No more regular cabs

The regular cab eats up Toyota's profit margin like no tomorrow. They make all they're money selling TRD Double Cabs and Off-Road packages. $1000 in extra costs for $9000 in extra profit. I bet some bean counters are already waiving the increased profits on Tacoma sales to there bosses after this move. I also would guess the only reason they stuck around this long was because of the disappearance of the cheap Rangers a few years ago. All those guys looking for dirt cheap 4x4's switched to Taco's, and now that they have there's no point in targeting that market since it doesn't make much cash for Toyota. All the Napa's here that used to have rangers now have Jeep Patriots , so no market for cheap regular cabs there either.

I always thought the mark up on midsize trucks between cabs was outright theft. For a full sized truck on our fleet order program I can buy a Ford full cab for about $900 over a regular cab. Good luck finding that deal on the Tacoma.

 

I bought a 94 Toyota pickup, short bed, single cab, 14" wheels, options included a rear bumper, sliding back window and AC, and it 9,999 plus tax and title. I drove it until 06, with 217k miles on it. I think five year of dallas traffic commuting with a five speed killed the transmission, but the clutch was original when I sold it...

The cheap, basic transportation option has gone to the Kia's I think...

 

I rushed to get the last regular cab 4x4 once I heard this was happening too! However now you'll find there are 2015 access cabs with stripped back seats for the same price as the 2014's regular cabs. Very interesting...

I just hit 700 miles and my second fill up yesterday! Smiling the whole way.

 

I agree. My 14 4x4 auto was a little over 23 OTD and I bought it when I had actually gone in to look at a used reg cab listed for 20k. 23 ain't too bad until I started seeing what I couldve gotten comparably in the new colorado or a v6 frontier access cab. Oh well. Love my reg cab. The CAFE and EPA stuff is awful. It killed the FJ, will probably end up killing Jeep, Xterra, and possibly the whole midsize truck market eventually.

 

Optimizing manufacturing cost is an interesting problem.

You need a little more steel for a stripped out access cab, but you make it back up in decreased labor costs by having your manufacturing line never have to change to handle the shorter 'weird' regular cab chassis or regular cab "cab" - so you can build more trucks in the same amount of time using the same space.

I still wish they would have solved the "footprint" problem by supplying a regular cab with a seven foot bed. If my truck has to be that long anyway, I'd much rather have more bed space than behind the seat space.

 

Regular cab 4x4's are the best looking config for a Tacoma IMHO. Followed by A/C and then the ugly, ugly D/C. Just kidding, they are all great looking, but if space is no issue, the R/C is awesome looking.

 

It appears the 2015 stripped model MSRP is still about $1000 over the base 2014 regular cab.

Used http://www.toyota.com/configurator :

 

tomwil sorry...

My 2014 sticker was $24,240.
Same dealer 3 weeks later... 2015 - http://www.safrotoyota.com/new/Toyota/2015-Toyota-Tacoma-7ed6bf4f0a0a00de47e32ccd1e41bfd0.htm

They are charging $30 less than the regular cab 2014 base.

 

I also had a 2014 built once I heard they were being discontinue. I am so glad I did as I absolutely love the wheelbase of the truck. Its great I can go and park anywhere with this little 4x4.

 

Just want to be sure on this ... do you have an automatic transmission?

Mine was $24,200 sticker MSRP, which included AT, sliding rear window, and carpet floor pads.

The 2015 you linked to, has manual transmission.

 

Question answered:

 

Appears the Jeep will be redesigned to meet CAFE:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...expect-see-off-road-community-leave-jeep.html

 

Yeah...it's the "footprint" that killed the RC. New CAFE ratings allow for fewer MPG the longer the wheelbase is. Thus the RC was hurting the overall average for Toyota....and other manufacturers. Sucks, but true.

BTW, I've owned 2 RC in the last few years, bought from the same dealer. Had some difficulty both times finding exactly the one I wanted because RC base trucks sell so fast in this area. My dealer said they rarely have one for more than a day or 2 before it's sold. There is a demand...but CAFE and profits tend to drive supply.

With my 2nd Taco, I stopped in on a Friday night to look at a silver RC 5-speed. Didn't commit to buying it but came the next morning and it had sold sometime after I left...which would have been after 7pm. Had to dealer locate the white 1 have now.

READ ---> http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2013/04/is-the-regular-cab-pickup-doomed.html

 

Looks like I'll be keeping my current Taco even longer than I thought.

 

I understand the reason behind CAFE, but I can't help but think it's horribly executed in it's present form. Way too many loopholes for car makers to slide through and it kills off excellent, and obviously highly popular, styles like regular cab small trucks.

Not to mention it's one of biggest reasons this whole "Car-based SUV" segment has taken off. I freaking hate those things. Ruined some decent SUV models like the Pathfinder, Highlander and Explorer too.

And let's just address something; we can call them "Car-based SUVs" all we want, but at the end of the day, it's a damn station wagon.

 

I prefer to call them MILF wagons, since that's who they've tricked into driving them because "they're not a mini van" lol. I agree with all of your points. It's only a matter of time before we see unibody/subframe midsized trucks too...

 

Yeah. I still say at exactly the same "access cab" / "double cab-short-bed" footprint, they could ALSO provide a "regular-cab-extended-seven-foot-bed" configuration.

They just don't want to because it would be another configuration to engineer, manufacture, and support, and they obviously don't believe it would sell very well.

Probably with good reason.

 

CAFE is shit

 

As soon as I heard Toyota (and Nissan) were discontinuing their Regular Cab Pick Up Trucks (they were the only mfgs left making them in the Mid Sized market) Ford / GM / Dodge dumped them long ago in favor of the "Higher Profit" 4 Door Models I grabbed one.

Bought MY 2014 Tacoma December 2013 and plan on keeping it a long time

 

This just totally sucks! Love my reg. cab! 2010 4x4 / 78k miles