Longtime Tacoma owner just spent a week with a 4th gen.

I've owned all 3 gens, 97 1st gen, 2011 2nd gen and I have owned a 2017 3rd gen for almost 6 years. Each one of these vehicles I bought new and owned for many years. Just got back from Atlanta and had a white Tacoma TRD offroad 4x4 as a rental. Here are my thoughts. It was a non-premium - so smaller screen, no heated seats, a simple backup camera, no rear slider, and no power outlet in the bed.
1. Engine and Trans - Big improvement. Never felt it lacked power or hunted for gears. Truck easily held 75mph on the highway. Had no problem getting up and going on all the side streets. I didn't even notice the transmission. It sounds like a small diesel but sometimes you get a bit of turbo spool sound which reminds me a bit of the older domestic turbo diesels.
2. Seating position - much improved. Seats are more bolstered than all prior generations. more legroom and more headroom. The back seat seems about the same as my previous 3rd gen. I liked the interior door design overall and layout of the interior, with the exception, of the hard plastic on the high belt line doors where I usually rest my arm. Significantly less comfortable than my 2017. Toyota needs to correct this.
3. Headlights are much better than my 2017.
4. Lack of rear sliding window initially bothered me but I was surprised how much better rear visibility was and I don't think I would miss this feature as much as I thought I would.
5. Truck is still hard to see over the front hood - similar to my 3rd gen. Difficult to gauge distance or see objects directly in front of the truck without a camera. The upgraded packages with the additional cameras would really help here.
6. Larger turning radius was obvious compared to my 3rd gen. Even misjudged turning it into parking spots a few times. This will improve as you get used to it but makes it more difficult on tight off-road trails that I drive in Colorado and Utah.
7. MPG - around town, it was sitting around 18mpg but on the highway, it was close to 22. City driving - expect below 20. Highway mpg should be better than 3rd gen but the smaller tank and less range was evident. Even full it reads lower than my 3rd gen. As with any turbo, the more you are in boost, the lower your mpg. Truck was still very new and I know this will improve over time. my limited numbers should be taken with a grain of salt as this will vary dramatically depending on the driver and location.
8. Ride - Seemed great but hard to say for sure, as my 2017 is upgraded with the 6112/5160s and upgraded leafs. It did seem slightly more well-mannered than mine, especially in the rear.
9. Value: This is a tough one. I have a similar equipped 2017 that I bought new at 36K. I see improvements but some cuts in options if you don't go for the premium options that push this truck to 55K+.

After spending a week with this truck, I feel Toyota and the engineers fixed a lot of the main issues with the 3rd gen with a few steps back. If I were in the market for a 4th gen, this might be the package I would go with. I would add a front camera via aftermarket and I would miss the heated seats but I am not sure I would be willing to pay a $10K premium above $45K to get those added options.

 

That’s a great write up. Thanks for taking the time to give an honest review instead of just bashing the new shiny thing that looks different.

 

That same 2017 truck, no changes, would be 47k today.

 

That's great info - I knew even the 2023 3rd gen was getting well into the 40's but it's good to see it laid out like this. I think I spent $24K on my 1st gen, around $30-31K on my 2nd gen. I would struggle to spend $60K plus on one of these fully loaded and would probably opt for a lower optioned one like above.

 

I could not stand the halogen headlights in the 2017. I wish 2024 Tacoma mpg was better.

Good write-up.

 

Inflation, profit gouging, or both, the new trucks are not worth the MSRP cost, especially if you have a reliable 3rd gen. Maybe in a year if/when dealer lots swell, more appropriate purchase prices will be seen.

 

Once the hybrids are out, and the lots fill, I fully expect to see 10+ percent off MSRP discounts return.

 

I still don't know how this one ended up in a rental fleet.

 

Sounds about the same thoughts as me.
Plus, I hate the stupid third brake light mullet, and the porthole style rear window is not my style.
Neither are deal breakers, I wouldn't think, if I ever reach that point.
I think the new tacos are maybe in the top 5. I'd probably be in a Frontier or Ranger before a new Tacoma, and cost vs reliability is part of it (the new rangers and frontiers are also killing it, and cheaper, so...)

I like the halogen lights because I like to put yellow/amber lights in for the winter snow. Plus the harsh white of the LED makes my eyes tired on longer road-trip drives, so the warmer amber/white H9 swap lights is great.

That's to April 2024, but if you look at a new 2023 TRD OR they're going for/were going for 41-42ish, maybe up toward 43-45 in some parts of the country/optioned up. So that was a "normal, inflation related" price increase. I am finding a few TRD OR on Autotrader going for 44-45 without much effort/digging into prices/trends/sold values. So, maybe they're a bit on the higher end right now since it's new/new/new, but like to like from 2017 to 2024 they're pretty similar in pricing accounting for inflation.

 

I get 21 mpg in town and 27 mpg on the highway.24 off road premium

 

I've been getting 25 or very close to it with every fill up on mine. No interstate though, mostly rural routes.

 

Are you logging your fill-ups at fuelly.com? There isn’t enough data there yet…

 

Nah, I'm gonna get to the point where I won't track my mileage. That whole fuelly thing is way too much work

 

great write up, but just FYI you can heated seats/wheel on the upgrade package with the rear window. So you can atleast save 5k lol

 

Then people won’t believe you get 25mpg.

 

People wouldn't believe it anyways as it's the "evil unreliable turbo 4 cylinder"

 

Good point.

 

In addition to inflation and PPP, light trucks also trend toward increasing prices over time. Just eyeballing the graph, it looks to be a around 1% per year. So that 2017 for $36k would be about $50k in 2024 just keeping up with segment trends.

 

That seems about right considering you can get a TRD OR with upgrade package for around 47-48k if you shop around

 

Good to know! I got my 22' and was considering waiting for the 24' but in the end glad to have waited! I'll let them iron out a few years of 4th gen before I take the plunge!