Here is my thoughts after 2 months owning a 2017 TRD Off Rd Dble Cab

I'm happy with mine so far and I'm coming from Audi. I keep looking for the issues people describe but haven't seen them yet. Granted I'm only 500 miles into ownership.

I've driving my buddies first gen a couple times and his feels lighter on it's feet but that's about it.

 

"Yeah well I've flown F-16s and I can tell you my Tacoma feels plenty powerful to me...." LOL

 

And don't forget...

"I have over 300 miles on mine and it still drives like new"

"It may be $40k but it's a truck, and all $40k machines have quibbles you have to live with"

"If you had bought a (insert domestic brand here) it would have self-destructed by now and killed all your neighbors in the explosion"

 

True. I just don't get it.

And 0-60 times.

http://autotk.com/0-60-times/toyota/tacoma/

http://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle-make/toyota-0-60-mph-times/

3rd gen tows faster and more than 2nd
3rd gen 1/4 mile looks a tad faster also than 2nd. It beats the 2nd gen by a whopping 45 seconds in the gauntlet extreme tow test.

 

Some people complain for attention. Some people complain to others for sympathy. Some people complain to others because they have wronged them in some way.

I don't understand why you would argue with others about their own perception of their own truck just because it doesn't align with your perception of your truck. Perception might as well be reality in most of these cases. You can choose to keep holding onto the negatives and forcing others to try and believe the same, or let it go and work on a solution. That solution might be selling your truck, but for god's sake find happiness on your own terms and not at the expense of others.

 

What block?

 

It's important to share honest feedback with potential consumers and with others who are experiencing the same issues. You have oversimplified the situation.

 

Translation: they fucked up

 

Proof right here guys.

http://www.terapeak.com/worth/dazzl...tary-aircraft-kids-jet-airplane/112087056236/

 

Is that him in the picture?

 

You've made statements before about Toyota paying attention to this site. Do you honestly believe that negativity does anything to get your concerns/issues addressed? Do you care at all about the impact that the negative narrative that you push has to your (and our) resale value?

 

At the risk of a lot of hazing comments, I like my '17. And that's after only a few months and about 4,000 miles. It took a full year less to learn to like it than it took to learn to like my freakin' Subaru (which I love now that I know how to drive it in the snow). There are so many tools and features on this thing that its taken a while to learn to use them (see traction control, or turning it OFF actually, as one key feature for me here in Colorado), but they work quite well for a truck.

I guess I'm also comparing my '17 6-sp Auto Tacoma to a 2002 Supercharged Nissan Xterra 5-sp Manual, so the comparison is pretty easy. The Tacoma has more than 30% more horsepower, tows more, is more off-road capable from factory stock setup, and is really in a totally different league (though I don't care for the super long turning radius). I live in the mountains west of Denver and drive back and forth to Copper Mountain at least weekly. The Tacoma has probably been on flat roads in Denver 5 times, but has been over I-70/Eisenhower Tunnel more than a dozen times so far this year on both dry roads and shitty slush/snow (once with 4"+ on the road). I don't drive it in situations where I can see/hear/feel all the things everyone else can, but have definitely used a bunch of the transmission/traction/manual shifting alternatives. I have no complaints.

As for noise, I have the TRD Catback on it, so maybe that's why I don't hear the rear end howl that many are hearing, but I don't care - I don't expect it to be quiet. As for the other issues, I must also have a Unicorn - I don't seem to have them. Either that, or I'm not as picky. We'll find out next week if I have the tranny fluid issue. I agree the gas pedal needs to be muscled/finessed a little to get to the power, but I think that's designed to keep most buyers out of the power band as a trade-off for mileage. No rattles, no vibration of the pedals (except that quick brake pedal buzz, which took a bit to get used to feeling). Many of the comments here are along the "I want/liked the power/torque of the XXXX, but that did lower my mileage...." I don't really give a rip about the mileage - not why I bought it. I think Toyota pandered to the majority of buyers who want mileage over performance of the truck - not typically the people in the forums here.

But I admit, the shifting gets on my nerves. At least until I think about the Xterra, where I'd go from 5 - 4 - 3 frequently. So the shifting, in all actuality, isn't too bad as far as I'm concerned. I just put the Tacoma in 3 or 4 in the manual mode, so the amount of shifting isn't really that different. I look at 6th gear as an overdrive gear, which given my typical driving, I'm rarely in anyway. If I were driving in other areas of the country, I imagine it would see more of gears 5 and 6. But when compared to the CVT in the Suby, at least I can feel the shifting. Maybe I would feel different if I bought cars more frequently than every 15 years and knew the progression of engine-transmission pairings. My wife had a 2003 4Runner, and this has all the bells and whistles that thing had, plus some, and I can get used to the shift pattern.

As for giddy-up, the thing will go at least 85 mph in 4WD up Georgetown Hill (if you're familiar with I-70 you'll understand, and for the haters it was at 0500 on a Tuesday on about 1" of snow and fresh Blizzaks with no other car in sight, so no traffic/braking issues for those concerned about THAT test...), so there is no lack of power. I do think, though, it was not designed as a true 'truck' and was redesigned to try to get better mileage, which appears frequently as a topic in TacomaWorld forums. The aim at mileage, while admirable, comes at the cost of gearing and other 'truck-like' features that most buyers probably don't want anyway. I'm guessing most Tacomas will never see more than the freeway to and from work, compared to the folks who frequent the forum, so Toyota likely wont really care.

Anyway, my $.02 likes the vehicle.

 

I think you just stated the solution to your complaints.

 

And you have over-complicated it. Don't get me wrong, you and several others are very good at arguing that the 3rd gen sucks, but your messages are not helpful. You're only dragging happy people down by attacking their positive experiences with your own negative ones. This topic has been beat to death and I don't think anyone will benefit from this type of information.

 

Guys....being critical is necessary to improving products. Smitty hasn't been a jerk about any of this, from what I've read.

 

I think this truck would have been perfect with the 4.30 gears

 

The only 2 issues that I find "annoying" on mine are gear hunting, I mean I am going uphill, consistently, not through a valley, so its just a long uphill, and its just upshifts and downshifts over and over unless I gun it or go to manual limitation on the peak gearing. The other one is sub 2000 RPM torque. Gutless until I get over 2000 RPM. Now the reason I say these are just annoying, is my previous was a 04 Canyon and honestly compared to that its night and day. The canyon though being a 4 gear tranny had no real issues of gear hunting. The low end torque was better on the Canyon but had no midrange power, so I basically just traded where I get more torque from. I do have the random phone disconnects and Entune crashing, but so did my old aftermarket set up in the canyon. Have not experienced rear diff howl yet, so hopefully I do not, no pedal vibrations etc.

I am already vested into the truck (lift kits and such) and honestly, the new GMC and Chevy trucks did not interest me enough, and I do not have any need for a full size nor could fit one in my garage, so the latter was never an option and the former I wished there were a few design decisions changes. I am not glossing over the issues with the new Gen 3, but it meets most my needs with minimal (in terms of number, not severity) issues so far (Though the transmission hunting drives me nuts sometimes, I just drive around in faux manual mode, so I worked around it)

 

Exactly my point! I didn't drive vipers I was just using it as a facetious example to someone's comparison of a truck to a track car.

 

trade it smitty

 

Maybe if you were directing it towards the right audience. Being careless with your criticisms is akin to shooting yourself in the foot.