What DON'T you like about the Tacoma

The stereo sucks....I put in an Alpine.
No heated mirrors, and they do fog up like a bastard even in the summer, and YES this is a safety issue...I put in heated mirrors.

Other than that, a great truck.

Problems are solvable, but it would have been better if I didn't have to solve them myself, given the price of the Tacoma.

Oh, and I don't have (or want) an iPhone or go to Starbucks, but I do see the point the guy is making. Seems like a legitimate complaint. A little thought on the side of the engineers would have told them don't put the drink holder directly next to the electronics hookup. Seriously, not that hard to understand.

 

There is 9 other cup holders to choose from.

 

Really? Like the ones in the door for example? Another brilliant move...no chance of THAT spilling, right?

 

Well .... we are warned to place only closed bottles in those .... I guess that releases Toyota from any liability issues .

You can never have enough cup holders.

 

This is true, the CYO method of engineering!

 

'crickets' in the heater/ac fan
polarized LCD radio display
new body style too big and bulgy, way too much chromed plastic
silly little wheels and tires on standard 2wd models

but most importantly, poor fuel economy. My '83 carbureted, California smog equipped 2wd 5spd got ~32-34mpg highway - but with all its modern electronic fuel injection and ignition my 2010 2wd 5spd truck gets 26 mpg on a good day. This is my 4th toyota truck and the best one yet, but they're going in the wrong direction in terms of size and fuel efficiency.

 

i absolute hate how i do not have automatic climate controls (i.e. set it for 68 degrees and it modulates the fan/compressor to keep it at that temp). I am always adjusting the heat or the fan and it's freaking annoying. I got very used to this with my last 3 cars (bmw, audi and subaru)
I also wish i had a bed light and i'd prefer red lights on the dash besides orange but it's whatever. The climate controls really bother me, because i can change my orange dash lights and i can add a bed light but i can't do anything about the climate controls.

EDIT: stock stereo and speakers are the worst i've ever seen. I changed the HU out day 1 witha double din, and that made a dramatic improvement but this weekend i pulled the speakers and replaced them and they are complete junk, the magnets on my refrigerator are larger.

 

lol, I see where you're going on the screen polarization. It's good though if you don't have sunglasses on I'd bet.

I will say that the fuel economy is pretty darn crappy considering it's a V6 with less than 300hp. It's built like a brick though so highway cruising doesn't usually net me any higher gas mileage than around town (I average 20mpg mostly). Sad thing is that many V8's post similar numbers. What I'd like to see is them throw in a smaller displacement V6 with some form of forced induction and have the final drive on the tranny set so that if you run it right you can stay out of boost on the highway if you're cruising. That way you can get your power and still get decent gas mileage.

Or throw direct injection on the damn thing and get more power and better efficiency. Plus, most direct injection systems run pig rich so you could lean it out with a tune later and get even MORE power with even BETTER gas mileage. Either that or give us a smaller turbo diesel V6!

 

But, I'd like to note that I think my truck is damn near perfect as it is. Assuming I could only own one vehicle I can honestly say that there is NOTHING else in the entire market that I'd rather spend my money on at ANY price point. The Tacoma meets my needs to a T....and that T stands for Tacoma

 

Ok, then just the 3 others on the middle consol.

 

I've counted 13 cup holders in the entire truck. If you need more than that it's likely that you're completely ridiculous.

 

i disagree....... i use my 4x4 Tacoma as a truck, I live up north where we get a lot of snow, heated mirrors are a necessity especially when towing not "mall cruising". Locking fuel door, again prevents tampering with your fuel. etc,etc, etc..............

 

hmm.. many many things. 1) Seatbelt alarm 2) a/c doesn't cool off immediately as in my 98 taco or even other new models from toyota and every now and then, like if i don't drive it for several days, there is a bang under the hood when i turn the a/c on. 3) the new manual transmission is weird, it wont hold my truck on even the slightest hill without the e-brake in 1st or R. and i've got 35k on it and the clutch catches at the very TIP of the petal and at times when letting it out it hops like the clutch is warped or something. And my throw out bearing rattles after the tranny is warm and it sounds like my 4cyl is a diesel. 4) the body panels do not seem to be attached as well nor as sturdy as the older models (which were, lets be honest, super soft metal and easy to dent) 5) it sounds like a stage coach from the wild west when i do not take it through the car wash every week that has the under body wash. 6) the center console squeaks when its cold and the seats after being boke-in, you can feel the frame work under the cloth. 7) the only handles are oh crap handles, i do understand that the side curtain airbag has to have clearance, but a handle over the door would be nice. 8) the bed no longer has lower hooks that standard truck beds have which makes strapping down loads difficult. 9) toyota in general does not have the intermittent wiper selection on low end models.
Basicly if you could buy a new 04 model or a new '11 model i would chose the 04 model, i love the way the new generation looks, but other than that i feel that it is a poorly manuafactured vehicle in comparison.

That being said, I love my truck, besides, what other options do you have? Ford? HAH!
but over the GEN 1 taco, it is more quiet, rides smoother, and looks better. It is a man made object, and at times, i tend to feel that a Japaneese auto should be perfect.

 

Especially when locking gas caps are standard on nearly every other vehicle. Every car I've ever owned had a remote release for the door which meant it was locked whenever I locked the doors. People used to syphon gas out of my parents' tanks years ago, and gas wasn't as expensive as it is now. So that kind of concerns me.

 

I could not get a 4.0 engine w/ 4x4 in a regular cab

 

There is a mod for that.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/15958-el-cheapo-heated-mirrors.html

 

My only problems are that the Access Cab rear speakers are in the headliner instead of the doors (I bought the truck planning on replacing the whole system at some point, but it would've been nice to have factory wiring to the right place), and the disaster that is the front mud"flaps" (long enough to be the only thing that scraped on the trail and cupped enough to throw 80% of the spray onto my own windshield when hitting deep puddles).

All in all, those are very minor in my book. The only major thing I'd change if I had my way would be to have a factory front bumper capable of mounting a winch, but that's such a small-volume item that there's no reasonable way to expect it (and it's not as if there's a slew of other trucks out there which do offer such capability).

 

I wish they had kept the generation 1 power train set up as well. not that i do not like the 4.0 but my 4cyl 5speed sucks. the old clutches where so much better and you could adjust them. i went to the dealer and they said toyota removed all adjustments. punks

 

My gas milage sucks!! Other then that I love it...

 

Rust. Why does Toyota suck at painting the frame? Why?