If you weren't going to buy a Tacoma

When I interview I'd like a cautious driver over one who knows how to offroad. Honestly the ones who say they know how to do field work are the ones who end up ripping up fields playing in the mud which loses me customers. I can train someone to use 4x4 in a smart manner and if they make a mistake or two I'm fine with that, but I can't train someone to stop being stupid.

Anyways... If I were Toyota and I sell less than a hundred thousand trucks per year plus only 5% of those drivers want a rear locker I'm probably not going to waste my time designing an electric locker for the truck. That's what the aftermarket is for. Ford has targeted the FX4 differently than Toyota has targeted there TRD Offroad and it seems to be working fine for both companies. How many FX4 owners do you think even know that they can engage the rear locker.

The funny thing is though on those Subaru's is when you wear out those limited slip differentials. That's not cheap to fix. I sat down for a few beers with a guy who was once a finance manager at a Subaru dealership. His exact words were, "there is a reason why Subaru and BMW have the highest percentage of lease ownership in the industry, no one wants to have to replace the things that wear out in those AWD drivetrains."

 

Yeah I'm sure that's the case. As far as I can tell though they are all still working fairly well at 140,000 miles. I'll admit though, I may sell it before I find out how bad it really is to replace.

 

When I sell my Tacoma I will go back to an older truck.

89-95 Toyota SR5 extra cab V6 manual. I had one and really miss it, really good interior with a sunroof. Compact size, light weight with lots of ground clearance. I'll get some new compact car to share with my gf for daily driving.

Probably sooner than later because I want to travel for a couple years and I would rather have $12,000 than my Tacoma sitting in the driveway for who knows how long.

 

I would say their market research is spot on. When they came out with each generation of Toyota pickup they have been class leading in something. Often in a few things. They one the market in the US, and that was enough. The competition failed out. They have come back now, and Toyota will respond, hopefully for the better.

Throughout the world they have a huge presence and I don't think that they really care to dominate the US truck market. They produce what they can sell, and want to sell what they produce. Its like a balancing act. If they took over Ford's or GM's spot the would have much more at stake in the market.

And buying one is because of preference. I want a smaller truck, a Full size truck brings more limitations than it does benefits for me. The half ton market offers little to no advantage over the Tacoma, so its more of Tacoma or 3/4 ton.

If they made the 3rd gen bigger. It would lose its appeal, and encroach on the Tundra. The tundra is already a pretty big 1/2 ton truck in capability and they don't make a 3/4 yet. Nor do they make a 1 ton anymore.

 

Don't argue with BlueT. He wants a Diesel T100 with a front and rear locker. The Tundra isn't the same thing right? Anything else does not fit his extensive market research .

 

BMW x5 has horrid resale value because of the horrid AWD shit.

 

I love the body style, and the interior. Those trucks rock, and I miss mine from time to time.

Get the 22re. The 3vz-e is the worst engine Toyota has ever made. Or swap a 3.4 5vz-fe out of a Tacoma and you will have a wonderful truck.

 

I also forgot, the bed height of modern full size trucks is nothing other than stupid. I am over 6 foot if I can't comfortably reach into the bed on a stock truck it is piss poorly designed.

And the seating position in a Tacoma or old Toyota truck is much better offroad than the command seating of a full size truck. Your knees will thank you.

 

The bed height is great for companies that haul anything. If something is below the height of the bed it requires far less in the way of straps and netting according to Transport Canada. Higher box sides means easier shipping of larger boxes for me.

 

Fair enough, I have never had an issue with things being taller than the bed. But I don't do any commercial work, or have many rules on nets etc that are enforced unless you have an accident. But that makes sense. Some trucks are worse than others.

 

Spot On?
And yet Toyota is selling almost as much Tundras in a year than Ford does sell F series in a month. Clearly their research is far from spot on. If it was Tundra would be a #1 selling truck, but in fact its only passing Titan in sales.
If Toyota really thinks car like pickup is what people want they are out of their mind.
Exhibit A : Honda Ridgeline
Exhibit B : Nissan Frontier
Exhibit C : Nissan Titan.

