4x2 Base Truck

Hello all. I need a new work truck and have finally made the decision to go for a Tacoma. The chevy colorado was pretty easy to rule out because they seem to have all kinds of issues. The main one being cylinder head trouble that GM still has not resolved. Im just afraid of them with the reliability problems. I dont have time for that.

The Ford ranger seems to be bullet proof. Its a smaller truck and a older design but they have the bugs worked out and they are long lasting trucks. Its just a tad too small but I do like the fuel economy with the 2.3. Its a lot of truck for the money.

This truck will be used in a business and will have to tow as well. The Ford and Chevy neither have the tow capacity the the Yota has for some reason. I can kinda understand why the ranger does not but what is GM's excuse? The Gm 4 banger has more power than the Toyota and its just as big.

Anyway, Im wondering if anybody knows what the epa ratings will be for 2008 since they have changed for a 2.7 4x2 base truck with a 5 speed stick?

This truck will get worked and fuel is a concern. I know many will say get the v6 but between the fuel and the additional cost I cant justify it. I will tow up to 3500 lbs and I think it will do it. I know I saw where one guy on here towed 4K with a prerunner and he said it did ok. I have seen many of the older tacomas tow way more than they should and they held up as well. Those old trucks with the 22r is what Im talking about. Is the 2.7 as reliable?
I will drive this truck into the ground so its important to me to know if there are any issues.

I just want a truck that will get the job done. Im not worried about blazing acceleration and what not as I have a mustang for that.

Sorry for such a long post but new trucks cost a lot of money and I want to make sure Im informed by those that own them. I hate car salesmen because I forgot more than most of them know. Any comments are appreciated and I know this is a odd ball model Im asking about but it seems to be a good value.

 

chevys:
The base Taco is a good truck. I owned one before upgrading to the the V6 PreRunner.

The 2.7L engine has been around for a number of years and I have not heard of any particular problems. As you know, you will not have the "power" of the V6, but it does all right if you are just talking work. One of the things you will notice about the 2.7L is if you attempt to accelerate rapidly, you will feel the vibrations of the engine. As I explained to some one else, do not worry, this is inherent with ALL (foreign or domestic) 4 cylinder engines larger than 2.0L due to having to enlarge the balancers on the crank shaft. 0.5L per cylinder is considered the "perfect" cylinder size for 4 cylinder engines and the 2.7L engine has 0.67L per cylinder.

The base Taco suspension is also firmer than the PreRunner's and the Toyota seats do not always "fit" everybody, but the 2007's seats are suppose to be larger to solve this problem.

As for MPG, I went as high as 28 MPG driving town & country roads with my old base 2.7L auto access cab Taco (but only 23.6 max on my V6 PreRunner at the moment). So you can see, if you treat the 2.7L nicely, you can get decent MPG out of it.

 

Thanks for your comments Panama. Im going to test drive one soon and will pay particular attention to the vibration that you are talking about. Sticker on these trucks are around 16K and thats with A/C. I dont expect this thing to be a luxury truck or anything I just want it to be reliable and economical. I can live with it not being perfect. My only wish is that toyota would offer a split seat instead of a bench seat in this truck.

My parents have a 4 runner limited 4x4 and that thing is plush!! Has all kinds of buttons and whistles on it and its powerful and so comfortable. It also cost a ton of $$ and the 4.7 likes gas in such a heavy truck. That truck has been flawless and never been back to the dealer for anything and its 4 1/2 years old now.

Im shooting for the opposite end of the spectrum and I have read all the forums and the base trucks just dont get much air time and i understand that. I have noticed that even though they are rated at the same mpg as the pre runners they seem to do quite a bit better than the pre runners on gas in real world driving.

 

If you upgrade to a SR5 package, you get the bucket seats, cruise control, power mirors & windows, variable wipers and leather steering wheel.

Remember that you had better get the seats that you want because "no matter how far you drive, you are still sitting in the same place". This is another reason that I upgraded to the TRD package on my PreRunner because the seats fit me better than the regular SR5 seats in my SR5 base Taco.

When you say PreRunner, you must mean the 4 cylinder PreRunner, because most PreRunners are V6 models like mine.

You have to remembeer that one of the biggest selling points to the 2.7L is that it is extremely robust and reliable. So getting that engine should be no long term problem inspite of the accelleration vibrations.

Good Luck.

 

My PreRunner is the 2.7L, and I love it. I am the one that was towing more than I was supposed too on here. I had to move some things and couldn't afford a moving van at the time.

It is my understanding that the only difference between the 2.7L in the 05+ and the 1st generation Tacomas is the valve head. The newer 2.7L utilizes VVT-i which amounts to electronicly controled valve timing to better work with ever changing conditions.

As far as the work truck. Many of the Tacoma's that I see as work trucks are the base model 2.7L. The base model should do exactly what you need it to do and maybe a bit more than that. I know that mine has already gone above and beyond the call of duty.

