Car and Driver Rates Tacoma Second to Last

Ridgeline should not even be in the category. It is a xover with the body of a pickup, a whimpy 5000lb tow rating, & front wheel drive in the 2wd version.

 

I realize that... so did the cars those two vehicles were based off of. Just saying that if it has bed, it isn't necessarily a truck.... in my opinion anyway.

I wouldn't consider the Subaru Baja a truck for example.

I don't think body-on-frame is the main issue either... not sure I want a "truck" with independent rear suspension. you put weight in it and the rear tires lean in at the top.... a lot.

There are all kinds of reasons to call something a truck or not.

I prefer solid rear axle, body-on-frame and a bed for my applications.

 

I wish tests like the Car and Driver test had some kind of 'flex' measurement when they talk about 'offroad ability'. Drive the truck over rocks, curbs, garbage cans, etc, and talk about the sounds you hear in the cab. Talk about how much you feel it flex. Talk about wrinkles in the paint and if you tore off the bottom spoiler on a rock when you going down a grade. In my Silverado, I heard creaks and groans in the doors, the hood, the roof, and God knows what else whenever I offloaded that thing. And when I say offroading, I don't mean wheeling, I mean driving down nasty old prairie trails chasing deer, or running into town quick to get parts for the tractor. That Silvy was an extended cab with suicide doors, and that baby flexed like a freaking garden hose under mild conditions. It bugged me.

When I do the same stuff in my Taco...not nearly as much flex or noises. Much better frame under me, and the whole truck just 'feels' solid. This is the feeling I care about most, not some fancy-ass leather seat under my ass, or electric outlets in the bed, and tail gate that opens up sideways or down.

But no car review magazine, especially car and driver, ever talks about such things. When I read their reviews, they make me feel like a weirdo, because they write about things I don't care about, and they never mention thing things I DO care about.

 

If it has a bed, it's a truck.

 

I mentioned that very same thing earlier in this thread along with them being rear wheel drive too.

 

There was a review recently between a Colorado and Tacoma and the Colorado blew the head curtain air bags in the offroad section of the test.

 

I remember reading that. I also remember to turn on my airbag disable on my taco when it gets rough out there. I doubt any other truck in this segment has a button to disable the side curtain airbags....

 

How do you turn off the side airbags? I cannot seem to find this info anywhere, or maybe my search skills are lacking today.

 

Toyota has the worst frames ever made in the truck industry, that's not a bragging point. The reason I keep buying Toyota trucks is because I live in the West so they're not rust buckets and the 4.7 V8. WTF, I had a recall on the '98 for frame rust, had a recall for the '05 Tundra for frame rust. I didn't have rust problems but millions of owners did. The recall stated 36 US states they were recalling them. I'll buy a used Toyota truck from four states, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Arizona, that's it.

 

I've seen rusty frames on Fords and Chevys too, not just Toyotas.

 

RSCA disabled button

 

^thanks!

 

CO and KS are including in the frame corrosion recall.

 

Yup. It was really cool. I have driven a Model S 60 KWH car which wasn't bad, but the P90D was just a giggle fest. We sounded like little school girls.

 

I don't care if it has a bed, I still don't consider the ridgeline a viable option if you need a truck to do "truck" stuff.

It's kind of like the Caitlyn Jenner of vehicles. It was born a car and wants to be a truck and the result is something that just isn't right.

 

The RL has a lot more capabilities than my first "truck".

That little '86 also had a car motor and still did plenty of truck stuff too.

 

To be fair, you are comparing the capability of 2 vehicles built 30 years apart.

Edit: I bet that 86 could hold more in the bed though... and more than my double cab short bed

 

To be fair, the RL is capable of doing "truck" things just as trucks in the past have done.

 

Ok then, I'll believe it when I see it... to be fair, naturally. It may be capable, but is it as capable as it's contemporaries? I doubt it.

 

It's front wheel drive in all versions.