Be Real, Tacoma underpowered?

Mine is a straight highway cruiser and it chugs along great through anything in it's way. I'm very happy with the 22-24+ mpg I get considering the lift and the more aggressive all terrains on it's plus the all steel front skid and tcase skid.

I pulled out that stupid charcoal filter and needless to say I don't gear hunt anywhere near as much anymore. I feel this thing has plenty of balls.

Just to give you an example, for shits and gigs I raced my buddy who has a 2012 V8 Ram 1500 with 400HP once, while he beat me in the long stretch I was surprised that this beast gave his a run for his money and was actually right on him the entire time up until we both hit top gears. Pretty good for a "underpowered" V6! People discredit the power on these quickly and refer to them as babytrucks and all that but these things will get you for sure. Especially in the off-road scene, these dominate!

 

Same here, previous few rides had SOO much more power that it seems gutless by comparison. Again, yeh its a small truck. I don't want a bigger truck and it's the best in the segment.

Still, as much as I bag on Chrysler, the hemi in my 2012 grand Cherokee overland had 360 hp which hauled ASS and gave me the same or better gas mileage on a ~500lb heavier vehicle.

 

Hrm, next mod maybe the charcoal delete. Offroad these are great, no doubt and I like trucks that fit in parking spaces.

 

Interesting.. I would have thought it would breath better.

Thanks Chris!

 

*peace















hehehehe

 

I love how I can make it fit in small parking spaces, even in a long bed config!

Not true. Before the filter was removed I had to consistently downshift to to D4 in order to maintain speed going uphill. After removing the filter I can now make it up my usual uphill commute back home without ever touching the shifter. Leaving it in D5 wherever and whenever.

It does breathe better. Try it, you have nothing to lose!

 

There is no way there is a placebo effect going on. Airflow has to pass through two filters before it can reach the combustion chamber, in all reality that should be restrictive as Hell. How is it that when driving before the engine felt strained going up grades then pulling off that second filter removes that strain?

 

That makes sense, given the fact that the dealer was doing all the work on this truck prior to me getting sick of that and starting to do my own work. Changing over from 87 to 91 octane made a big difference as well, all the nasty knocking and pinging this engine once had when I would punch it disappeared.

 

I like the "air filter change" indicators on the GM trucks.
Had one under the hood on my '06 Duramax, and had one on the dash of my C7500 work truck.

It's like a "pacifier" that plugs into the intake after the filter. As the filter gets dirty, the indicator moves off of the bottom pin, and eventually moves into the yellow, then the red.

I used to rev the piss out of that Duramax... a little more WOT than was good for it... and in 45k that indicator never budged.

 

I don't see how some think the 4.0 is under powered... It's a great motor, every 2nd gen I've driven has pretty damned good power thru out the range.. Wish i had it instead of the 3.4, 4.0 has more HP/performance & gets better gas mileage than the 3.4...

Plus I'll say some have unrealistic expectations meaning you don't buy a 6cyl. & expect 8cyl. performance/capabilities

 

With 4 cyl mileage.

 

I must have missed this part.

 

2nd gen has a healthy powerplant, but for the 3rd gen having Gasoline Direct Injection, standard supercharger for the V6 , diesel option, and a 6 speed auto would be a good step forward.

 

standard supercharger? price tag just hit 40k lol. its now in tundra territory and will now be eating into its own demographic pie.

 

GOD no lol