Vehicle Comparisons: Tacoma vs. The World

Hello folks. First thread I've started here, and my second post. I'm a verteran of other car/vehicle forums, but this is my first and ONLY Tacoma forum.

I'm looking into getting a 2nd Gen Tacoma Off-road, 4x4, rear lockers... the works. Always been a fan of the Tacoma, but have been involved in modern muscle cars since I've been able to afford nice vehicles. Never owned a 4x4... but that's gonna change. I grew tired of the "mine's more powerful than yours" dilemma in muscle car realms.

Anyway, I know the quality of the Tacoma and its general abilities, but I'm new to off road and trucks, so I have a few questions... please help me out here.

Ok. The Tacoma has an open front diff... why is this? I'd think that for off roading purposes, a controllable e-locker or similar would be better? Am I wrong? What benefits does an open diff have over others at low or higher speed off roading?

Now for the comparison: What other trucks offer the same off-road abilities as the Tacoma? What, if anything, makes the Tacoma special off road when compared to other 4x4 pickups? Is it the rear locker? I'd assume other manufacturers have rear lockers as well?

What sets the Tacoma apart from the crowd off-road? I know its capable, but what makes it different?

Thanks!

 

Is it my imagination or does the stock wrangler 4X have really low ground clearance and terrible wheels/tires.

It seems like the stock Tacoma sits higher? Ride height isn't everything of course but I wonder stock vs stock what the capabilities would pan out to be.

 

It's called marketing. Check the Jeep website and see how many thousands of dollars in upgrades you can buy for the Jeeps.

 

Thank you. I didn't know the OR 4x4 Taco had ATRAC... I told you I'm ignorant!

 

I get it, fully understand marketing and all of the add-ons for jeep. Out of the box stock, I really wonder if the Jeep has that big of an advantage .. if any.

 

The average Joe will be just fine with 09 Atrac equipped 4x4 TRD off road Tacoma. It will go almost anywhere. Front locker is usefull only in extreme off road situations.

Hell I took my base 2wd Tacoma with open diff off road and it did just fine. Yes I had to go little faster to get through stuff but that's what 2wd Truck have to do, keep momentum. Once you start crawling in 2wd truck you get stuck.

That said, yes the Wranglers have awesome suspension setup for off road. Solid front axle, the works. I put a lift on 4x4 wrangler so I was able to see the suspension setup up close. However the owner of the wrangler mentioned that even though the Jeep is awesome off road, the ride quality sucks on the pavement especially on long trips.

 

The Tacoma has very little competition for pickup trucks its size. 4Runners, FJ Cruisers and (dare I put them in the same sentence) Nissan Frontiers and Xterras are really the only other vehicles comparable in off road capability and daily-driver quality.

 

Short wheel base and solid axles in my opinion would make the Jeep more capable out of the box. The Tacoma is a good compromise because it's comfortable to drive on the street and is good off road. The Jeep's short wheel base sucks for long road trips.

 

I'd take a truck simply for the option to have a bed.

 

Base equipped tacoma 4x4 can go through quite a bit, even with a 4cly.
The more featured versions, off road, must be even more capable.

The rougher the terrain I go through the more I worry about scratching it or breaking something. Each owner has to decide how much capability is enough.

I read through tacomaworld to see what others have done to increase the capabilities of their trucks (a lift and more aggressive tires might be in my future). Our truck are quite capable, have a nice ride and rate better than most, if not all, on reliability and usable life.

 

Good info folks! Thanks!

So does the ATRAC make the Taco more capable off road than the Frontier? Like what sets the Taco apart?

 

It's not a Frontier

A good portion of Frontier owners admit they would be driving a Tacoma if they weren't so expensive.

 

If I break it great! Then I can say to my wife, see honey this is why I need to trade my truck in and get a 4x4

After I lifted my truck, my wife didnt see the need for me to get new tires, so I went off road and destroyed the stock Grandcraps, so I had an excuse to get the tires I wanted...LOL

 

*side note: so just how bad are the stock tires on a TRD OR 4x4? I know folks like the BFG AT KO...

 

They are bad. Borderline useless.

 

the tacoma is a very capable truck (even stock). i am impressed with what it can do.

i have the 4x4 off road version and i have yet to actually need to use the rear locker, but i have used the ATRAC a few times (it suprisingly makes a huge difference).

it sounds like you might be the kind of person who mods his vehicles? if so, then you will no doubt be lifting the truck if you bought one. you can check out the "off roading and trails" forum on this site to see the places that people have taken these trucks.

here is where several of us went last weekend:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/off-roading-trails/167259-co-offroad-trip-5-tons-pics-video.html

ohh.. and ya, the stock tires pretty much suck for off-road, but they are better than a regular street/passanger tire.

 

You think the All terrains are bad???? I have them on and the rear 2 are bald but yet I can keep up with my friends ranger who has brand new MUD tires on. BFG's are not bad....

 

Rugged Trails (Fails), which come on the stock TRD OR are terrible, All Terrian TA KO are good. (although in my own opinion very overrated with a certain "Fanboy" appeal.)

Tons of AT tires rated higher than the BFG, all usually much less money.

Falken High Country
Toyo AT
Hankook
Yokohama
Coopers
...
...

 

Resale and reliability

 

I ONCE liked modding... ONCE being the operative term! LOL