Honest feedback after 50K miles on my 2018 Tacoma OR

In May of 2018 I picked up a 2018 Tacoma Off-road Tacoma, it was between that and a 5th gen 4runner but coming from a 4th gen 4runner I wanted a truck and wasn't getting rid of the 4runner. At the time I worked for South east Toyota which is the largest distributor of Toyota's in the world. We Brought in hundreds of Toyota's every day from Japan by ship and domestics by rail and processed them to go throughout the south east. I got a killer deal on the truck and knew I was leaving soon so I couldn't pass it up.


I had often driven and moved Tacoma's so it was nothing new getting inside and leaving the dealership, what was new was getting on the interstate, the power in the low gears was pretty weak even compared to my 05 4runner on 35"s. None the less the truck felt great and I was proud of it, after about a week I had already lifted it and put 285/70/17 KM3's on it.


And holy shit was it sluggush now lol, my gas milage went from around 19 to 13.1 and towing a trailer to Atlanta for YotaMafia's annual stone meetup I instantly noticed the trucks lack of torq or what felt like a lack of torq compared to my 4.0 4runner.


Keep in mind this is only my 2nd week of owning the Tacoma, We leave Atlanta and head North West 2000 miles to CBI Off-road in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Back on the interstate again the cruise control was almost useless with the truck loaded down, using the radar cruise control the truck would slow down if someone got in front of me and then downshift to 3rd gear at 65-70mph and hold that until I manually made it shift getting around 10.1mpg on the computer with no trailer. The ride was nice and all the little interior features are so much nicer then my 4runner but man is this power train sucking!


Fast forward to Idaho falls and getting amour put on at CBI, after we added full skids, sliders, and an aluminum front bumper with a bed rack and a CVT tent I really did not notice too much of a power loss and the Gas mileage didn’t really change. I think the truck already having to downshift to 4th gear all the time made the difference just not as noticeable.


It’s now been a year since all of that and I still love the Tacoma, It drives nice even after multiple Moab trips that almost killed it! I think the biggest downfall is still the transmission, the truck shouldn’t need a regear from the factory, if the engine could utilize its torq in the lower RPM range with the trans I think it would be a phenomenal combo, hopefully Toyota figures this out and can fine tune the transmission and engine combo.


The Interior is still solid, even after a 100lb yellow lab runs around in it so no complaints there, the lane departure warning is cool, the rear locker and crawl controls are nicely placed, again it’s a super nice truck but I can’t make myself like it as much as my 05 4runner for some reason. Having a truck with a bed is cool but it seems Toyota gives the Tacoma the short straw when it comes to little amenities that even the 4runner had 13 years before this Tacoma. Auto AC for example, power seats, a nice little clock aside from the radio, much better feeling interior panels. I know this is Tacoma world and you guys are thinking I’m crazy but I just feel the 4runner gets a lot more love then the Tacoma when it comes to care in designing.


Anyway, we still have big plans for this Tacoma and hopefully when we throw these 4:88s in the diffs it really wakes up, if not I think its Tundra time.

 

Nice looking truck. I'd throw an OV Tune on it and drive it like you stole it!

 

5.29s, not 4.88s

 

Engine and transmission work together. They need to be matched well. The problem is the engine as well because you need an engine that has a lot of torque in a truck not an engine that wants to be revved up high. That's why you see these downshifts due to the no torque in the low rpms of the engine. Not sure why people always blame the transmission. Shifting is because the engine cant keep up in the lower rpms not from the transmission....

 

Good review, i agree with most statements.

Perhaps a gladiator mod would be ideal if you still want a truck you can wheel?! My 2017 JK had better interior comfort and got the same mpg’s as my Tacoma but with bigger heavier shoes on it. Transmission even with 35’s shifted properly.

I still like my Tacoma, but if I didn’t want a truck that fit in trails i would be in something else

 

the lift and those KM3s will do that. Not 3rd gen but when I added KO2s and my lift initially my truck got super sluggish. The 10 ply tires will kill the mpg.

