Identity crisis

What if the 4th gen Tacoma was a Nissan? Would your opinion of the 4th generation Tacoma was a Nissan product, everything about the truck would be exactly the same except that it was produced in a Nissan factory and had a Nissan emblem on the grille?

My opinion would be the same. With the only difference being the price would be to high for a Nissan product.


Why would I ask such a dumb question? The 2025 Camry commercial with the red & black exterior red leather seats. I 'm looking at that Camry which looks like a nice car. I see a faint resemblance to the Scion TC lines. I also notice the Camry looks almost like a Nissan Altima, I think it's mostly the wheels. I don't believe the 25 Camry is all new, but newer generation Toyotas look more like the current crop of vehicles from other manufacturers.

 

Yes agreed. One of the main reasons I chose the Tacoma. When pricing all the mid size trucks with the exact same options they all get within less than $1000 of each other. All others will not hold their value even close to Toyota so in theory the Toyota is actually cheaper. All the others were nice in their own way. Since I wanted new they I had to take into consideration resale as I won't keep it more than 4 years.

Also on your Camry comment. We own 24 that we bought late in the year as the new ones were just starting to roll out and the deal was good. The Camry is a great car. HOWEVER if you are going to use the Camry for long road trips, go drive one. Unless they changed the seats considerably in the 25 the Camry seats SUCK and are not that comfy.

 

All I know is that most people that throw shade at the new frontier have never driven one or owned one.

 

The '25 Camry is definitely not "new" despite what they're telling us. Besides the front end and rear end changing lines a little bit the rest of the car is exactly like our '23. The doors and cabin are the exact same shape. It's what Toyota does.

 

I thought the 25 was a heavy refresh, I prefer the looks of the out going Camry. I don't dislike the restyle, the front bumper is odd very Lexus like similar to the new RX. Camry and Altima have also been two of the most similar cars on the market, probably two of the most cross shopped vehicles out there.

With the Crown growing in popularity I wonder if that will replace the Camry after this refresh. I can't see the current platorm getting another refresh, and Toyota has a lot of market overlap which does not seem to hurt them in sales. The Crown platform can replace a lot of Toyota's current line up. I still wouldn't mind having a Lexus IS or an ES for that matter, a decent discount would probably sell me on the IS.

 

IMO they're shooting themselves in the foot by not offering a less expensive non-hybrid option. I know it's all for the sake of MPG's, but I can still manage 40mpg on ours with just the 2.5L. The little details they've cheapened out on the new gen is very obvious to me.

 

We tested the Nissan, Ranger & Colorado. Also full and mini sizes. Nissan has a long bed so not the silly to me as others, but it is not as nice to be in nor does it have the top pick safety rating or turbo advantages. A different vehicle much like a gen 4 long bed would have been considered.

 

Hybrid only on the Camry is puzzling, does Toyota think people will just buy it anyway or move over to a Corolla?

I was looking at IS no deals that I'm seeing. I forgot about about the IS 500, looking at that hybrid Camry turned into me wanting a $68k car.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/0c25b34d-7a4f-44e0-b79e-92c719ecfe4a/

 

I think the 13K difference in starting price from the Crown to the Camry separates it pretty well, and puts the Crown in no danger of replacing the Camry in the lineup. If the Crown replaced the Camry do you propose that they can drop the price 13K to fill the gap the Camry sits in...Toyota might have some market overlap, but the Camry and Crown is not it.

 

Never looked at the price difference. More of a will Toyota design a next gen Camry, or go with something from the Crown line up to replace it? Crown platform seems versatile for sedan and CUV duty. Toyota could simply sell the existing Crown to replace the Camry or downsize a new vehicle on the Crown platform. The Crown platform could support a unibody truck.

 

Would they offer less expensive than the previous generation, the previous generation Camry starting price was $27,415 the 2025 is $28,400 which is a hybrid. The previous generation Hybrid starting price was $28,080. Seems like they kept the pricing pretty in line, or at least did a better job than they did with the truck increases.

 

The Crown CUV is the Signia, which is replacing the Venza along with an almost 10K price difference between the two. The Venza is one of the most overlooked bargains in their line up.

How would they just "sell the existing Crown to replace the Camry" when the price difference is so great and they would still have a hole in the lineup.

 

If I needed a small work truck, and I was on a tight budget, I would absolutely pick a 2nd gen Frontier. They've been dead simple and unchanged for almost 20 years, so there is a wide range of available models out there. Had one as a rental for a week on vacation once, since I needed 4wd for part of the trip (not off-roading, just a park that required you to have 4wd).

However, they are pretty tight inside (even the double cab), and the ride is pretty harsh, very similar to the old Ranger (to me). Interior looks like it was designed in like 2000, too. Ours was a rental, so rough miles I'm sure, but it was 2 years / 20,000 miles old, going on 10 years, based on the squeaks and rattles.

 

I never understood the Camry. There are nicer cars that are better equipped at the same price point.

 

Reliability. People have always been willing to pay more for less features because of the Toyota name (not people like my siblings, who shop features, but there are definitely plenty of people out there).

The Tacoma was actually better than other compact / midsize truck offerings, but it was priced like a full-size, so it was like paying the same (or more) for a basic, smaller pickup.

 

Then it would not have the resale value and would be–according to the data obtained from J.D. Powers–#14 for vehicle dependability vs #1 with Toytoa (and Lexus).

 

Do they have the same reliability? With Camry and Accord buyers that has traditionally driven the choice, similar to the Corolla and Civic buyer.

I just bought a Corolla hybrid for the kid and reliability and longevity etc was the #1 driver of that purchase since they put a lot of miles on a car. The only cars I cross shopped were the Civic and Mazda 3.

 

I don't think pricing is that important to the manufacture. Toyota does not care if a Camry buyer can afford a Crown. Price is more important to the buyer. If I'm price shopping a Camry, why wouldn't I considercthe Altima if I don't care about resale?

4G Tacoma is right up there with F-150 pricing if you are shopping what's on the lot.

Venza is nice I don't like the rear lamps, the turn signals are in the bumper not the tailights. I don't like when any manufacture does this. It's less safe, and looks cheap IMO. Design some NA taillamps.

 

What is J.D. saying about the 4G Tacoma?