I gotta say I am not super happy with my '16 Taco after pulling trailer.

It's usually because he starts with some knowledge but ends up talking himself into some sort of very loosely related scenario that no one can figure out.

Sorry for the Ram comment. I'm a bit bitter at the moment with them and moving to another brand.

 

The funny thing is that even my Ford will drop into 4th if I need it. With a 5000 lbs TT into a 100 kph headwind I'm just thankful it can hold speed. The sad thing is that even at 3500 rpm that V8 beats my Tacoma towing for mileage.

Look, this whole thread is a bit silly, honestly the Tacoma is not a tower. It's just not. Much like anything else it's size it was never built to tow a load like a half ton. If you see a lot of reviews the Diesel Colorado they even talk about that truck landing short of the mark from a full sized. So don't rely on your small truck to be a main tow vehicle unless you are prepared for it to hunt gears and get terrible mileage. It's really as simple as that.

 

Sooo, in stock form it's not a people-hauler because the seats are uncomfortable. It's not a tow vehicle because it hunts for gears. It's not an offroad vehicle without a lift, bigger tires, lockers ,etc. It's not able to haul much in the back because of soft leaf springs and a short composite bed.

Not much good for anything, but why do so many people buy it?

Because it's adequate at everything and excels at nothing. I'm good with this

 

I towed about 3200lbs from Denver to the San Francisco Bay Area with my '16 Sport DCSB and used the ECT mode and really had no trouble at all. Initially I thought the truck was working harder than I thought it would, but I never had a lack of power, even though you can feel the truck working up hills, but keep in mind this was driving through the mountains and up and over passes, etc. Seems like this truck makes most of it's power at higher RPM's, and that's just the way it is. Some aren't happy about that. But I wouldn't say the truck was underpowered or anything. I averaged 10-13mpg on that trip.

 

Exactly. Hence why midsized SUV's, CUV's, trucks, and cars are all popular. Call it the bare minimum to be happy doing almost anything. You just pick the mid size that fits your lifestyle and go.

 

I just think some people end up buying the wrong vehicle for their needs, and then when reality sets in they will blame the vehicle instead of not doing their homework before purchasing. I'm a first time Tacoma owner, but did my homework and came to the assumption that the Tacoma doesn't do one specific thing stellar, but it does a lot of things adequately, which you can't say for other trucks. Sure, there are plenty of trucks out there that will tow bigger loads, but they are way more expensive, larger, worse on gas, cost more to maintain, have lower resale value, hard to maneuver in major cities, tough to park, etc. Mine never seemed to 'hunt' for gears while I was towing 3000+ lbs for 1200 miles from Denver to SF, and I was carrying more weight than the OP and going over mountain passes and at altitude. Depending on what "off-road" conditions you encounter or plan to use the truck on, one could argue that it's fairly capable off-road in stock form. What other truck currently in production (besides a Raptor possibly, which isn't even made for rock crawling and is a race truck) is more capable off the assembly line for "off-roading"? Although the back seats probably aren't the best for routinely carrying two large adults, it's not horrible, but if you plan on carrying two large adults back there routinely, you should probably buy a different truck. But all of these points are not secretly kept from the buyer, only to be revealed after you plunk down your money and sign on the dotted line! You can easily check out the truck at a dealership and make the decision for yourself and go with another brand that suits your particular needs better. For me, it's light duty off-road use on mellow trails, Home Depot runs, hauling surf and 14' paddle boards around, hauling music gear around, hauling mountain bikes and snowboards, going camping with my dog, and occasionally towing things that are probably no more than half of what the truck is rated to tow. I also travel into major cities quite often and need a vehicle that won't take up half a city block to park it. Based on my list of wants/needs the Tacoma fit the bill and buying anything else like a full-size truck wouldn't have made sense and would have been overkill. There's always going to be a compromise and you can't please everyone with just one configuration. I just find it funny that the people who complain on here make it sound like Toyota specifically picks on them and designed a truck specifically to keep them from buying it! It's as easy as going with a different model or brand that suits your needs better, instead of whining and complaining over and over about how much you don't like a certain vehicle!

