4th Gen Tacoma (2024+)

Zero to none…

 

Does Toyota make a Tacoma that competes with the Ranger Ford currently sells in the US?

I mean, a Ranger 4x4 XL out performs a TRD Pro in every measurable category but ground clearance. With the exception of sales.

 

Except one is a Ford and the other is a Toyota.

 

True but, that's not a measurable statistic, and some what cultist. Lol!

 

Really? Every measurable category? How so?

 

Horse power, torque, towing, payload, mpgs.

Not that those numbers always transfer to real world usability. Look at the numbers the EV trucks are producing.

 

I thought the 6th Gen 'Runner would come out before the 4th Gen Taco, but the people on the 'Runner forum are saying that Taco will come first, mainly because they sell over 2x as many. I thought with the 'Runner design being 13 years old that it would surely come first.

 

Other than off road capability and reliability. You know the reasons a lot of people buy trucks.

 

What makes the Ranger less Reliable?

Sure it's a small displacement turbo 4. I wouldn't expect a Ranger to be more reliable than a Tacoma, but there isn't any definitive reason why.

 

Worse engineering? If you magazine race the two the Ranger is better for sure. If you just want a truck that starts every time and you can go exploring with the Tacoma wins. Not everybody wants that of course and the Ranger works for plenty of folks.

 

Ford sells every Ranger they build. They only build about 5,000 of them. Ford sells so many Broncos, Ford had to build less Rangers.

 

Well the Bronco is cool and competes against the Wrangler which is even worse reliability. There are still large swaths of the country who won’t buy imported trucks so I’m not surprised. I fully intended to buy a Ranger for that matter until I drove both and did some more homework.

 

Latest article on the upcoming 4th gen:

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/features/2024-toyota-tacoma-goes-electric

Nothing earth shattering but it would be quite remarkable (and a bit ironic) if the Tacoma was the first full EV Toyota production vehicle.

 

Well for one, it’s a direct injection engine so carbon buildup is inevitable, and two it has a turbo which is more moving parts so it’s something else to go wrong.

 

Trucks sales growing vs cars, displace Rivian? I could see it

 

The speculation is Q3 2024 which means the truck will not be realistic for most of us until well into 2025 at the earliest. Have not seen any new Tacoma spy shots recently; maybe they're all set and gearing up for production.

 

I’m not too sure the Tacoma will be the first full EV Toyota production vehicle. There’s a LOT resting on this new gen and Toyota knows they absolutely can’t drop the ball on this new gen like they did with the Tundra. I think they’ll introduce an EV Tacoma once they have a reliable platform that’s been out for a little bit of time.

 

3rd Gen Tacos are also direct injection, like everything these days. Albeit, Toyota uses a dual injection system (D-4S) to combat carbon buildup. Seems like a great way to do it.
I think newer Ford Ecoboost engines have a dual injection system as well…

 

How did Toyota drop the ball on the new Tundra? Seems like a solid truck, better/competitive MPGs, etc….

 

And Toyota sells every Tacoma it makes, so that isn't a good argument. I had a brand new 2019 Ranger, it was an awful mess. I had it 2.5 years and put 34,000 miles on it driving every day in all conditions. It was at the dealer for warranty issues constantly. I got rid of it for the Tacoma and am very glad I did. It would take me almost a whole page to type out all the problems with that truck. Now it could be I just had a first model year lemon, but some of the issues I had people are reporting in later years, so some of those problems probably weren't just a first model year fluke. I have owned Fords continually for 40 odd years, no more new ones for me. They left me when they started making the mod motor junk, now we are in the ecoboost era. No thanks!