Does the new F-150 make the Tacoma obsolete?

Aluminum does corrode though. And it will also get brittle with age. Its not gonna rust like steel layer at a time, but it will develop "wormholes" though the material.
I'm sure all the body panels will be fully protected from corrosion with paint tho.

 

No. I work on a fleet of FORDS here at my job. If they replaced my Tacoma with one....I'd take the bus!

 

Does the tin man have a sheet metal cock????

Seriously though, to answer your original question, no it doesn't.

 

How long has the Boeing 747 been around? They are still flying DC3's. Aluminum is self healing it produces aluminum oxide that is the dull finish on the metal it protects the metal under it, it may look like shit but the metal is fine. The big issue is galvanic so fasteners must be used to combat this, mounting aluminum with dissimilar metals will cause corrosion. Steel bolts instead of SS for instance.

 

Story of my long, painful, and educational VW-owning life. Gallons of anti-sieze. Never re-use fasteners.

Other manufacturers (Land Rover comes to mind) have been making aluminum-bodied trucks for years. They still rust horribly underneath, which leaves a crap chassis beneath a very clean and straight body. Tacoma, anyone?

Mike

 

^^^ what he said.

 

Bottom line
It's still just a ford .....
Don't even come close to the TACO

 

The fan boy presence is strong in this thread

 

The only reason I couldn't buy the F-150 was because of the bed rail height. Seriously, it's chin high and I am not a short guy. How do you reach anything in the bed of your truck if it's near the cab? I don't want to have to climb into the bed of my truck to put something up near the cab, out of the wind.

 

I agree about the bed height. All new full size trucks are similar. Including the Tundra.
Ford offers the built-in tail gate step, it works well but is kinda cumbersome

 

Yeah, and Dodge has a similar thing, some sort of step that pulls out, but I do not want to have to climb in the bed all the time!! Nice truck otherwise- the Ford. Don't think it would be as nice as my last Tacoma at 230k miles, but still, that F-150 is a pretty nice machine.

 

Bing bing bing...why I bought a small truck. Like my vehicles in the garage.

 

Aluminum is the future. Chrysler has hinted the revised wrangler in 2016 will be aluminum. The new Range Rover sport shaved 800 lbs from the previous year model by using aluminum for 2014. Audis.. Aluminum.

Body shops are going to start gearing up for the switch but It cost a crazy amount of money to be certified for aluminum repair. You have to have a certified welder. All the required equipment. The proper facility with clean rooms etc. each manufacturer then has specific criteria and has to sign off after all requirements are met. I know this because I'm a parts manager for land rover and currently working with my body shop to make this all happen.

Many hours of additional training per manufacturer. Thousands and thousands of $ upgrading facilities and equipment.

 

They have been transitioning for about 6-8 years now or at least preparing for aluminum, people act like Ford discovered aluminum this year and revolving life around aluminum....

 

This^ and Land Rover has had aluminum panels for decades.

 

It's not self healing around here! Believe me, I'm a Pearl Harbor machinist. Raw aluminum does not last. And try welding on old corroded aluminum. You will be chasing cracks endlessly. Most raw aluminum on aircraft is either anodized, painted, or enclosed, so it will last. Like I said earlier the aluminum panels on the autos are probably fully painted, so I'm sure it's fine.

 

It's not favoritism with me, I have owned a ford truck and a dodge truck...NEVER AGAIN. American vehicles suck and will never again buy American !

 

Bottom line is the cost keeps the Tacoma from being obsolete in my opinion. I just got done buying a Tacoma and I definitely looked at the f150 as an option, but a f150 that had comparable gas mileage was $10,000 more than the Tacoma and I'd be lying if I didn't say the unproven ecoboost engine was a little scary.

There are a lot of Ford haters out there, but they are full of shit. A few years ago my family had 4 Fords in the driveway(including 2 of the dreaded explorers), all with almost 200,000 or more miles on them. One of them even had close to 250,000 when it was sold. I'm not a die hard Ford guy, but I would choose a ford pickup over any of the domestic manufactures any day.

That being said I chose the Tacoma because of Price, Gas Mileage and I like the smaller size. Its easier to get in and out of heavily wooded areas.