What was the best model year from the last decade?

Couldn't say. But then again when I bought my 2008 I specifically looked for one with a vacuum booster instead of the fancy one you get with ATAC and VSC. I'm a curmudgeon.

I kept my previous truck until it was 24 years old I was hoping would be a while but might not be with this Tacoma. If and when the time comes the configuration I'd get is bare bones base. I've removed just about everything TRD OR that was TRD OR on this one so it would have made a ton more sense to start with SR and add an Air Locker.

The reason I bought this one is that it was the first nice low mileage stick shift that I found after a few months looking. A lot of tired ones.

 

It absolutely does. Try this... tie off to an movable object. Put truck in 4H and press gas pedal slowly. Can you spin the tires (on dry pavement) or does is just go Bahhhh? If you can spin the tires, i'm impressed.

 

Nope. not even close.

 

I feel like there are far more scientific ways to compare the torque output of the two engines.

Toyota says the 3.5L puts out more torque than the 4.0L at low rpms. Tacomaworld says it doesn’t.

I don’t necessarily trust the performance curve that Toyota has provided for either. There are a lot of factors that go into how a truck feels or how it responds beyond just the engine’s maximum torque output, so maybe there should be other tests to test the complete powertrain’s performance at completing loaded tasks. For now I’d settle for comparing the engines.

If anyone has stock dynos for a Tacoma 4.0L and a 3.5L that were done with a manual transmission from less than 2000rpm to redline I’d love to see them. It wouldn’t be as good as actually testing them back to back, but knowing that they share the same peak torque value, linearly scaling them should provide for an appropriate comparison.

Until then I will continue to wonder.

(I heard the same complaints about the Dual VVT-i version of the 4.0L compared to the single VVT-i when it came out. Not sure if people are still saying that these days).

 

I believe the performance curves Toyota publishes are probably accurate but they don't necessarily represent the way the tuning *feels* when you're driving it. They probably changed the pedal input response or how the drivetrain interacts with the engine.

The scientific method is to put them on a dyno and measure rear wheel performance (which I thought someone has done, not sure). That's always been true, though. Your engine might make this HP or that torque on paper or on an engine stand but it only matters where the rubber meets the road, literally.

It's also possible the ECU and drivetrain in the 3rd gen is hyper sensitive about emissions so it's more aggressive at trying to hit stoichiometry compared to the 2nd gen. Since dyno tests are used to validate and test vehicles it would make sense that no matter what the theory about an engine on a stand says the final real life product can only achieve it with a perfectly broken in engine with 7,512 miles on it at 65°F at sea level with 50% humidity and 82% pedal with the engine pre-warmed for 1 hour using brand new oil on a Sunday with precisely 372 lbs of payload.

In other words the 1GR-FE was maybe less critical about things being just right to produce power because the EPA emissions envelope wasn't as strict 10 year ago.

 

Absolutely, there are so many variables to how the powertrain actually peforms beyond the torque curve and that doesn’t even get into the ways that the vehicle itself can make things feel.

People have posted a lot of dyno sheets but they don’t always start at a low enough engine speed.

Jeff

 

Isn’t the 3G heavier? Maybe that’s all it is?

Slightly more HP and same torque, but much heavier truck = less butt dyno

 

It is about 3-500 lbs heavier.

 

2nd and 3rd gen owners arguing over who's truck has more power

 

What about people who don’t even have Tacomas?

Jeff

 

Post some dyno results then. I'm well aware that you have a 4.0 2nd Gen, I've already read your posts. But to say the 4.0 engine has an enormous amount more of low end torque just isn't the case.

Dyno results have shown the 3rd gen has very slightly more at 2000 rpm with peak torque at 4000rpm for 4.0L and 4600rpm for 3.5L (on paper specs) and the dyno results showed 4.0 over 4000 rpm and 3.5L under 4600rmp closer to 200rpm difference.

Which is why I said the torque bands are basically identical. If it's not even close like in over 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%?

 

If the torque between the two engines is the same then why does the 3.5 have to operate at a higher rpm to do the same work. I don't believe any of those dyno test that have been posted here. You cannot reduce the displacement and the stroke of an engine and expect it to have the same torque at low rpm. I understand peak torque can get high as the 3.5 breaths much better at high rpm and able to make more power/torque there. At low rpm you lose all the advantages of technology as the dynamics become more basic. I.E. Stroke and displacement.

 

I can't believe 26 people voted for the 2016. If I had to pick between 2nd and 3rd gen I'd say 2015 at number 1 and 2020 at number 2.

1st gens are up there too, I've been looking for an 01-04 double cab 4x4. Man those things are pricey, some quite a bit more than 2nd gens. I personally think 1st gens look better than 2nd.

 

Yeah that's true. ^^ Not the pure estrogen the 3G Tacomas with the Lexus motor has.

To get into a horsepower pissing match is truly pointless. There are too many variables, including gearing at the rear end, down to even the selection of torque converter and it's STR multiplier. If you want to talk about the amount of power both of these powerplants are capable of respectively putting out, look at it this way...

Horsepower is a measure of how fast you hit the brick wall, torque is a measure of how much you are capable of pushing that wall.

I don't know about you guys, but I would prefer a torque monster over a horsepower queen any day of the week which makes its power down low for better control and durability. That's just the way I see it.

 

For how I use my truck totally agree. I think my old 22R-E even with stock gearing was pretty OK off road. Inline engines typically are, which is why tractors and working trucks use that configuration. But I'll admit on the highway I'm starting to warm up to the V6.

 

2017 with Skweeeeeeepppp. Wifey says I've gotten bigger since skewp



















I never lie

 

Someone’s finally bringing the science.

 

I lather my truck in a 50/50 mix of Fluid Film and Testosterone. I’ve noticed massive gains.