But as other noted the OV Tune is a nice stop gap I did that on 2nd gen and felt great so did my buddies 3rd gen. 4.88 vs 5.29 is a debate. since your on 285's and mildly heavy should be ok. 5.29 for sure if overall weight is high.

I regeared my second gen on 4.56 with 285's and man that was a night and day difference. Now I am on 315's and its not as great. should have went 4.88. I guess think about if your sticking with 285's or not If not then def go 5.29 for the 3rd gen. Even 285/75/17 with a heavier rig. My buddy runs that on his 3rd gen and hes really happy with it.

 

As a fellow '18 owner with only half as many miles, I would agree with your review. The engine/trans combo was executed very poorly. I don't really care what the cause was, it just doesn't work that well, especially outside of stock form.

Based on the reading I've done, no one has regretted 5.29's on a 3rd gen but plenty have wished they had gone 5.29 vs 4.88. So I would definitely say 5.29's for your tire size, weight, off road use, and towing.

 

Had my Tacoma for two years. All stock 2017 off-road DC and always felt like it was under geared.

 

My 94 Ford F-350 4x4 with a HUGE 460 v-8 gets 14 miles to the gallon pulling a trailer up hill or down hill.

 

ETC?

 

Should of got Premium + Tech

For me, unless it has a memory feature, dgaf, but it's available on the '20s

This might be one of my biggest gripes... I shouldn't have to have the entire stereo display on to see the time. There should definitely be a clock in the dash multi display.

 

Sweet rig

 

Good read, thanks for all the details. Makes me not want to go any bigger than 265/75-16 and I have 4.30s and ovtune. It’s too bad you have to get a much larger truck to get a good power band.

Hopefully these superchargers drop soon and deliver the powerband because I’d rather drop 5k on this truck and keep it then lose a little on selling it and then lose a little again on buying another truck. That would be the 5grand right there.

 

Great review. Getting my lift next week with KM3’s at 285’s. What kind of wear do you foresee in the km3’s? Do you think you can get 40k miles on them?

 

Definitley 5.29's with that setup. I have 4.88's and it won't be enough with that setup.

 

Thats funny... my truck has 34s and some armor, still has plenty of pep in her step.

Start doing some calve raises and mash that throttle, son!

The 3.5 loves to rev, don’t be scared.

 

LOL. I have a base reg cab 4 cyl and it has a clock....

 

The automatic is geared very high for MPG reasons. The extra weight of heavy tires and armor will put more load on the engine and require more frequent downshifts. The larger diameter tires also gives you a higher final drive ratio (lower RPMs) that decrease your power. Many of these highly customized trucks are so heavy that they easily exceed the payload rating and are no longer legally allowed to add more payload or pull any trailer of any weight.

 

I'm on 285 75s, fully steel armored, racks, 2.5" lift, camper on the back and I average 17mpg. Something's wrong if you're getting that bad of MPGs. Or you need to slow down.

I've never felt the need to regear, but can tell the difference on bigger tires for sure. I think I'd want to regear on 35s, but I don't see any need to go to 35s with the driving I do. You definitely wheel harder than I do if you've almost killed it at Moab a few times. I've only gotten stuck a couple of times offroad, nothing too bad... only one really bad hit offroad and no major trail damage yet thanks to the sliders and IFS skid.



Only complaint I have after 40k miles is my tow mpgs. I'm getting between 9 and 11mpg depending on speed (70mph or 65mph) towing a travel trailer. It tows just fine, you just need to make liberal use of the skinny pedal like @Brofessor said. It tows best in ECT mode with the M option, keeping it on 4 so it doesn't hunt uphills.

 

Had an 03 4runner with a V8, if it had an option for a manual transmission I would still be driving it. The 5spd auto was great and the v8 towed better than my Taco but it was boring to daily drive. My 3rd gen is now my favourite DD ive owned but the 4runner is a close second