Consumer Reports 2013 auto issue=has Taco #3

So it looks like to me CR has left a loaf in the rack..Picked up the rag to look at new trucks...Here gos' Honda ridgeiine #1 (Best buy) I was always thinking it was a yuppy wheelbarrow ...#2.Nissan frontier se v6 (Also a best buy)....#3 Tacoma Not a best buy,, ..They said--"This workhorse has a punchy engine thats great for hauling.but it feels dated and uncomfortable for everyday driving. with clumsy handling and rough ride" With all this and the highest price they feel its no longer a best buy.. They also say do not buy a 4 cyl 4x4 (Tacoma) == (Under used,, to not buy) Side note the Tundra is the (best buy) of the full size trucks.. Jim

 

Consumer reports has some biased articles. Anything they publish I brush off.

 

Ya got any evidence to back this up?
CR buys all their vehicles and doesn't allow advertising. Don't get why you think they are biased.

 

CR has always had some good read for me. They bash any and all if its needed. Guess CR will not be all over Toyota showrooms now.

 

I hope Toyota listens. If they put the interior from my buddy's new F150 FX4 in my Tacoma, I'd be elated. That thing is a limousine inside.

But I bought my tacoma because I want to drive it for 10 years and put 150,000 miles on it without worrying about the engine falling out, and then I want to go sell it for $12K to someone else who's going to put another 150,000 miles on it. Creature comforts are secondary to me.

 

The position in the comparison depends on the crieteria used.

many times there will be 3 to 5 performance/features studied...and points given in each area. then, the vehicle with the highest accumulative total is ranked #1...etc...

These comparisions need to be seen in entirety...and context, to be fully understood. For that reason, I personally don't put much faith in a headline from them.

 

Take CR at face value, their pickup standards seem the same test as a corolla or a caddy...on road only. Things like a quiet ride & smoothness over minor bumps is the focus. They usually do ok there.

My favorite tests though, are 20 degrees , icy road , and 2-4" over that. People get really pissed when my 2.7 and snow tires pass their laden suv and accelerate as well. Also the narrow road + brush test where full sizes get pissed when sticks rub the truck, narrow switchbacks too, where a full size has to back up to negotiate.

 

I just read the CR reviews last night myself. Couple things, my taco is not a V6 nor a "full size" one either. Mine is also a 2012 and not a 2013 - although the differences between the model years is very little.

So disclaimers aside, I think CR's review was bullshit and I'm a loyal reader. Rating the Tacoma a 50/100 leads me to believe Toyota gave them a dud to test or something else happened. Scores that low are reserved for POS brands like Dodge - this year their vehicles averaged 46. The Honda Ridgeline is not a truck, but has no other category to fit in, so I'm OK with it rating higher - however not the Frontier. If it is truly better than a Tacoma, something is very wrong.

 

Agreed, I watched many reviews by a number of different sources before I bought mine. Many rated the truck down because it looked dated, instruments not up to date and mushy or hard ride.

Coming from a '95 GMC, everything looked updated to me. I have a few things wish could be better, or different, but when I read articles I give pause to items of concern and check myself.

I am happy with mine, and after having cars for 50 years, not one was perfect.

 

Don't look at the standings as 1, 2, or 3, look at overall test standings. Consumer reports said a few years back that the Ridgeline was the best truck for people who really wanted a car. My brother in law has a Frontier, and it's a great truck. But it's crazy expesive for what you get, drinks gasoline for the same horsepower, and is utterly disolving in the NY road salt. I still say Tacoma wins.

 

If only this were true. Most if not all of foreign auto makers plants are in right to work states.

 

Agreed. The "domestic" motor corps. are stepping up their game and Toyota is lagging behind with the Tacoma as if it were the afterthought of the entire company.

 

I agree the Tacoma's platform is dated. I wonder if they are simply amortizing their tooling costs down while waiting for the new Canyon or F100 to launch. No significant improvements have been announced.

The new full sizers offer equal or better fuel mileage. What they sorely need is a turbo diesel variant. I didn't buy mine for a nice ride or bells and whistles. I'll get a fancy car for that. It has been dead solid reliable after 130k miles.

