What was the best model year from the last decade?

My truck is the best because it has a Lexus motor. Fuck ya.....Lexus yah!

 

I drive an 09 but voted 15. While I love mine, I do think the gen 2.5 looks better and they figured out more bugs by then.

Edit: they fixed everything except the goddamn rust, apparently..

 

None on mine when I sold it after 12 years. Very little rust problem here.

#winning

 

The 3.5 will actually run at a lower RPM than the 4.0 the majority of the time. That's why the mileage is better.

 

That’s why I think the transmission might be the weak point, other than that motor having to rev 6k to get anything out of it. I don’t know about the new trucks but I know in mine it’s not advised to tow in overdrive because it will destroy the transmission by searching and again not from experience but what I’ve heard that’s what the new automatics do full time.

 

But does the 4.0 make more torque in the lower rpm ranges? I don’t know if we’ve yet conclusively tackled that topic.

 

Cause it’s fueled with pure testosterone

 

The transmission has proven bulletproof, as has the engine. People complain about the tune, but hundreds and hundreds of thousands of off road newbs can’t break these 3G taco drivetrains, and lord knows they are trying.

 

As far as winding it up, yeah I mean I've put my foot to the floor several times for the fun of it. As for towing, I pulled my small boat, which might be 1250 lbs with trailer - wound it up to 5k RPM going up hills at 65mph. I'm not disagreeing - we all have a Camry/Sienna/Avalon engine in our trucks. The powerband isn't ideal, but it ultimately has more power than the 4.0, less one lb ft of torque.

 

My 17 has a sliding power window, (stock).

 

Not for nothing but my 3rd gen has literally none of the above electronics you mentioned, so.....

2017 SR 2.7L MT is, of course, the correct answer

 

I did not think model year 2017 would be a close second

 

Mike Sweers said it was his favourite year. They put all the love they had in the hearts into the 2017’s. There wasn’t much left over for later years.

 

Mine too

 

Who is this Sweers character?!

 

He invented the Tacoma, all by himself. Mine was hand built by the Sweers team. I have a buddy at the dealer that set this up for me.

 

If you really want to know, it’s this guy:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YppBqPCbwqc

 

Someone back in the day must have mistaken peak torque for low end torque and every 2nd Gen owner ran with it.

The Torque bands are almost exactly the same. Actually on a dyno the 3.5L showing slightly more torque at 2000rpm. Peak torque is the same at 265/264 with 4.0L coming at 4000rpm and 3.5L at 4600rpm (spec sheet from Toyota Corp). Dyno only showed about a 200rpm difference, again almost identical.

There’s multiple threads on TW showing the dyno charts.