3rd Gen is the Most Reliable Model (So Far)?

If never seen this website referenced in discussions on Toyota's downward spiral on quality, and I thought I would share.

https://www.dashboard-light.com/vehicles/Toyota_Tacoma.html

The graph I find most interesting is this one:



Only goes to 2019, and its only drivetrain defects. Not sure where the data comes from though, but it seems believable.

 

Awesome! Everybody loves unvetted data sources!

 

I lost what little interest in potential credibility I had when I saw them claim that the Chevy SSR of all things is the most reliable compact pickup

 

It’s not a truck, it’s not a car. It’s a piece of

 

Well they only built 24k SSRs and they aren't exactly daily drivers so I guess I could see the numbers skewed that way.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2gr-fks-engine-problem-failure.774579/

 

Consider the source, or the lack thereof, but powertrain only doesn't really tell the tale either way.
Four recalls on my truck to date, and none of them powertrain related.

 

My dad drives a 2004 SSR and has owned it since new. I drive a 2020 TRD. We have the same miles on each truck (the SSR is truck).That SSR is cool for my 80 year old dad but it’s not reliable. He’s had problem after problem with it. At this point he’s got it mostly sorted but weird bugs still pop up.
All that to say, yeah nah. This report is bogus.

 

Maybe your dad has a jerk neighbor, who is secretly sabotaging his car?

It is hard to believe that the design team that created this masterpiece wasn't also using Mopar's top engineers to design the drivetrain?

 

You don't think everybody is hot for a short bed VW Beetle?

 

Yeah but tell me how many people bought an SSR pickup which I'd say is not a real truck you use to commute, run a small business with or actually haul anything with? This is a weekend show pony thing that did not sell like other mid size trucks in the market did... not credible

I would bet there are years of every one of the generations of tacoma that were more or less reliable than others. of course all vehices are like this the first year of a new version.

 

Isn't the SSR a TrailBlazer/Envoy platform? What's the rating on a GMC Envoy? The Buick version Enclave? Probably gets a better rating than the TB or Envoy because it's a Buick. SSR is an interesting truck, would be cool to cruise in when the weather is nice.

 

I know it's a hot turd... but I'd be all over a Plymouth Prowler to just cruise around in =) even with its anemic V6

 

yeah, the SSR is a trailblazer with a fancy body. It’s really not deserving of all the hate it gets but it’s 100% a 2 wheel drive truck. Honestly my dad gets a lot of people who praise his “cool car” and my dad loves the attention it brings. To each their own. Also the corvette V8 in sounds really cool every time.

 

Lots of options to swap that out these days, wouldn't be surprised if an LS7 swap is kit ready.

 

The website claims that their data comes from looking at and inspecting various used cars that go through auction.

https://www.dashboard-light.com/click-here-first/

I think/infer the reason why some of the older years have a higher defect ratio was due to typical issues older cars face as they age with wear and tear.

That being said, I won't discount the problems some Tacoma owners face, but I try not to be a doomer and hope my '22 turns out to be reliable.

 

At one time I totaled my motorcycle when someone just basically ran right into me in a round-a-bout no less ( long fun story )
and it was the only ride I had. My father had a 2001 POS Ford Taurus he gave me a dollar to drive it off his yard and it ran for
about 6 months before blowing up.

We were on the cusp of a cross-country-move and I needed a very short-term anything to drive for a few weeks and someone
sold me a PT-Cruiser, with a fking flame paint job mind you.... had to be on my best driving behavior in that thing it was the only
one for 1000 miles - anyway - what a TOTAL, 100% USDA GRADE-A CHOICE PIECE OF SH*T that thing was.

I put it out on CraigsList for sale, full disclosure about everything that didn't work and sucked. Some transfer student from the far-east
was begging me to sell it to him for his WIFE who was coming to America who had never driven before. I couldn't do it. No way in hell was
I going to sell that car to this person, for love of God and Country I just couldn't.

I did find some bloke who was totally on board with everything that was wrong with it, he just needed it to drive 5 miles each way to his
work place and back..... every time I see a PT Cruiser I feel sorry for whoever is driving it.

Looked kinda like this:

 

And yet, way back when the PT was "a thing" the ex wife just HAD to have one, so we bought a 2 year old used one that she had for probably 10 years. I cannot think of even ONE single mechanical issue it had at all during at least 120k miles of ownership. Go figure.

 

I want my 23' Tacoma to be like my first Toyota truck. 150,000 or so miles and never one, not even one mechanical issue. Just routine oil changes. I sold it after I picked up an F150, the A pillars had completely rusted out. We lived a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean and it parked outside. The windshield was cracked and no one would replace it because of the damaged A pillars.

The only picture I have of it, parked in front of the F150 a couple days before I sold the Toyota.