Are the 2010's any better....

than the 05's - 09's? I am thinking of trading up to a DCLB from my 07 DCSB. I am just kinda disapointed with some things on the 07, and was curious if they had gotten any better over time. The issues are paint quality, shifting characteristics, ticking engine, twitchy steering on dirt roads, and weak leafs from the factory. I do think they are the best truck in the category, but thinking maybe I should wait till new/possibly better model tacoma, or get an F150 instead.

 

And this is what makes me want to buy another make all together. It's like Toyota is sitting back resting on its laurels. They don't improve their products anymore, and expect to sit back and sell off of the old reputation. They know of alot of these issues and choose to do nothing about it.

 

Picked up a 2010 recently and you just described some of my minor complaints about it. The leafs have been changed under the TSB but I find the steering twitchy even on uneven roads. We also have an '08 4Runner and it is so much more steady on the road. It's the only thing that makes me nervous about letting my wife take my truck every once in awhile. The paint quality on the bumpers and flares could be much improved. I just barely touched my front bumper with the backside of a carpet a couple weeks ago and it tore the paint up and took me nearly 2 hours to get the scratches out where most other vehicles I would have been done in 10 minutes tops. I am almost convinced that they do not use any clear on the front bumper and flares and if they do it's just a light dust coat. I was amazed to see how torn up my front bumper got from the backside of carpet barely hitting it. My biggest complaint is the shifting. If your babying it, it shifts rough if your getting on it, it shifts rough. The re-flash did nothing to improve it IMHO. The ticking motor is a charateristic of most fours and sixes these days and the noise is more the injectors than anything else. It's a lot better than my Frontier which ticked bad when first started for the day or after sitting for 4+ hours and that was with running full Synth. On that truck it was not the injectors. I also had to replace the head gasket at 35,000 miles which was the beginning of the end for me with that truck. The injector tick actually does not bother me on this truck. Even with all that I still love this truck and I really didn't like anything else in the mid size class so if it weren't for the Tacoma I would have had to go fullsize.

 

Oh is it going to be in 2012 with the new models? For some reason I was thinking 2013? That means we should see the newly redesigned Taco next year!!

 

Oh okay got yah. Cant wait to see how the new styles will look.

 

To answer YOUR question, YES. I had a 2005 before... and the '09 and '10 has more to offer, even though they look the same on the outside. For me it is the TRACTION CONTROL and the A-TRAC system that is dynomite. The rear springs have been changed (at least on my truck, built at the Baja California plant) from the soft ones my '05 had... no TSB needed on my '10 Tacoma.

There is also now a back up camera, satellite radio/ JVC stereo with mid-range behind the back seat (lose some of the storage that was there). But, it is the limited slip traction systems that make the '09 and '10 Tacomas stand out.

 

My 2010 has excellent shifting (2010 I test drive hunted horribly but they had a transmission TSB and mine had the propper programming from the start). The springs suck but there is the TSB. I had a HUGE srcatch in my fender flare that removed all the cleare coat the clear coat on my fenders is VERY thick. Use a clearcoat pen to fill and need to do it again to get the clear coat thick as the originail its so thick. My stering is numb, not twitchy... I wish it was MORE twitchy frankly... you just dont get enough output per unit of steering input. The engine ticks but nothing like the older 05+ Tacomas I have heard.

 

Honestly the engine ticking isn't an issue at all. It's just how the valves operate by design. Noise doesn't always mean bad. If you think it's bad, there are much much worse out there.

But all the rest of the stuff is the same. All the stuff like shifting, rear leafs, steering column rattle are still the same TSB. Pain in the ass but free fix.

As for twitchy stearing in the dirt... my 08 pre runner TRD off-road and 10 4x4 trd off-road were never twitchy? Not sure what you mean there. The stock BFG's suck and will slide around a bit on the loose, but some good tires fix that right up. Not the truck or suspensions fault on that one.

 

About the only significant change in 2nd gen Tacos was the addition of TRAC (And in the TRD OffRoad, ATRAC) in the 09+ models. These traction control systems make a HUGE difference offroad and in snowy/icy/wet weather.

Other than that, the issues the OP listed are still arguably there.

 

Aweee i guess no hilux or atleast a turbo diesel LOL

 

Sorry but I am pretty sure the redesign is in 2013