I am very pleased with my 2.7L. I only wish I had gotten a 4WD.

 

Panama, you are correct and I should have said 2.7 pre runners. That is what I meant when referring to gas mileage. I will look at the sr5 option and see what it costs if nothing else. So much depends on the test drive though for me and like I said cost is a major factor. Im just glad they build a stripped down truck for those like me.

007Tacoma, when you were towing that uhaul trailer I assume that you were towing in 4th gear correct? I have done a lot of towing in my day and 5th or OD in autos were out of the question in a small truck. That looked like a lot for your truck so Im putting a lot of faith in what you said. Im glad it did ok. One of my friends had a 83 4x4 years ago and the things that he towed was just crazy. The truck was slow doing it but it got the job done and held up better than you can imagine.

Quick question for 2.7 owners. When you turn on the A/c does it feel like you started pulling a parachute? On GM trucks you can feel the compressor suck the life out of the engine when the compressor kicks in. I have one now with a 4.3 v6 and it has good power for a small truck but the a/c really drags it down it seems. My fear is that with a smaller engine it would be twice as bad.

I also just got rid of an 89 s10 with a 2.5 pontiac engine.(iron duke) I think it had about 90 hp on a good day. Talk about weak. It was a good engine and reliable but man that has to be the sickest running 4 banger I have ever come across so I bet the 2.7 will not disappoint me.

 

You will not really notice the A/C kick in as far as loss of power, but you will hear it the first few times till the compressor clutch wears in a little, and later it can sometimes be noisy on first start if vehicle has been parked a week or so. These trucks have a good effective A/C system.

As for the SR5 pkg; it can be had on reg cab PreRunners, but not the reg cab 5 lug chassis. Access cab can have SR5 trim or base trim in either PreRunner/4WD chassis, or the lighter 5 lug chassis, but even the base A/Cabs have bucket seats now. So if you must have a non bench seat, you must get a reg cab PreRunner w/SR5 or an Access cab. The list price of the reg cab P/Runner is only about 900.00 retail more than the 5 lug chassis, and the SR5 pkg includes the A/C that is part of the enhancement pkg on the 5 lug reg cab.

 

Actually, on straight-aways at 75 MPH I would kick it up into 5th gear to get the best mileage. It held steady, but as soon as you hit an uphill incline, you had to drop it to 4th. Going uphill was slow - 55-60 MPH on some of the heavier inclines. She still pulled it all!

BTW - I did all of that with A/C ON!!! A/C is a must in Texas during the summer. Too much humidity causes a hot day to be a miserably hot day. My truck doesn't labor at all with the A/C on. It does affect my fuel economy. I usually lose about 1-2 MPG with the A/C on and an additional 1-2 MPG if I am pushing her hard.

The compressor can become noisy at idle when first started like LRH said. It also can be a bit noisy at idle when the engine is hot and drops below 800 RPM. Some one suggested to me that this was the coolant being low. I haven't had the time to get it checked out yet, but I will.

I hope all this helps!

 

Don't let anyone pick on that 2.7. It has PLENTY of power for what it is. Sure its not a mustang but you said you already have one of those...I have a stripped down regular cab 4x4. So basically what you are looking at only its a 4x4. I love it. I get around 26mpg highway at 70-75 with the a/c on.

 

Well, I went to my local Toyota stealer today to do a test drive and guess what. They didnt have a base 4x2 truck. The guy said they dont ever get any and dont expect to in the future. I ask why and they said because they are not popular and nobody wants one. I told the guy I did!!!!

Anyway, I drove 40 more miles to another dealer and was told basically the same thing. Both dealers ask me to to test drive a pre runner which I refused. I really like the looks of them guys and Im sure they are great trucks but Im not going to fall into that trap. I would end up liking it and wanting to buy one. I want something cheap. Im sure Im the exception on this board but when it comes to business you will throw loyalty out the door. Its all about money.

So whats up with 2 different dealers not having any base trucks? They didnt even tell me that they could get me one. They just blew me off like I had some kind of disease. The ford dealers are bending over backwards for me begging me to buy a ranger. I remember now why I hate toyota dealers.
They think that their reputation can sell cars/trucks at any price. This is not true. The ranger is cheaper to begin with and should have a long life just like the tacoma. I would rather have a tacoma for sure but I will not be blackmailed by these dealers. My hatred can not be fully conveyed here on a message forum. Somebody needs to tell Toyota that their sh$t stinks too.

I was in charge of buying my parents 4 runner back in 03 and we had to go about 250 miles to get it. I bought my mustang 900 miles from home. I guess its time to employ the same mentality on a base truck. I would have thought that you could have found one and bought it cheap close to home but i guess not. Toyota needs to wake the @@@@ up and realize that they are not God. I will buy a ford or chevy in a heartbeat if they are not competitive.