If they launch a new diesel I'll be at the head of the line.

 

When i think of toyota and the tacoma..the phrase "if it ain't broke..don't fix it" comes to mind. Every year it seems something new is coming out for dodge, ford, and the rest..but with that comes problems..toyota is smart for improving an engine and STAYING with it cause it is reliable. It may be older than the others..but it will outlast them. Sadly, most of humanity doesn't care about that kind of thought anymore..they want the newest of the new crap. Lol (The ONLY thing i wish toyota would do is put dual VVT like the 4runner)

 

The Honda Ridgeline top reted?? This is an upsized civic not a truck. I rarely agree with CR myself. Biased is not neccesarily a plotted evil thing, CR just likes cushy riding vehicles that have mulitple cup holders and value MPG over the things that make a vehicle worth owning for over 100,000 miles. My personal "bias" is different is all. So yeah, CR is worthless to me.

 

IMO, CR is jaded toward the religion of "green environmentalism". I've read CR for years and they really don't like trucks unless they have to. I trust Car and Drive or Motortrend over CR. I really only look at CR for reliability ratings. Thanks to this site I know that the bad climate control rating is probably for a chirping fan. This is an easy fix.

In the current magazine they make a judgement call thinking everyone wants a truck that rides like a big cushy car but handles like a sports car. This is why they picked the Honda as number 1. I think Honda's are great but they are NOT trucks with strong ladder frames built for off-roading and towing. A unibody truck will ride better on pavement over a ladder frame but that's not what I want. (Even CR is bipolar. They gave the Tacoma bad reviews for "clumsy handing". Look on page 38 and they have "handling" listed as a "High" and then again listing "handling" as a "Lows" right next to each other. Which is it CR?)

I admit that the current model is aging but then again I have always said trucks age better than cars. An 10 year old truck is still cool where a 10 year old car, generally speaking, is a little bland. But that doesn't fly with CR since as stated above, CR doesn't like trucks.

My rant.

 

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I like C/R ... but C/R also rates Dyson vacuums and Sleep Number beds low ... ... and those 2 are the best in my book. ...
.

 

The Tacoma platform is dated.

I wish it were more dated. (manual hubs, manual t-case, vinyl floors).

Toyota has done what it can to keep the Taco a truck, but the market demands ever more car-like comfort and complexity out of trucks. I fear they'll eventually be forced to respond.

Consumer Reports rates things for suburban moms and their emasculated husbands because that's who reads the thing. They're a good publication, you just gotta know exactly what they're rating.

 

I think it's worth pointing out here that Toyota factories are not unionized, and that the reason Japanese vehicles cost more now is because of the weakness of the dollar and the strength of the yen. Exchange rates, in other words.

So please, in the future, know what you're talking about in this regard:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/11/toyota-escapes-strong-yen-shifts-production-to-europe/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/11/weak-yen-spells-big-trouble-for-toyota/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/05/strong-yen-drives-japanese-auto-makers-out-of-the-country/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...overnment-if-the-yen-gets-any-stronger-we-go/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/08/mazda-is-cooking-with-gas-hates-the-strong-yen/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/09/japanese-auto-lobby-wants-yen-intervention/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/05/nissans-ghosn-worried-about-power-the-power-of-the-yen/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/12/the-exodus-from-japan-begins-in-earnest/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/10/japanese-auto-industry-we’re-outta-here/

And so forth and so on.

This is the reason Hyundai is a great deal these days. The Korean Won is at a very favorable exchange rate right now, so Kia/Hyundai can afford to sell you $30,000 worth of car for $23,000 and still make a profit.

This is basically what the Japanese did in the 80s, but no longer can do because, as J.R.R. Tolkien put it, "the world has changed".

 

^What this chump said.

The truck really hasn't changed since 2005. It is dated. The door lock buttons are the same as they were on the previous generation for christs sake. However, as has been said. If it ain't broke...why reinvent the wheel? There's a reason Toyota's last so long. They don't make things more complicated than they need to be (KISS principle), and when they make a good thing, they stick with it. Tacoma's still sell like Hotcakes regardless what CR says.