Why the 3rd Gen Tacoma has Not Won the JD Power Awards

The Automatic Tranny engineer should have talked to the Engine engineer before deciding on the gear ratios and shift points is all.

 

I wouldn't know... although the tard who thought the reverse ratio in the M/T was all good should be fired lol.

 

I wonder if it is an expectation thing.

Jeep has such a poor reputation that when a new owner finds nothing major breaks in the first 90 days, the owner is over the moon happy.

Toyota has such a solid reputation that when a new owner finds a paint blemish, they freak.

FWIW, I had a Jeep JK (Cherokee) as a work issued vehicle years ago. It was well maintained, but well used and was never garaged (live in New Hampshire). I bought it from work after it was due to be turned in for $5k and my wife commuted to Boston with it for 3 more years. We kept it for another few years after that as a beater beach rig, eventually trading it in with 240k on the clock.

Other than wear items (brakes, shocks, muffler, etc.) no issues.

My 2010 Tacoma was brought back several times for transmission reprogramming, having its gas petal shorted (remember that “unintentional acceleration issue years ago?), and I had to have the stock head unit replaced a few times before eventually just going to an aftermarket Kenwood.

I still bought another Tacoma as I think it is the best mid sized truck available.

 

Unfortunately this likely a package constraint issue more than optimal ratio issue. Depending on physical gear location in the box they were most likely limited to a physical gear diameter. In other words, it's the best gear ratio they could stuff in there. My thinking anyway...

 

They should have a different diff gear ratio for 4WD.

 

You mean, something like a Low gear for crawling?

Edit: missed the "diff" part of your statement... that is a very messy set up on the stuff that I have seen and it would have to be done twice on a 4wd vehicle. A third ratio in the the Transfer case would be less complex.

 

The Tacoma cab is far from quiet. It's one of the noisiest vehicles I've owned in quite some time.

 

That was also my thoughts on the issue TBH.
There are other ratio choices in the RC-62F that are also head scratchers, although to a lesser degree. That gap from 1 to 2 is quite a stretch for the 3.5, with stock tuning.
No, I don't want to wind it up to 3500-4000 lol

 

i heard the Gladiator's 8-speed auto trans shifts smoothly
You shouldn't have to run an ECU tune to enjoy your truck

 

And my Tacoma is the quietest vehicle I've owned lol. It's all subjective.

Like I've said earlier in this thread I come from the Jeep world and my Tacoma feels like a Rolls Royce comparatively.

 

Ya kind of of missed the point

 

As an aside, can you imagine how bad the Jeep Gladiator had to actually have beenin order to have not won this award every year in he past hands down?

I mean, does anyone really consider the Gladiator a “mid size pickup” that would be cross shopped against a Tacoma, Frontier, or Ranger?

I think people buy a Gladiator because they want a Gladiator. There is no substitute and is in a category all to itself.

So if you purchase the vehicle you are solely focused on and passionate about, yet still bitch about defects within the first 90 days of “honeymoon” ownership, those defects are likely pretty glaring.

 

Me. When I was shopping for my Taco I knew I wanted a mid-size, 4x4 which I could take on moderate 4wd trails/roads without having to make many mods. Plus I wanted a M/T. That made my list pretty short and soon I was looking primarily at the Taco and the Gladiator.

I passed on the Gladiator because I hate the way it looks in stock form (my goal was not to immediately start lifting or adding larger tires and wheels). I'd heard nothing but bad things about the parts availability/reliability of modern Jeeps, even saw it first-hand with a friend's late-model Cherokee (not the XJ one). Plus, at the time the Jeep I wanted would have cost ~10K more than my Taco did. That was 1.5 years ago and I don't regret my decision.

As far as initial complaints, I could see new owners who aren't used to taking their Taco's back to the dealer to have the automatic trans checked-out. Or to have things checked-out which people who came from cars or SUV's might not be used to. My Taco has never been back to the Dealer since the night I bought it.

I did get a JD Power survey in the mail a month or so after I bought my Taco. I gave the vehicle very high marks, but knocked-off a few points for the actual Dealership experience as at my Dealer the Finance guy almost caused me to walk.

 

I guess you haven’t heard of the “hierarchy of engine durability”. It’s a mil-spec document that helps the military decide what sort of engine they need. Basically states the following (ranked lowest to highest durability):

lawn-tractor duty < passenger car duty < light truck duty < transit bus duty < long haul rig duty < mining and construction duty < freight locomotive duty < battle tank duty < humans on Mars duty < solar probe duty < nuclear reactor back-up generator duty < minivan duty.

 

For sure I thought I would see Jeep on here……but nope! Toyota all over this list.

https://www.iseecars.com/longest-lasting-cars-study

 

It only gets noisy when the chipmunks under the hood are required to work harder. Otherwise my cab is just as quiet and airtight as my tundra was.