I hate toyota dealers. I hate dealers period. If any of the the big 3 or 4 want to improve their sale then the dealers are the starting point and I dont care who you are. What is so hard about this to understand??

Im sorry for venting but I hate car dealers.

 

The dealers in the SET area keep plenty of base reg cabs in auto and 5spd, mostly in white,and a few Access Cabs with both trans mostly white, but a few colors also. lots of couriers uses them.

EDIT: Don't know where you live, but you can check SET by entering and zip code from an SET area, then do a search from the port stock, you will see plenty.

 

chevys:
The largest Toyota dealer in my area (central SC) keeps several base Taco's on hand. I agree that the largest Taco sellers are PreRunners or 4x4 Double Cabs, but if you have to pay for your stock like a dealer, you logically only want to keep what you can sell the fastest (I work for a utility company , not any car company so I have no interest in either side).

I will also agree that Toyota thinks their vehicles are worth more than anybody elses. A good example is their new Tundra where I read that they priced it $4,000 more than Ford or Chevy's full sized truck because they felt their name was worth at least that amount. Unfortunately for Toyota, they found out that that was not the case and their expectations of a huge full sized truck market share fell on it's face and they had to revise their projections.

And lastly, I agree with you that buying a vehicle from a dealer is not my most favorite thing to do in life.

 

chevys, where do you live?

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles with the dealer chevys. They should be willing to have one brought to their dealerships. I wanted a specific truck that was 300 miles away and they did a dealer swap. I'm surprised they didnt do that. of course i guess they have more interest in selling you something more expensive than selling you something base and not making any money. hope things work out for you, i think you'd like the Taco if you get one. Stay away from rangers.... i hate those trucks with an unholy passion. I had alot of friends with them in high school and they were nothing but trouble

 

Ditto! - I was one of the guys in high school with a Ranger. That didn't last long.

 

Went back to local stealer today and he said he would get me a base truck with A/c for sticker. He would not come down on that price. I just cracked up laughing and told him he was full of it. He didnt think that that was funny.

Anyway, this is typical with the local toyota dealer here. I will not be blackmailed into buying a toyota period. They will either be competitive or they wont be. The Ford and Chevy dealers are ready to deal rilght off the bat and it makes it tempting.

Toyota could use some lessons in selling. I WILL NOT BUY just because of the toyota a nameplate. This truck is for business and when that is a factor all emotion goes out the door. The Ford is looking better by the day. I will not make a snap decision by any means. I just need to find a better dealer.

I know a few of you have said rangers are duds but I disagree. I have seen a ton of them go forever on basic stuff. They are just as good as tacomas in my mind and will last a long time if taken care of. The 2.3 is a mazda engine and it lasts a long time. Im not trying to start a debate but its hard to dismiss them as junk. They are not as bad as this thread has made them out to be.

Lastly, I would like for sombody to give the Toyota salesmen some training. They dont know shit from shinola. They are the dumbest bunch of people I have ever delt with. The dont know specs, epa ratings, engine specs ect.....

They basically know nothing...... What possible use could they be? Why do they even exist? Talk about a dumb bunch of folks.

Sorry for venting again but I needed to let it out. Sorry guys but i just hate car dealers.

 

Well, my only experience with the Ranger is from a 1986 V6 2WD Manual. It was just such a bad experience (it went through engines like I go through Dr. Pepper). I have never looked at the 2.3L Ranger (it is only offered in a regular cab).

 

chevys: I'll agree with you that the dealers need to brush up on their products. The 2nd gen Taco has been out for a while now and when i said i wanted the 5spd auto the dealer was like "you mean the 5spd manual" I said no, The automatic in the V6 is a 5 speed, the manual is a 6 speed. He said "no i think your confused, the new Tundra has the 6 speed". I said no, the new Tundra has a 6 speed auto, the auto in the v6 taco is a 5 speed, and the manual is a 6 speed. He had to ask one of the other sales guys to find out i was right. He had been there for years, way before the new tacoma came out. He should know all those cars inside and out. The sales guys could definately use some guidance at toyota

 

That is hilarious! I can totally see you having to spell it out for the guy.

 

I'm tellin ya man! i researched these trucks for 4 months before i bought. I looked at 1st gen, 2nd gen, v6, 4cyl, manual, automatic, 4x4, TRD all that crap, i knew the trucks backwards and forwards. The dude was convinced that the manual V6 was a 5spd, i couldn't convince him. It was weird though. I knew more about the tacoma and the tundra and the FJ than the sales guy. I felt like i was teaching him about his product. It would be like being in college and tutoring one of your profesors. He's suppose to know more than me! WTF!!! From the couple of weeks i was bouncing between dealers, i can tell you from experience, Toyota sales reps can definately use some "re-vamping"