Harley-Davidson effect?

OK, was telling my brother about my new 2016 Tacoma, citing excellent resale as one reason I picked it. He had an interesting take on why that is. He said its just like his Harleys. Its based on reputation, and a cult like allegiance to the brand. Not necessarily to better engineering and performance. That cult like effect causes initial prices to stay high, therefore resale is higher. Its self perpetuating, he says.

I thought he had maybe hit on something. The back story is we are both 2 wheel lovers, I am a Honda guy, he's a Harley guy. We have a long running feud about which is the better bike, my assertion is the Honda is a clearly superior machine, with much newer technology, higher performance and costs $1000' s less than the low tech, dated, air cooled big v-twin engine design of the Harleys.
His argument is... so what, I'll get a lot more for my Harley when I sell it,than you will for that Honda, and he's right.

So, can we draw a parallel here on the Tacoma's legendary resale value, to that of the Harley Davidson motorcycles? I'm starting to think maybe so.

 

I don't know enough about bikes to comment on that.

But there's no denying Tacomas run forever and generally will not die. The reason the second gen didn't change for so long was because there was no competition or need for Toyota to change it. Also other mid size trucks aren't that much cheaper than the Tacoma.

Plus Toyota doesn't put out incentives for the Tacomas which is part of the reason they hold their value well.

 

fair argument but, HD resale depends on location, seasonality and demographic. tacos seem to have a broader following and HD prices on the secondary are actually depressed. asking is asking, sale prices are not as good as they were in the 90's. also, HD tech wasn't exactly great (see AMF era, tranny cooling issues, top end fails etc...)..., but it doesn't matter to a HD buyer. but i also i don't know of any poor era for toyota trucks, and trucks are driven 12 months a year from grocery runs to guerrilla warfare.

good topic.

 

So what truck would be the Honda equivalent that is cheaper, has updated technology, is a better performance value and clearly the superior choice?

 

This is my own first toyota. I've seen some things wrong with it that make me question whether the toyota "reliability" image and higher prices are going to pay off for me. We'll see in the long run.

My major issues are the rumbling vibration at low speeds (most likely driveline related) and a buzzing vibration at certain RPMs (testing today to see if I got rid of it). The vibration that myself and many others are experiencing won't cause any major issues short term, but it can slowly take out other components....especially if the rumbling vibration is stemming from incorrect driveline angles. That will wear down u joints, shaft splines, pinion bearings/seals and transmission seals like no other over time.

Then there are little issues like window seals that really should never have made it into production, its just embarassing really.

 

Harley.... LOL

 

There's someone on here who has 400,000 miles on his Toyota. Another person (Tundra, but same concept) has reached 1,000,000 miles.
EDIT: here's the 400,000
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/400-000-miles.404359/
And the million dollar question
http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/heres-what-a-toyota-truck-looks-like-after-1-000-000-mi-1776141464

 

The 2017 Ford Ranger(F-100).

 

Couldn't read the whole post.

This is gonna be a real quality thread.

 

Oh, and 3rd gen problems

 

As an ex-Harley owner, just look at it this way; How many 1950s or 1960s Harleys do you see running around as opposed to 1950s or 1960s Hondas?
How many Gen 1 or even earlier (T-100)/(Hilux) Toyota pickups do you see as opposed to equivalent age Nissans, or Couriers, or LUVs?
That could be a parallel to start from...
Just sayin'...

 

It will still remain, I'm sure in 2005 guys were saying how unreliable the new truck was compared to 2004, here we are now and the 2nd gen is proven and just as desired in the used market and lets not kid ourselves, the 2nd gens had their issues too. I think its really funny that people think the new truck won't be as reliable. Toyota isn't going to throw away their huge market share with their tacoma gem by crap engineering it and throwing a crap powertrain, components, etc. in it, thats just not good business sense and they know they have to maintain QDR especially amongst a cult like following the tacoma brings. Im willing to bet despite the few small issues the powertrain will prove to be just as reliable. The engine is a lexus derivative, and anything engineered by lexus isn't junk. I really don't understand some of the arguments in here in regards to the new gen. There are plenty of satisfied problem free 3rd gen owners and yes there are some issues with manufacturing (they added shifts and changed from a product that was 10 years the same, of course there's going to be some slips/issues out there) but in the end a Tacoma will be far more desirable/valuable than a colorado, ridgeline, etc. People need to chill out on here sometimes. My 2008 had vibes and I know plenty of other 2nd gen owners do and did too, all of my 2nd gens had a tacoma tick, my 2011 had the front dif seal go bad prematurely, like I said, its a mass produced truck its not gonna be perfect. Enough soap box ranting, I'm a bike guy, but Yamaha, my dad loves his Harley's though.

 

I see plenty of Rangers on the road and they hold value as well. My 2003 had 160k miles on it and never a single issue

 

an interesting analogy, but not really comparable. I'm both a motorcyclist (actually, it's more of a passion) and an auto enthusiast.

Harleys have built on a reputation of image, and the free easy going lifestyle attached. They are absolutely well defended by many riders not because of technological advancements, but because the purity and simplicity of a 2v air cooled bike.

A honda metric cruiser (actually any metric cruiser) are not really liked upon the harley crowd, not because they are technologically superior, but many see those bikes as someone trying to copy the HD image.

Now back to Tacomas.. The typical tacoma owner is not an enthusiast, they are not buying into the tacoma because of an image or anything it portrays. Most likely, they just needed a mid size truck, and the taco was the best for them based on a few test drives.

We're in a Tacoma enthusiast forum, so yes we're enthusiasts, but keep in mind--we're the minority. The majority of taco owners use them as work trucks or grocery getters who has no idea websites dedicated to their truck exists.

That's why the Taco is popular, because people buy them and they work for them.

 

A lot of it is because of supply. In the past 15 years they have only sold about 3 million units total. That sounds like a lot however ford sells close to 1 million units a year. Take the fact that the midsize competition wasn't very existent for a few years and you can see how this has effected supply and demand, which effects resale and market values

 

What????? No worries about first year production runs?

 

I didn´t say there would be no issues, I was simply stating that the Rangers hold value and are reliable. I don´t know a lot about the newest ranger and have not really looked for a lot of info on it, but the older rangers were hard to kill, in fact, I still see several on the roads still running good, not smoking, shifting smooth, and not really rusting too much.

 

My 01 the reverse gear went out at 120k miles, tranny rebuild. My buddies 00 went at 160k. Besides that and the known bad pulley's they are pretty reliable, though I wouldn't consider tranny rebuilds below 200k super reliable.

 

I agree with this 100%. The taco is just like a harley, behind the times with tech and amenities with a cult following of people that rave about them.

 

You just described a frontier, minus the cult following