If their theory was true than Ridgeline should be #1 selling truck because Minivan/car like qualities. In the meantime last year Honda barely sold 10k+ of them.
Thats like saying Microsoft has spot on market research when it comes to Mobile phones while they selling couple per month vs Apple selling thousands per month. If you not #1 in sales than your market research sucks.

 

Not car like pickup as in ridgeline. That is more car than pickup.

They want a pickup, with features of a car. But they want the numbers game too.. Most HP, most... ETC. And it has to look "tough"
-soft ride
-great mpg
-lots of comfort items

Toyota can't build the amount of trucks in the US that Ford does. And if they build more, and don't sell them.. They are not going to take that gamble. They like the bottom dollar to much.

The Nissan frontier, is very comparable to the Tacoma and would likely compete IF
-interior was even close to on par
-reputation of reliability was restored
-it did something the Tacoma didn't
-got as good or better MPG

The Titan, was big and flashy.. But overall and expensive POS..

What about the Ford?
-tried the most car like front first.. Sold a metric shit ton but the receipt was not great.. went back to truck style front.
-willing to take huge losses to move a truck when it needs to make numbers.

They will never outsell a quality product vs a range of potentially good or bad products that are cheaper. So they can not sell to everyone. Brand loyalties aside people are not going to pay more unless they have a reason. Toyota is not going to sell cheaper, Ford is going to beat them to the punch, and throw in some chrome clad platinum package to make the buyer feel great too! Then when it breaks down, they will just provide 2nd rate service, because its cheaper. Then they will get fed up, the next truck will be out and they will offer another "great" deal on the next lump of coal.

Yes the Tundra, and Tacoma have some problems. But line wide they are less than other brands. And the resale reflects that. Toyota can demand their own price, they may sell less but they are getting the customers they want AND the dollars they want.

 

Something I've waited years for.. I've owned two ZX3's in the past, but an RS would be... bitchen!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQXxicWW9bQ

"Third-generation Ford Focus RS will powered by a 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine producing 316bhp, and gets all-wheel drive for the first time"

 

You are not making much sense.
On one hand you say people want car like pickup but Honda Ridgeline which is as much as car like pickup can be is too much car like ?

Than you list that people are interested in
-soft ride
-great mpg
-lots of comfort items
And Honda Ridgeline was beating in those categories everybody. Heck they had IFS on the rear, you can not get more comfortable ride than that.
Yet people did not buy them.
Next item is claim that Toyota can not build enough the trucks, Sure they can, they have multiple factories, they can increase capacity. In Fact Tundra line is running at what, at less than 50% right now?
Thats like saying Apple is going sell only 1000 iPhones a month because they dont think they should produce more. What kind of corporation does that? If you have great product, that everybody wants to buy, you sell as much as you can.
Simply Ford has better (more popular) product.
Quality is totally different beast but if people did not like F series trucks they would have not bought them.
Toyota got midsize market but partially because 2gen release came during high fuel prices. Fuel price did drop, and many people will not see a reason to even consider big, underpowered truck(lesson from Nissan)
They can try their approach, Honda and Nissan already tried. If Toyota does not believe sure they can try.

 

I was actually trying to convince my wife yesterday we could get by with that car as our family vehicle . That this should stomp an STi considering it's looking like a much more advanced engine than the STi is running!

 

For a Fukkus.. That is bitchin!

I read some reviews on that and its pretty impressive for what it is!

 

Estimates have it 0.2 seconds faster to 60 than an STI.

 

I would love an older 4 door sti. Not really a fan of the hatch STI

 

Really? I will have to search on that.. No issues with ours...and we pull heavy stuff with it....within the towing capacity of course, but it gets used often for towing...

Back to topic... Canyon or Tacoma, still waiting on final specifications from Toyota.

 

Not sure if anybody has said it but the new Canyon Denali is gorgeous. Looks just like a mini Sierra.
http://cdn.carbuzz.com/images2/430000/1000/500/431574.jpg