Going to test drive a Tacoma off road tomorrow. Couple questions

That's your mistake. Doesn't matter the forum, but those who frequent these things have strong opinions and sometimes unrealistic expectations. Some come from larger truck and expect a small truck to have similar power. Some want a Porsche with a bed. The reality is it's a mid-size truck designed for daily driving and to a degree some capable off-roading. In other words, designed to do two very different things well, which is actually a pretty significant accomplishment. Could it have more power? Of course, but then MPG would drop and many people would lose interest and a few would gain interest.

The ECT button doesn't do much. I hardly use it. Haven't towed anything yet but that seems a good time use it. The recent transmission TSB seems to help more than the button.

Definitely test drive, but if it's new you won't really get a good sense of how it will drive after 5K or 10K miles. Mine improved quite a bit. I almost didn't buy it because of the sluggish response when new but overall still liked it better than the other options. Glad I didn't let how it drove new turn me off. It drives quite nice now and has plenty of power if I want to use it. It's no race car, but I can easily get up to speed merging on the freeway.

It has an "S" mode which might mean "sport" but I don't know. It's useful for when you want more control over the gears. I use it a lot when off road to keep it in 1st and when mountain driving to let my brain choose the gear instead of the computer. I use S4 in the mountains a lot to lock out the overdrive. Also might downshift manually to 3rd instead of using the throttle. Throttle usually makes me accelerate and sometimes I just want the lower gear to better hold a speed on an incline so manually shifting works better then.

All that said, probably better to ignore what you read here and just drive it - and keep in mind that it will break in.

 

I'm 6'3" and haven't noticed it being an issue for me. I'm sure it depends a lot on body style and how you sit.

 

What was wrong with that MT?

 

Some of the ealier trucks had issues of getting stuck in gear. One I tried on two separate trips got stuck a hand full of times. I had tried other trucks that week and was already familiar with how they drove, so I knew something was up with this specific truck

 

**"I'm still unsure what the complaint about power is. I've had sports cars, fullsize trucks with 200ft/lb more tq. Why are people expecting V8 performance from these trucks? Do they not drive these beforehand? Don't care if you're talking 4.0 or 3.5. Relatively speaking, they pale in comparison to any V8 or V6TT out there. Of course, the Tacoma was never marketed as a work truck, or a high-performance truck, but a lifetstyle truck. Hope people realize that before signing the contract."**

Can I triple LIKE this one???? I'll never understand knocking something you yourself do not own. I traded a V8 truck in for my 3rd GEN and love it, would I rather have a HIGH TORQUE LOW RPM variant engine, yes...some 3K miles later it's now a non-issue and to call the truck ugly I call that FAKE NEWS...

 

Something I noticed today when I drove it was when you pressed the gas it had a slight delay until it took off. My 2012 Camry does the same thing.

 

The Tacoma is pretty gutless honestly. It needs to be rung out good when towing or having a heavy load in the bed. I can feel a big difference in power when towing my side by side as opposed to my last truck which was a 5.7L Hemi RAM. This truck does manage on average 30% better fuel economy than the ram did so theres a trade off.

 

The S mode is Toyota for Sequential shift in the Tacoma. It is not a sport mode like you will find in other cars that actually change throttle response and shift points significantly.

The only thing S does differently from what the manual says is revert back to "Non Learned Program" while D will learn. So a minor difference if any depending on how you've "trained" your D mode.

 

Tows my boat fine for a little V6. The Same as my 2 second gens did. And they all sucked compared to my 3500hd with rack body, 60g aux fuel cell and 1600lb welder on back towing a mini and my f-250 towing a 4 place enclosed sled trailer

Love hearing the full size to little truck comments. No one specific. These trucks aren't even on the quality towing spectrum that the bigger trucks are. Just funny to hear people split hairs.

 

That's exactly what I do. The tube steps help. Like you said, depends on the shape and build. I'm 260 and shaped like a bass player paid in only beer.

 

If she is with you and you are getting in the car at the same time, you touch your door handle and all the doors unlock including the passenger side. That’s the way I do it anyway, walk up to the truck touch the handle, she get in I get in or open back door for grocieries etc. I guess if you want to have it unlocked because she gets in first or your opening the door for her the other mod would help

 

I guess it’s a southern thing. I always open the door for her. Been doing it for 20+ years. That explains why we’re talking ‘round and ‘round. .

Still, it was interesting because her Audi Q5 had it active in all 4 doors. Her new Bimmer X4M only the front 2. And my Taco just the 1.

 

Since they moved to drive by wire, throttling a car is like a video game. It's very digital: no gas or A LOT OF GAS!
The sudden surge in power that you experienced is what a lot of people are noticing. Especially on this truck. I have found that if I fitness the pedal, I can get the power I want without it suddenly surging. My guess is that they way everything is engineered, they probably think that if you're flooring it, you need all the power it can give you to get out of an oh crap situation.

I came from an '07 Scion tC MT (drive by wire). That pedal is very digital. MT lets you control the gears but I was often pedal to the metal. While I didnt test drive a MT Tacoma, I imagine it to be the same way.

I like someone's comment comparing this drive train to a civic. I've been a huge fan of Toyota because of torque and being able to drive up some grade without feeling like I am tearing up the motor. This is very un-Toyota like. However, I am still happy with it. This truck is a great value if you really get to take it off road.

Yeah..seats are pretty bad. I am still trying to find a position that is comfee. I think one of the things is how the head rest is designed to mitigate whiplash. I dont like how it pushes my head forward. That throws everything off for me.

Some of the things I dont see talked about too much on TW:
a.) the handing of a OR is pretty impressive. you know those almost 360 degree exit and transition ramps? it hugs them pretty comfortably
b.) sitting in the cab is like being in a control tower. you get a pretty good 360 view. very few blind spots.
c.) this is a direct injection engine. it may be worth the effort to research more into it if you are not already familiar with the difference between it and a traditional engine.

Note: Truck is approaching 5k and I am excited to see how it does hill climbing on the 15 and 40 next month.

edit:
c.) I believe Toyota uses D4-S port and direct inject engines.

 

Drive it on small rolling hills where you have to drive freeway speeds. You have to drive normal down the hill and always have to give it gas going up the hill to maintain speed. You get use to it the longer you own the truck.

 

You'll be good. High rpms are your friend.

 

Ahhh, you're up north I am in the Monadnock area. I just was on the Kanc this past weekend and the truck as fun heading the first bit of turns as my wife yelled at me to slow down. . Anyhoo, with my bridge out I am commuting abut ~7 miles back and forth on dirt roads daily.

 

Heck yeah. I'm in southern NH but we live outdoors. Normally camping to get us to remote fishing locations. I've had an 06' AC sr5 MT, a 2011 DCSB sr5 AT and now my 2017 DCSB OR MT.

This is my favorite truck of them all. I tow with it. I camp for 10 day + out of it while carrying 700lbs of gear. By nature we wheel it. I'm at 30k. This year I've done about 1200 offroad. Zero issues with the power. No regrets.

 

I don’t get the engine hate. I’ve driven all generations of Toyota pickups, it’s not going to accelerate like a 5.7 Tundra, but it’s got plenty of power. During my test drive (an auto unfortunately, first time I drive a stick will be when I pick mine up). First two comments to the salesman were “yup, rides like a truck” and “it accelerates like my van”. Which surprise! Has the same engine, lol. The engine is really the only thing I love about my van. It’s got plenty of torque, and rips right to redline. I imagine in my truck when I get it, will be way more fun as it’s lighter by a couple hundred pounds, has shorter gearing, and has a manual transmission!

 

Smart move, don't settle on the Sport.......