most say has helped. A number of earlier 6-speed manual transmissions had the habit of not wanting to shift after warmed up but they've updated this as well.

Don't know about the 17 but my 13 is humming along without a single problem. Over 90,000 miles.

I've thought about buying a Tacoma before but after rebates and discounts I could buy a full size truck for just a little more.

quote:

Originally posted by mr.sig239:
Don't know about the 17 but my 13 is humming along without a single problem. Over 90,000 miles.

I have a 2013 w/ about 45,000. (I have another car.)

I love mine, but I'm not real thrilled with the dealer and I can't say my Taco has been trouble-free. For one, there was a recall to replace the catalytic converter. Ok, so it cost me nothing but time, but still at least a minor annoyance.

The second one cost $600. While still under warranty, I had a problem getting the trans to shift into gear. It wouldn't go from Park to Drive consistently: it had to be wiggled or moved in and out of Drive several times. They farted around with it and got it to work correctly.

At a later date when it was out of warranty, the Check Engine Light came on and would not go out. They determined the problem was in the PRNDL circuit. Isn't that interesting? Specifically, it needed a new "Switch Assembly, Neutral". They swore up and down it had nothing to do with the previous tranny problem. Ok, so I had to pay the $600. That's the last time they will ever see it.

A mechanic friend of mine that tinkers on a lot of Toyota trucks doesn't like the newer ones at all. That paired with the fact that the new ones are ugly as hell and are far too big for what a Tacoma should be. I'll keep my 2001 forever.

I have always felt there was way too much bias in consumer reports and am actually surprised they rated the Tacoma so badly. In the past without even opening the magazine you could very reliably predict that almost every domestic brand vehicle was going to be rated bad and every jap and euro brand rated good. I never saw a consumer report that had anything but a below average or well below average rating for jeep, but apparently my wranglers ( one over 300k the other closing in on 150 with only one major repair between the two) never got the memo

The Tacoma is a nice truck with a loyal following. However, let's face it there is some fanboy behavior amongst Tacoma owners:

When you inquire about a used truck, and it falls in the the period of time during Toyota's quality woes when they grew too fast. There is about a 10:1 response ratio for Tacomas outside the era in time (e.g. before their quality woes, or after their quality woes) as well as a whole lot of glossing over the dark quality period for Toyota. When I moved to Canada I was looking at 2 to 4 year old mid-sized trucks, made a post about it here, and experienced both phenomena in responses.

When you talk about a new truck, and there was a new model introduced you get many more responses from the previous body styles which aren't applicable for buying the new body style as well as glossing over quality issues with the new model (e.g. countless transmission complaints for the new body style). Look no further than this thread - new model year introduced in '16 so only the '16 and '17 model year experiences really apply and only a couple mentions of issues with the new models.

The gotta have it no matter the cost. This results in a mid-size truck costing as much as a full-size, and the dealer not negotiating. Buyers can buy a F-150 for same money or buy other mid-size comparably equipped trucks for less money when factoring in negotiating.

I took a hard look at the Tacoma when I moved to Canada in '14 and Houston in '16. I bought a Frontier both times. Comparably equipped my '13 Frontier was $5,000 CAD less than a Taco, and my '16 Frontier was $7,000 USD less than a Taco. If they were within a few hundred of each other, I probably would've bought a Tacoma.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.