Decisions, decisions...

Even with all the online complainers, every person I talk to that sold their 3rd Gen regrets it. Just a friendly warning if you are thinking about letting your 3rd Gen go.

 

I had pen in hand and was just about to sign the paperwork to trade mine in when i saw this post and changed my mind.

 

So now 3rd gen is the best gen? Got it. I had been hearing it was 4th or 2nd, and even 1st. No word on 5th gens yet tho...

 

My third gen was pretty good. Had some issues but I should have kept it. If it had the 4.0 in it, I would have never sold it. I’m in a 4runner. I have no complaints

 

Timing is everything! You're welcome!

 

We wont miss working on them under warranty lol

 

What about job security?

 

I regret selling my Flobee.

 

The rear coolant cross pipe sucked, the timing covers suck, the rack and pinions suck. All of them arent worth the labor.

 

I think I read somewhere that about 700,000 were sold every year 2016-2023. I wonder how many will actually have any of these issues.

 

Its common for any toyota to leak from the timing cover, the problem with tacoma is it sucked to replace, along with the cross pipe and steering rack.

I'd rather re-seal a timing cover on any other model, including 5.7 tundra. Havent seen a 3.4 tundra leak yet.

Tacoma was difficult because of the generational face lift on the same frame/chassis. 4.0 tacoma was super easy to work on.

 

According to sales, 3rd gen is the best gen so far. 4th gen just came out so need to wait 5-6 years and see.

3rd gen tacos each month from 2016-2023 were sold more than 2nd gen, and hitting larger numbers. Now this might be because during 1st gen and 2nd gen internet, youtube and all that wasn't that widespread, or it might be because people weren't so trendy about cosmetics and getting new trucks.

However , overall there were over 1 Million 3rd gen tacomas sold. That number is larger than all midsize trucks combined together. Its obvious, it is the best gen. Its old school , simple but very capable truck with V6, and hot looks. What's not to like?

I personally liked 2nd gen but sadly never got to buy it fresh, it looked smaller and somehow toy like, i found that cool.

As for worst first year its 4th gen, the sales are almost half compared to each gen first year.

 

Now the 4th Gens have a Stop Sale because of the rear brake lines.

https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-recalls-certain-2024-2025my-toyota-tacoma-4-wheel-drive-trucks/

 

The V6. Real trucks come with either a straight 6 or V8

There are mitigating factors for that, though. Mainly, Toyota didn't even start delivering 4th gens until halfway through the model year. I think it's still too soon to try and categorize the 4th gen as some kind of failure of step backwards.

I had one as a loaner over the summer. It legitimately feels like the line jumped 2 generations with this update in terms of features and general interior comfort/appointments. I don't have that much money to spend on a truck, and I don't like how it got bigger than the already large 3rd gen, so I'm not sure if I'd buy one. But it's objectively a very nice vehicle.

 

I also had a $th Gen loaner over summer, it was fully loaded hybrid model. When I got back into my truck I preferred the 3rd Gen interior better to the $th Gen.

 

I preferred mine, too, but mostly because I'm not huge on automatics. I'd have to drive a stick 4th gen for a 1:1 comparison, though I was suprised by how close I was otherwise. My loaner was a loaded gasser TRD OR and my truck is a stripper TRD OR.

I found everything in the 4th gen more comfortable bar the steering wheel. The 4th gen steering wheel has this awful hard plastic trim piece in the middle of your grip. I personally found that to be a dealbreaker. I'd expect it to change at some point. The seat's though? Ohh man it was a huge reminder of how unsupportive the 3rd gen's seats are. I'm shocked they never got a real update. If it wasn't for the side-impact airbags I would've replaced my truck's seats a year ago with something out of a junkyard Rav or something.

 

I think all Tacoma's are great in each their own way and I have had several Tacoma's since 2004. With the $th Gen I just didn't like the way the whole hood would shake even at slow speeds. I also didn't appreciate the whining noise of the engine.

 

Yeah I didn't like the hood much either, But more so for how hard it is to see over. I've driven a lot of shitboxes and sports cars. A vibrating hood doesn't personally bother me, but yeah, the fact that I compared the hood to a 90's shit box Nissan should say something on its own.

4 poppers almost always sound like garbage. But so do V6s, so it's a lateral move in my eyes.

 

So it goes 1st gen, best gen, turd gen and $gen?

 

Aside from money, I would absolutely not regret anything about ditching my 3rd gen. Honestly only got it because it was the only mediocre option at the time that sort of offered what I wanted.