Truck Sales May 2018 Taco surges 21%

AWD is a far superior system than 4x4 on snowy roads. I didnt think that was even still debated.

4x4 excels in true offroading, rock climbing and that's about it.

An awd system will kick a 4x4 systems butt on fireroads, gravel, sand, snow, etc as long as the surface is generally level and not filled with boulders.

 

We had a really bad winter a few years ago. Really deep snow. The problem with almost all all wheel drives was the ground clearance. I was running 265/70/17s on my Tacoma, sitting around 10 and a half inches of ground clearance. I took people everywhere around town on almost completely empty streets. My wife's AWD Subaru with 7 inches ground clearance was sitting in our garage because she had gotten it stuck 2 times in 100 feet. The 7 and a half inches ground clearance on the Ridgeline is a major crutch for me. I'm not sure how easily it is to out bigger tires on them, but I've yet to see one.

 

That looks absolutely ridiculous

 

lol the new ridgeline is a crv with a bed

 

That's funny. My point was, I didn't do anything other than go +1 when purchasing tires. You can lift anything with enough money and time. Getting the Ridgeline to 10 and a half inches of ground clearance isn't as easy as buying tires.

 

Here's the funny thing.

An AWD ridgeline and DCSB taco weigh almost EXACTLY the same. The Ridgeline manages this despite being unibody construction which is usually lighter.

Only reason the Honda has a better payload is because it's GVWR is ~400lbs more than the Toyota. I have no clue how they come up with this number.

Also worth mention is the Ridgeline's bed has a max capacity of 1100lbs, so you can't even utilize it's full capacity for heavy bulky objects that would go in the bed.

Let's have a contest. Load a taco and a ridgeline each with 2500lbs in the bed and drive around a parking lot. Let's see which one breaks first.

 

I see both 4runners and Tacos everywhere in Cincinnati. There are seven total off the top of my head in my parking lot at work alone.

 

Hey, you said you had not seen one. I'm just here to make everyone's dreams come true.

 

Especially Honda's AWD. Legit torque vectoring. It's money.

 

Couldn't agree with you more. My wife has a 2016 Pilot and it's great. Honda definitely has storage down to a science, but whenever I see a Ridgeline it doesn't look like a truck to me. I'm sure it's a good truck and meets the needs of the people that buy them. I just like my Taco and I'm glad I got one everytime we go camping

 

Add snowtires and you'll be plowing with that Subaru front bumper

 

I agree. Lots of other factors at play like clearance. I was just kind of saying that all things equal you should expect to get better traction on covered pavement with awd.

The difference between my ridgeline and f150 is night and day on snow covered roads and even places like the beach. That was my biggest disapointment with my F150 after coming from various subarus. I thought the 4x4 would make it a beast but not the case.

 

I was going to buy a Ridgeline when I bought my Tacoma. I didn't want to spend what Honda was asking for the RL, so I decided to get a DBL cab Tacoma, I actually bought a reg cab. I was also cross shopping the Subaru Crosstrec, and Honda CRZ. To this day I'm glad I purchased the reg cab over the other vehicles.

 

It was getting traction just fine, but hit a spot where it was higher and it high centered. The dash lit up like a christmas tree. I do prefer AWD on most occasions.

 

Its GVWR is 400lbs higher because unibody structures are stronger than body on frame. Period. Do some research, I was surprised too when I did. It's also heavier than say a pilot, because the unibody structure is actually significantly different than say a Pilot because its bein reinforced in several areas.

Saying it only has a higher payload because its GVWR is 400 pounds higher is like saying a car is only faster because it has more horsepower. It's the whole damn point. Higher GVWR= higher payload

 

Not sure which one would break first in the parking lot, but it seems Tacoma broke first in this light duty off road test.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/...yota-tacoma-trd-off-road-comparison-test.html

 

Quite the opposite really. I've seen a ton of love over there. They even talk about Tacoma updates.

 

I've actually considered getting one as my DD once I get the Taco paid off. I think I'd still need to get a "My other truck is a truck" bumper sticker, though.

 

Just give it a chance. Like I said, my heart desired the Taco primarily due to the looks. I never considered the Ridgeline for many of the criticisms on display here. After some research I purchased one and never looked back. I like it so much i post about it on tacomaworld. Sad!