Why a Tacoma and not a 4Runner

4runner is a *PASSENGER CAR*. It carries PEOPLE.
Tacoma is a *TRUCK*. It carries CARGO.

 

Perhaps I need to explain it differently... you can't carry a refrigerator in a 4runner.

 

One of my co-ops tried to ford 18" of water in his 2008 Forester XT. It was totaled after stalling and flooding.

 

Pretty short sighted comparison. If that's the case, why get a Tacoma? There are trucks that carry more cargo, tow more, and get better gas mileage.

 

Perhaps.

Nope, and certainly not combined with the first two.

Proper vehicle choice is a function of need. If you don't *need* to carry/haul more than a Tacoma can, then you don't buy something bigger than it.
But at least you are now comparing vehicles of compatible purpose.

 

GM Twins....similar size, better payload, better towing, better gas mileage

The 4runner can be used in ways a subaru cannot. And people buy cars for all kinds of reasons.

 

Right, but the Tacoma doesn't do as good of a job of dealing with the kids and dog in the back seat while hauling groceries and a television in the rain.

And as for the refrigerator, you make a great point! That is probably the reason WHY there are different configurations of vehicles available. Not everybody *needs* to haul refrigerators regularly. Some do. I would hope that most people who opt to buy a Truck would do so for the right reasons. If I didn't *need* to regularly haul cargo that wouldn't fit (without causing undue damage) inside a passenger vehicle, then I would have bought a passenger vehicle (but not a 4runner since it is a heavy gas guzzling slob for what it does).

EXACTLY!

Right, so that's wonderful. Sounds like you had something in it that met your needs/wants.

 

Huh?
Government Motors pushes their printed limits closer to the edge because they can do no wrong in the eyes of obama. That doesn't mean that they have equal capability.

Having owned a GM, you'd can be certain of two things with them;
1) the fuel consumption estimates are a LIE.
2) its disposable and more than used up in less than 5 years.

How do you figure?

What do non-functional reasons have to do with comparing vehicles on a functional basis?

 

I am curious re how long you owned the Tacoma and whether you traded back to the dealer for the 4R/or sold outright. I had a similar experience in 2010 with a lifted FJ that I bought new and sold 6 months later.

 

So it's big, heavy, and it's a gas guzzler. Sounds about right but I don't think that's hurting their sales, actually I'm pretty sure that Toyota does not care about that since they can't keep them on the lots or produce them fast enough.

 

I owned it for a few weeks, I was also having problems with the truck which was added reason to why I traded it back to the dealer.

 

I actually got better gas mileage in my 14 4runner TE than I have in my new 2016 Tacoma offroad 4x4 (19mpg vs 17mpg). Now a lot of that was city driving, but either way I don't think the 4runner was terrible on gas consumption. Now the FJ Cruiser I had was the worst on MPG! Sure seemed like I was filling that tank up every 220 miles!

 

actually our 16 Tacoma hauls people better since all the cargo storage is separate from the passenger compartment. on the 4runner, luggage and people have to share storage so it may encroach on the passengers

 

Really? I though the opposite, my son barely had any space while sitting in the car seat. We always had to move the passenger seat up when we took him with us on rides. Were you referring to the 5th gen 4runner?

 

Well... I suppose that it would depend on the amount of cargo that you're carrying though.
Consider a piece of cargo that would take up only the available space behind the rear seat of a 4-runner (or similar). Would the back seat passengers not be more comfortable in that instance? How about fitting in passengers that are more than 12 years old comfortably without any cargo?

 

in my case I was referring to 20yr old daughter and boyfriend and my 18yr old son to college. plenty of room in the double cab compare to doing the same thing in the 4runner. daughter was a 10hrs trip 1-way, son was 5hrs 1-way.

and to add to it, we stuck a fridge in the back of the 4runner for the son

 

Obviously a small one to limit how much beer he can keep cold

 

in the end, we have the best of both worlds, truck for small hauling, yard work, 5x8 uhaul trailer towing.

4runner for long distance trips (especially if I pull a 6x12 uhaul) the weight of the 4runner makes handling a 6x12 uhaul trailer easier than the lighter Tacoma.