GM, Ford or Toyota...

Hi all. I graduated college 2 years ago and up until recently, have been driving my 99 WJ Grand Cherokee which I had during school. It had a mild lift, oversize mud terrains, black steelies and got my dirt bike down any rough fireroad for trail riding laydown areas. I loved it!

Well 200k miles are up and its time to move on, get something reliable and practical. I have been researching for a new (to me) truck for a long time. Def need a truck for the dirt bike so its basically the 3 big US guys or Toyota for choice.

I wanted to see if there were any other users who used to own Ford or GM that switched to Toyota, or any other users who were trying to decide between American or Toyota trucks. Why did you, in the end go with the Tacoma? What were your main reasons? Was it a hard decision?

Obviously this is a Tacoma forum and I assume that most of you are very happy with your truck. Thanks

 

I've always been a Ford guy and if I had the cash I would be driving a Powerstroke diesel...but cash is tight, and I still need a truck, so I went with something I could afford. My Tacoma has been up to every task I have handed it so far, and I couldn't be more pleased. Even with 2wd she handled the snow like a champ. No issues at all in 13k miles.

 

I've owned an 04 Ranger(v6 Edge), 05 Dakota (quad cab v8) and 08 Tacoma (double cab trd sport). Honestly feel the Tacoma is the most adequate for anything I need. Room for a car seat for the new baby, power to tow supplies I may need, decent fuel economy, and by far the most comfortable seats (trd seats are great!). Ranger didn't have enough room and power was a littlw weak. Dakota had great power but sucked gas like crazy. Unless your Ford option is an F150, I'd tell you get a Tacoma hands down. Good luck!

 

My 01 Ram & my 02 Dakota were both gas hogs. I feel I have just as much power with the 4.0 as I did with my 4.7 V8. Oh.... Resale value on the Toyota cant be beat.

 

Toyota reliability and resale... Pretty much sums it up.

 

I bought the tacoma to haul my dirbike, what I liked about it was it was the only mid sized truck to have a long bed and a crew cab. Plus its a toyota and its going to be reliable for a long time. Also these things have a huge aftermarket industry so pretty much you can get whatever you want.

 

I repo trucks out here in AZ on a regular basis and see first hand what people do to them. With all of the abuse I see, the Toyotas and Fords are always in better mechanical condition with the least amount of problems. Dodges have had electical and emissions problems, and their interiors fall apart. Several Chevys have had bad front suspension components and slipping transmissions. Most of the repos i am pointing out have 60 to 90k on them. Be aware of the Ford motors though certian years had problems blowing spark plugs out of the head and with the new triton motors the spark plugs will break off inside the head. I learned about the Ford issue as a Snap-on dealer because Snap-on came out with a specific tool for repairing the blown out spark plugs. (we sold them like crazy). I have repoed almost 15 Tacomas and they have always been in good shape. Always. That is why i own one.

 

Our family has always been Toyota fans. Grew up with them. So - I've always been a Toyota fan. The main reason? Reliability

Nothing wrong with the other vehicle brands......and everyone has their own experiences (good or bad) with them. I've owned other brands.... Mazda, Plymouth, Dodge, and several Jeeps. My husband and I currently own Acura, Chevy, & Toyota (of course).

Today's Toyotas (in general) have had more problems than the toyotas of yester-year. THey just don't make them like they used to.

I love my truck and I hope it continues to run strong for many years to come!! It's had a few warrantee fixes....so I'm crossing my fingers it'll last for a good 10 years.

 

I owned a bad-ass Z-71 with a 6" lift and didn't have a problem putting 150,000 miles on it. Took me anywhere I wanted to go, with style and power. I never had a single problem with it, never. I Never really liked ford a whole lot, but I tell you, lately they seem to have the F-150 done right (although I've never owned one)....

I say go with a Toyota or GM depending on what you need... If you need a smaller rig, get a taco, if you need a full-size, gets a Z-71... that's what my basis was...

 

I had a 2001 GMC Sonoma Z-R2 loved the truck put was a pile of shit in terms of maintence and reliabilty. Had 3 fuel pumps, countless ball joints, interior falling apart, plastic pieces breaking, few alternators and called tow truck about 10 times cause it left me stranded for countless reasons. Things might have changed with them but I will never buy an american based truck again only buy trucks built in USA and has to have a toyota emblem on the grill

 

yea..I think I am toying between double cab or access cab really. And the only reason I am leaning towards SIlverado because the extended cab version has roomier seats in the back, whereas the tacoma access cab, although there are 'seats' there, isnt really practical to seat anyone.

As for needs, I work for a General Contractor so am on construction sites a lot. So that means I also will put a lot of miles on the freeway too, The only off road which the truck will see is for personal camping/dirtbiking weekends really since its my DD.

Reliability is a key factor for me I think. It seems as though if I talk to a hand ful of people with chevy's and a handful of people with tacomas. It seems as though I can do a 100k/150k in the Toyota with no major work at all, but some chevy owners (not all) have had regular visits to a garage.

Decisions decisions....

 

I definitely dont like knocking the Tacomas but because your a dirtbiker if you are big on loading your bike and shutting the tailgate, only get a long bed. I wish i would have because its kinda a pain to get 2 bikes, gear, stands, and gas cans and cooler all in the back... i make it manage but it barely fits. Other than that the truck really fits a good dirtbike track alot of riders drive them around here and i am personally in love with my truck had it for 5 years.

 

+1. Yea I am not considering anything less than a 6' bed at all. Tacomas basically all come in a 6' bed, but the double cab comes in two lenght right..the 6' (long bed) and the shorter one right?

 

Yea, i didnt even think to check the size of the beds, my trucks definitely isnt 6ft

 

If you can afford the full size truck I'd vote F150 any day. The new Silverado/Sierra interiors seem so cheap to me and looks like they cut too high above the wheels. Not a fan on the GM trucks. I'd expect the same amoubt of miles from either an F150 or GM full size truck, but the F150 would be my first full size choice.

 

GM and Chrysler are no longer an option for me.

 

Toyota's rep for dependability, reliability and durability mainly, especially with the Tacoma marque. I couldn't look beyond Ranger's column shifter which told me Ford was never serious about it and Frontier's were ruled out because of experiences with my Maxima (a sensitive little sick puppy of a car.) Chevy's and Isuzu's are ugly and Dakota's reputation precede them.

Even with the field narrowed so easily it was a very hard decision...I wanted a gen 1 but wasn't ready to go for it in 2005 when the gen 2's came out. I hated how they turned a terrific small suburban truck into a monstrous midsize suburban truck and hoped they'd suffer sales and shrink it again.

5 years later it became obvious they weren't...so I jumped on a good low miles 2k7.

 

With my Ranger I sold it as soon as the warranty was nearly up...IT NEEDED IT. In the shop 2x a month, something new each time. Got my 1st gen 02, and nothing to be fixed until 100k. I needed nothing more to convince me to buy again.

 

X2

 

Before I got my 08 DC 4x4 Sport, I was driving a 97 Grand Cherokee.

Other than sitting higher, not much difference overall. The cabin space is great, and you just can't beat the convenience of having a truck.

I loved my Jeep, but I love this more better.