 

Agree completely. If you need to tow heavy loads allot, buy a vehicle that is designed for that. Toyota even makes a vehicle for that and it's called the Tundra. Ford, GM and Dodge also make vehicles that would fit that bill.

Personally, I like everything the Tacoma offers. It's a good daily driver, it's easy to drive and park in the city, I can fill up the box with crap if I need to, it's reliable and it also tows my boat just fine. I have the 4.0, but I'm sure the 3.5 would do everything I need it to as well.

The bottom line is that people should evaluate what they need and buy a suitable vehicle.

 

Cant wait for the "I tow a 26 foot travel trailer that scales in at 5750 pounds with no problem" posts.

I only read through page 1 of this thread and who knows where it has gone. But what did everyone expect? Its a high strung car V6 and a transmission designed for a 4 cylinder van all stuffed into a fairly large midsize pickup. Of course it won't tow as well as the V8s or turbo 6s, or the diesel Colorado.

This truck should have a tuned dual vvti 1gr and a760 6 speed trans . instead they cheaper out and still charging up the ass for it. At the very least don't overrate the van motors towing capacity to more than the outgoing 4.0L. We all know the 2nd gen with a V8 transmission is the better tow rig...

 

taco206 can we assume from your post you don't fall into the camp, "the only thing the Gen 3 is a 7 speed transmission."? Was there something you think is wrong with the concept the primary use for a Tacoma is not heavy hauling?

 

You have to keep it in high rpms so the VTEC will kick in

 

Here's the TFL Ike Gauntlet towing test for the 2015 Tacoma 4.0 DCLB Auto. http://www.tfltruck.com/2015/03/2015-toyota-tacoma-v6-4x4-extreme-towing-test-ike-gauntlet-midsize/

I imagine the 2016 will be the same performance, which amounts to perfectly adequate.

 

Dude, we get it. You don't like the truck, it doesn't meet your needs, and you think the people who buy them are stupid. That's ok, you're entitled to your opinion.
It's just sad that you spend god knows how many hours of your life saying the same thing over and over to people who don't care.

 

No doubt.

Also, i hear if you pussies drove MT trucks your "gear hunting" would drop precipitously.

 

I'm impressed with the Redundancy.

 

Bottom line is if you wanna do a lot of fairly heavy hauling and towing buy a full size.

 

As much as people may be adamantly calling the ECT button a tow-haul mode and will help towing, it is being marketed as an alternative shift profile and I think in the near future it will be standard to see multiple shift profiles available, so I guess the thinking will have to change.

 

seats feel great to me.

gearing seems great, not one issue, full of power.

hahaha! You are not going to deter him, he and others have
been trolling this sub-forum like that for a solid year now.

 

If it makes you feel better, my gen1 tundra with 2 sleds driving in the rocky mountains mostly stays in 4th, on big climbs its in 3rd at 3500 rpm for 5 min at a time. If it wants to rev, let it.
Headin to Golden BC tonight to slay some pow
I owned 2 gen2 tacomas. They hunt for gears, rev high and burn lots of gas with same load. My buddys 6speed gen2 taco is more pleasant to drive with 2 sleds than the auto was. Except in reverse....

 

Dude, I am not posting that for you in case you have not figure out. If nobody complains or says anything nothing will change.
Its bad enough previous "Toyota Focus Group" must have been all douches and that's how no power, mall crawler truck with GoPro mount came to life.

 

But think what's confusing most of us here (but I can really only speak for myself) is why do you really care so much to spend so much time out of your days to say the same thing over and over, and do it in a way that gives off the impression that you loathe Toyota? You may think you're someone important, but in reality nobody on this forum really listens to you aside from getting a chuckle out of your blockheaded-ness, and I highly doubt that Toyota is going to change the truck because of all the whining and groaning you do constantly about it. And if Toyota does read these forums (which I'm sure they do) they're also all probably thinking you're a giant douche just like the rest of us here think you are.