10k miles Tacoma Review/Thoughts

I'm at about 18 months of ownership with my '21 Sport & I love driving it everyday; no issues and I use Wawa/Royal Farms/Safeway 87 octane.

Just past 15K miles and will have my 20K Mile ToyotaCare Maintenance (TCM) in December--which includes an oil change.

The last TCM will get scheduled during the upcoming appointment in Dec before my anniversary day.

May 14, 2023 will mark 2 years of ownership!

 

I’d just say give it some time and hopefully you work out the possible alignment issue. Also fingers crossed the newer super whites have resolved the paint issue. I have nothing to base that off of just wishful thinking. The white sure does look good IMO.

 

Zoo truck I’m always glad to hear your experience in the auto trans. To some degree I almost feel like this issue becomes sort of a self fulfilling prophecy in a way where people read an article or watch a video on how terrible it is and then they over fixate on it until they hate the truck. I’m not saying it’s perfect but if there is literally ANYTHING to take my mind off it, other passengers, music, towing etc I don’t notice any shifting annoyances. Like I said I tend to romp on it pretty often and now I feel like it delivers plenty of power and doesn’t hesitate to shift when I want it to. It doesn’t jump around downshifting in town either. Maybe I beat the attempt at good gas mileage out of it.

 

That’s good to hear. I’d imagine the seating position without power seats would be more manageable for a taller person like yourself. Sitting lower in the seat someone 5’8 - 5’10 would probably barely see over the hood. I’m almost 6’ and just bump up the seat a little and it’s perfect

 

Ya know I’m actually gonna agree with the memory seat feature too. Ultimately it’s pretty trivial and I’m glad Toyota limits as much of they techy crap as they do and I’m not looking for all those features. But man when I get back in it after my wife has driven it and all my settings are messed up it would be nice to just set it back how I had it.

 

I also don’t like that there’s no memory button for the power seat. My wife’s ‘17 4runner has 2 memory buttons for the driver’s seat, but my ‘21 Tacoma doesn’t even have one. That’s dumb Toyota, my truck is 4 years newer! Honestly though, that’s probably my biggest gripe about the truck, so that’s not too bad. My trans shifts fine, it never hunted anywhere near as bad as other’s complain theirs does. I prefer S mode in the mountains so I’m in control of the shifts and I can make it downshift without having to smash the gas pedal. But really, my auto does fine in the mountains too, especially if I’m just cruising.

 

That is definitely one thing I forgot to mention… the stock headlights for SR5 are pretty shitty. If I could change one thing it would be that. LED’s standard above SR would be really nice. I didn’t want push to start or need the rear locker so SR5 4X4 was great for me but yes I definitely need to upgrade the bulbs at some point. I don’t want to do any wiring or anything so I think I’m limited to just a slightly brighter halogen bulb.

 

Well thats your opinion of the sr5 headlights. I find them fine. They light up the road better than my gen1 tundra did.

 

lol yeah I can relate. Also, you are correct. S-Mode when in those situations. I do this regularly when needed to keep the truck out of 5th & 6th. Also a certain part of my commute it's over to S-Mode then down one to 3rd all in one motion. I'm then ready for the aggressive pushy squeeze_weasels. This keeps the RPM's up so you don't have to evoke an overreaction of downshifting and high RPM's too keep tight with the flow. The lack of consideration and turn signals is appalling out there.

 

My truck is the same way. I just hop in it when i need to run an errand, and it performs flawlessly every time like any automatic vehicle i've ever had. I think there is a beef with some of these trucks that can get annoying like a buddies 2019 trd that did not shift as fluently all the time. Idk if some of these transmissions are manufactured inconsistent, or its the way owners operate their trucks from day 1 causing them to end up this way. All i can say is mine seemed to adapt to my right foot pretty well.

 

Do you have the seat back more upright or closer to 18-28° angle? Mine is angled so that when I look out the driver side window to see oncoming traffic I’m actually looking out the back window. But I may have the seat just a bit further back than you and maybe more leaned back? My head doesn’t reach the sunroof shade so maybe that’s what is going on.

 

Royal Farms is for Chicken. I just had it for the first time in Fredericksburg VA on my way home from Fla. Maybe the best I've ever had. Got gas there too but I was food drunk so that part is only a blur.

 

I absolutely love mine, and since I am the only one who drives it the memory for the drivers seat doesn't mean much to me. I agree on the transmission, around 8,000KM it started to get way better but it tends to hunt gears around 110 KM per hour but I also just shift into the S mode. People complain that's its a dog off the line but when I put the pedal down it happily blasts up to freeway speed no problem. It goes into the dealership today for the 10,000KM checkup, as for oil changes, no comment

 

i noticed these trucks are insanely sensitive to gas quality. throws it into open loop and then starts shifting like shit for the next five tanks every time i change octane or stations.

 

You might be on to something. Shell 87 I seem to get better mpgs than my local 7/11 non branded fuel.

 

Currently at 74k after 18 months of ownership. No issues, just maintenance. I hated the seats at first and had some back pain on long rides. But after a couple thousand miles they broke in and they are fine now. Not comphy, but good. The only things I would change is the direction of the radio controls on the steering wheel and I have some notes for the Toyota engineers on the manual transmission gear ratios in 1st and reverse. I also miss the simplicity of the oil filter on my 2nd gen.

 

Shell 87 has by far worked the best for me. I’m not saying there isn’t anything else out there or that other people may have no issue but it was a night and day difference for me coming off the Chevron. Shell 87 is all I use now.

 

@rndsommer40

LOLOLOL

I can't disagree with you about Royal Farms and Chicken! FOOD DRUNK!

I did that drive from Florida too...in 2014...but going to Dover, DE.

I was working for Boeing (Cecil Field) in JAX and had Bojangles Chicken for the first time,

 

You should’ve stopped at Bucky’s while you were in FL. It’s like Wawa meets homegoods and Texas BBQ, and while I’m no expert on Texas BBQ (I don’t settle for just salt and pepper on my brisket) it was very good.

 

Heresy, why would you put anything else on there? You probably put beans (i.e. unnecessary fillers) in your chili, too...

And, no, I'm not originally from PA.