Have things gotten better?

I didn't like the way it felt so used 4 Low and that was much better.

 

Aaaaaaand there's my next truck!!!! love that thing

 

off topic but shaker......nice looking fox. Good taste!!!

 

TY kindly, I have owned it 21 years so far, very fun car!

 

Well being the third gen is coming in 45 seconds ahead of the second just back off the throttle and RPM on the 3rd while the second jams it to the floor and we'll both come in at equal times. Bottom line the power is on the 3rd if you need iit 2nd it is not. I like to have the power available.

 

How much seat time do you have in a Gen 2?

 

Interesting.

I had a ‘92? Toyota pickup 4x4 ext can 4 cyl. Loved it and put ~100k on it from 60k-160k. Then had a new ‘07 FJ and put ~190k on it over ten years. In the interim I had an ‘88 4Runner for about 2 years. Now I have the ‘18 Tacoma. The FJ was a great truck but sort of a gas hog. While I didn’t abuse it, I sure as hell used it. Didn’t off-road it, but drove the snot out of it daily and towed 5k+ 3-4 times a year over some distance. It was great up to about 65 and then ran out of steam. It could hold 65 if you were willing to put your foot in it.

Honestly, if they’d kept the FJ and added a little more towing ability and a little nicer interior, I might have upgraded to that instead of the taco. I would have kept mine forever but I really wanted a weekend 2 door and I couldn’t keep the FJ as our primary go anywhere vehicle. So I swapped two cars.

 

Oh, and to answer is this the best upgrade. It’s the only upgrade that’s given me quantifiable performance differences. It’s definitely changed the driving dynamic for the better. Is it my best mod? Almost. It comes in a fine blond one behind my passenger door smart key mod. Don’t get me wrong, the tune is valuable and measurable. But the passenger door not working with the smart key.... that’s just dumb Toyota.

 

I had one and sold it. My 16 tows better up grades and all around better than 2nd did. Its not night and day but better. Smoother, less bucky. The facination that the 4.0 torque monster runs circles around 3rd is amusing.
I love the power when you punch it when moving. It puts you back in the seat as rpms go up. Love it.
2nd just reved high then bogged until time to shift.

 

Ok, no where am i seeing anyone claim the 2nd gen “runs circles around the 3rd”.

The 2 drive significantly different. And for my daily commute, the power from the 2nd gen was put to better use on a daily basis than what I felt with the 3rd gen. Toyota obviously had to tune the 3rd gen much differently to be able to produce like 50 more HP while still maintaining the same mpg. To me, i felt whatever that impact was more significantly than you did for whatever reason (maybe driving habits or driving location)

My question was if anything has changed on the Tacomas from 2016 to 2019, of which you havent provided any insight.

I’m glad you enjoy your 3rd gen so much, but my experience was not the same?

 

The software, the tune.
Just like ovtune is better.
That is what changed.
There even is one for the 2nd even though it was perfect to start.

 

Just ignore 2016Tacoman, he jumps in every thread like this. He takes it personal someone likes something different him. He has probably mentioned that gauntlet test 500 times.

 

That’s how I described it.... my FJ pulled hard until about 4K... then it started making more noise than acceleration. But it was nice from 2k-4K.

 

Why get a manual TC with an automatic transmission?

 

They have the same torque only a few hundred rpm difference lower end

 

No one is arguing that the 3.5l is less reliable than the 4.0l v6, but some people do prefer the 4.0l's power delivery to the 3.5l's, even if the difference is slight. Low-end torque just makes more sense for truck applications IMO at least.

Again, no one is saying the the 2G "ran circles" around the 3G, but the 4.0l is a more torquey motor down low in the RPM band...plain and simple.

The 3G has awesome power up high in the RPM band; the problem, in my view, is that you have to deal with a rather gutless low-to-mid range before you can utilize that top-end power.

At the end of the day, both engines work reliably, they just have different characteristics.

 

This has been my experience as well. The 2nd gen was a much better daily commuter given the traffic I encounter and the gradual hills here in southern MD.

My 3rd gen is an '18 that has the most current engine/trans calibration applied and it is still the most aggravating vehicle I've ever driven. I cant begin to image how poorly the '16s drove when they first came out...but then again experiences seem to vary greatly.

 

Every automaker is going to smaller displacement engines to extract more fuel efficiency. That’s the current trend anyway. The invariable tradeoff is that to obtain competitive power numbers, they need to come at higher RPMs.

Coming from a Jeep with a 3.6L V6 with similar power numbers, and not having owned a 2nd gen Tacoma, I don’t see what all this fuss is about.

My only complain with this engine is the sound it makes when pressed. The engine is hushed most of the time, but when you floor it the sound that comes out is not very appealing —although still better than the 4.0L on my Nissan Xterra.

Then again, most V6 engines sound pretty lame anyway.

PS - I liked the sound of the Tacoma motor with the manual transmission better. Perhaps it was the purring of the lower gearing that made it sound nicer.

 

Engine issues, electrical issues, there is a long list stick with the Tacoma.

 

I had a '12 V6 automatic and now a '18 V6 manual, so this is not apples to apples, but the 3.5 is definitely much better on the highway than the 4.0. When I would get on the highway with the 4.0 and mash the gas in order to get to highway speeds, the 4.0 made a lot of noise but didn't really boogie up to speed as much as I liked. The 3.5 is much better getting up to highway speeds. I have no problem around town with the 3.5 w/ manual at all so the "lack of tourque down low" talk seems off to me, but again, I do not have an automatic.