Family with 4th gen .. Question.

I remember seeing places that made Mega Cab Long Bed trucks. My goodness that thing was huge

 

We had a '24 Tacoma and now have a '22 DCLB for reasons unrelated to the backseat. Both rear seats are not the most roomy, but my 16 YO daughter (around 5' 4" tall) didn't like the '24 very much, as it didn't have much room between the back of the front seat and the edge of the seat bottom for the backseat. My wife would always have to scoot her seat forward a bit to give my daughter some extra space for her legs.
Daughter also didn't like the headrest as it pitched forward a bit. She has said that she likes the backseat of the '22 better, but its still not the roomiest option if you're using the truck as a regular family vehicle. We have a Passport that we take whenever the family goes out together.
My sons are grown and out of the house, but one was 6' 3" and the other was 6', and they would have never fit in the backseat of either Tacoma. Back then I had a full size crew cab truck.

 

I've seen a few I thought they came from the factory.

 

Man, I was literally in the same boat/dilemma as you. In a 23 Tundra I couldn’t trust with only 24k miles… I was intending to keep the truck 10+ years, but I wasn’t comfortable with that.

just last night I traded it in in a 25 Tacoma TRD Off Road Hybrid.

while the truck isn’t my family vehicle, I have 5 kids so passenger comfort is important to me. I’m 6’ and 175 lbs. I positioned my front seat to fit me, then climbed in the back behind it. I was not uncomfortable. Again, I’m not hauling everyone in vacation in this thing, so not super long hauls, but I think 2+2 would be easily doable for my family. A smaller/younger kid could fit in the middle, but they’d all be bickering soon.

make no mistake it’s smaller than the tundra inside…. But to me, it was okay.

 

If I'm questioning the Tundras reliability after driving it for two years and it's only the Tundras 4th year in production? I'm not going to have a whole lot of confidence in another Toyota truck when that truck hasn't been in production as long.

 

To me the point of crazy in what many question is exposing a lot of people with poor educational attainment or have some aptitude issues - the not understanding statistics basics and poor news or reading habits. The Tacoma absolutely but also the Tundra are high volume vehicles. Official complaints and recall info is very much available. Sources like CU and JD Power do surveys with methods. Toyota is good with tracking VINs and customers. Even new gen Tacoma in its first year outsold all of the direct competitors.

It appears all new vehicles have been rolling out with about 2.5% having warranty and recall issues. A whole lot of people react to some problems not 1% or barely more or known and contained problems as if they were 50% of the production.

Now my cousin who managed large dealer chain warranty, recall and labor reimbursement across brands is 1/2 a year retired but it was still fairly recent when he pointed out that Toyotas, Subarus and Hondas where what to get in more than a dozen if you hold concerns for quality and being taken care of if there are problems.

My closest and servicing dealer is now owned by new firm with many brands. The woman who made my today appointment for service while looking if she could do the brake recall said if Toyota's slipped to which she feels know, they'd be her choice having done same job at their Stellantis, GM, Ford and European make stores.

 

I know if I was disappointed to the point of dumping my Tundra I'd be hesitant to buy another Toyota. Statistics and questionable quality or reliability from other brands wouldn't make a difference. I'd probably get a 4G as my next truck but I'm not coming from being disappointed with another Toyota product. It's damn near impossible to look at any vehicle from any manufacturer and think about long term durability everything is pretty bad today. What will break the least is the best you can hope for. Ford has had a huge amount of recalls this year. I'm sure what ever new vehicle I purchase next will have the least amount of features and options possible.

 

I’ve been a Toyota & Subaru guy most of my adult life, haven’t been let down yet. But this 3rd Gen Tundra is one I think they screwed the pooch on…. Something is amiss with the design and/or engine components.
My personal decision was that I would feel better driving Tacoma than what I equated to rolling the dice on continuing with that Tundra.
Tacoma checks all my boxes, it’s not as big that’s true, but I can still transport passengers comfortably for my needs, and I can still sling dead deer in the bed, so it’s big enough. It will get better gas mileage, I was able to get into it with 100k mile warranty, it’s brand new, and my payment is less because I made out pretty good in price and trade.
I’m pretty happy.