New England B.S. Thread

Speaking of seats - a 2018 Forester had the worst seats I've ever experienced. They felt like Subaru wrapped a metal frame in leather and called it good. A friend has one and is the type of guy who doesn't like to criticize anything he owns, but even he complains about how bad they are. Hopefully they improved them since.

 

https://white-knuckleoffroad.com/nissan-frontier/

https://www.coastaloffroad.com/product-page/2nd-gen-frontier-high-clearance-plate-bumper/

Among others. There's plenty of support out there for the frontiers. It depends "how much" you're looking for. Two things I doubt the Frontier has:

• In the Tacoma, third gen, if you replace the license plate lights with LEDs, they're bright in the camera at night in reverse. So, someone (on this forum, actually) wired up a plug and play harness that turns off license plate lights when in reverse...
• The Tacoma cup holder is a bit small for a nalgene. So.... someone made one

Some of that small stuff might be harder to come by. But the majority of stuff (bumpers sliders winches lifts wheels/tires etc) you have plenty of options in the Frontier. Also, it's a (relatively) really easy thing to "titan swap" them.

If I was buying again, today, there's a next to 0% chance I'd be in a Tacoma again. Not that I am rushing to sell mine. Plus, the new frontiers are still NA V6

 

My Mom had a Forester of that generation and then has the current generation now. The interior has come leaps and bounds, including the seats.

I wouldn’t pick one as my daily CUV (I’d go Mazda in a heartbeat based on the first gen CX-5 we had) but it’s definitely a step up compared to what it was. The visibility is second to none in the crossover market.

As long as Toyota keeps making manual Tacomas, they’ve got my vote. Once they go away (since they likely will) I might have to consider other options, but I don’t know if I’d even get a pickup at that point. My goal is another 7-10 years out of mine before I even retire it from DD duty, so we will see.

 

Id probably go for a 1st gen tundra. They are ugly, but 4.7, same size body, 1800 lb payload, much beefier steering, more comfortable cab.

Nissian OEM legos are cool

 

We like my wife's CX-5 ('23 Carbon Edition). We paid just over $30k, so it's a bargain given how it's optioned and the overall quality of the vehicle. The seats in it are acceptable - I wouldn't call them comfortable, but they also don't seem to bother me too much on a longer drive. Interior is very well put together and has nice materials. The Bose sound is surprisingly good for an OEM system, especially with that name on it. Handling is excellent, power is adequate, MPG is very good - got a hand-calculated 35 MPG on the way to Maine last weekend. Visibility isn't great, though - I prefer my F-150 on the highway because I can see around me much better.

 

I've been driving a 2025 Forester Touring for the last week. It's a good vehicle, better (and noticeably bigger) than it has ever been before. I loathe the CVT but buyers won't think twice about it. Visibility is fantastic. My wife has a CX-5 (her second one) and the Forester is appreciably roomier inside even though it's only a few inches longer. CX-5 is quite a bit better to drive, though.

 

This right here, I'm never selling willingly but if the truck ever gets totaled I'm 1000% looking for a 1g tundra preferably 2005 or 6 when they switched to vvti and made way more power. Fakeross definitely has me thinking about how (relatively) easy it'd be to titan swap....that VK in a midsize

 

Titan swapped 2G Frontier also seems like a pretty rad time

 

I was planning that and a vk56 swap and keeping the 6mt if I went back to Texas with it...

If I had 1 gripe, it'd be turning radius....

ANYWAY....

This is a Ford, Lexus, and occasional Toyota board... I don't wanna get blamed for adding Nissan too(even though I kinda did before)

 

Agreed about the turning radius, and the 3G Frontier has incredibly unnecessarily heavy steering too

 

There was a limited time you could get a v8 pathfinder, much like 4th gen 4runner

 

As long as I'm still dragging the camper around, I'm going to have a hard time owning anything smaller than a 3/4 ton pickup. I know a half ton will do the trick, but the bigger truck just handles the trailer much more effortlessly. So, no Toyota or Nissan trucks in my future! With the 3 options I do have, I don't think there are any real wrong answers, they all have their quirks but are generally doing pretty well these days.

 

I had a 2000 and then a 2006 Tundra access cabs and liked them both. One had the 4.7 and the second one had the larger motor. That was the perfect size for me, but of course Toyota had to go on a quest to make the Tundra compete with the ever larger F series pick ups.

If I could have found one, a 2006 Tundra Crew Cab would have been a perfect truck for me. Not that I carry a lot, but the extra payload and larger bed would have saved me some time and money on our move down to Texas.

I love my Tacoma, but if I'd had the option of a LB version, I would have bought that.

 

So, regarding my wasps inhabiting the shed issue - I decided to try one thing at a time.

I rubbed this soap on the door header weeks ago and I haven't seen any signs of them since! I didn't think it would actually work, but I read they won't build on anything coated in soap and they hate citrus.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/project-cap-acquired.687896/page-2#post-29883356

These turned out fuckin great

 

Project: Annoy neighbors for the month of may complete for another year. No mow may. 15 bags And two barrels of scraps. I decided I'm not doing pads and rotors on a Camry and Tacoma after this today after all!

The second picture is how much of my lawn was left to mow when the Jerry can was empty and the mower suptteree out so I had to run out and fill the Jerry can for about 2 minutes left if mowing. Shenanigans.

@CTSpruceMica i sort of had a meadow going on

 

I just mowed the other day and it looks like I have lines of hay in my lawn

 

Yeaaaaah I bagged it this time. Raised the mower as high as it could go first without bagging. Then lowered it and mowed the other direction bagging.

I was tempted to toss it and let it dry out for a couple days first but just sucked it up.

3/10, can't wait for next year.

 

Honda FTW...we love ours

 

I didn't find my Mom's 2019 that much larger than her 2015, but the interior was MUCH nicer and the noise, etc better. I like the Subaru CVT better than the Nissan CVT she had before it. She's 81, so rearward visibility is a big deal for her and that's what the Subaru has in spades. It's not an "exciting" car, but it doesn't need to be. I completely echo the sentiment on the CX-5. When we had ours we originally assumed like nearly everyone that buys a CUV that we'd be CR-V / RAV. We went to the auto show and they had a driving event and we drove the 2016 CX-5 against the RAV and just found it a more enjoyable car to drive. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the RAV, it was my go-to recommendation for my MIL, but it just wasn't "us". When the Mazda tried driving on two wheels we got a really good settlement and tried the JGC since my wife wanted one since she was 16. It's been good for us, but she's always saying how much she missed the Mazda. I wouldn't be shocked if a CX-90 is high up on our list for the next go-round.

Mine's been flawless for nearly a decade. Regular service, good fuel and drive it.

EDIT:

Corvette is officially gone, cash deposited, title transferred. It was a beautiful day to take it up to NH I must say.

Time to start figuring out my budget for the next stupid adventure I'm 99.9% sure I know what I want, I just have to figure out how deep my pockets can be for it.