2016 Tacoma ride quality?

These threads always turn into a disaster. No one knows yet. I'm sure this will be a nice trick dispite what guys like blue t and rock lobster say. We all own tacoma for a reason and keep them. Guys bashing a truck that isn't even out yet is getting old. I Remember when the 2nd gens came out and this crap happened then too. Then everyone loved them a d wanted one and modified them to be bigger and better than the 1st gens. I've had both gens. Both are good. 2nd Gen was an all around upgrade for 99% of people. You have to remember that tw.com guys are 1% er's. These trucks will turn out nice and will prove to be an all around upgrade from 2nd Gen. Rant over

 

Why would a softer ride bounce around?

 

hopefully it wont. It's all speculation at this point, but I'd like to think all of us are hoping for an improved ride that soaks up bumps better than ever. They set out to make the suspension more compliant, how well they succeeded is yet to be seen.

 

I love the ride of my Sport....Doesn't feel like a truck at all. The 16s should feel like a Lincoln. Except for the Off Road versions.. I think the Limited and the TRD SPort are made for the Street and ride as such.

 

...About a month back...I went into the Toyota-dealership here and took a test ride in several Tacomas to compare ride-quality.....

...I drove a SR5, a TRD-Sport, and a TRD-Off-Road 4x4....I was mostly curious to see what difference the Bilstein shocks made to the ride.....

...The Sport and OR have the Bilsteins, and they are really smooth...the Sport being only marginally smoother on surface-road and freeway....and since I need the OR 4x4, I was quite surprised how comfortable it was by comparison to the Sport....Then I drove the SR5, and it was Horrible compared to the other 2 models!

...THAT convinced me completely that the Bilstein-shocks make a Huge difference in ride and comfort!...

...I would suggest anyone do the same, perhaps waiting until the 2016s are on the lots...so you can compare them yourself side-by-side...but I feel fairly certain the new 2016s will ride even betterer!

 

Enhanced ride quality?

Unless they retuned the initial shock valving by updating their specs to Bilstein, they are essentially the same shocks as 2nd gens and the so called enhancement is snake oil.

Now, could they make the ride smoother in general? Sure. All they have to do is soften the shocks. Similar to how Cadillac tunes their shocks. It's like riding on pillows. The inherent problems that that will bring, however, will be, increased body roll in turns, increased nosediving when braking, and increased bounce over bumps.

Additionally, they potentially may have fixed this (though I don't forsee it) but the suspension in general in the 2nd gens are fairly light as a whole, which can potentially increase or induce vibration while driving down the road. After purchasing and installing heavy duty upper and lower control arms, heavier shocks and reinforcing the spindle using gen 2 Total Chaos spindle gussets, the suspension on my truck has become much more controllable. The truck feels confident as a whole both on and offroad.

My point being, that unless they added a decent amount of weight into the suspension system in the front, expect complaints of "vibration" from gen 3 owners shortly after the truck has been released to the masses.

 

In one of the first videos that came out, they mentioned that the suspension was lighter.

 

They can't add more weight without people not also complaining about dismal acceleration and fuel economy due to said weight.

I understand what you mean, but now is too soon to judge based on the fact that no one has driven the new Tacoma for an extended period of time.

 

Thank you!!!

 

Oh that's just fucky. If that is the case, they may be shooting themselves in the foot.

Oh yeah, and I totally agree with what you said on all counts!

 

It all depends on what you expect out of a truck.....
I'm old school and I've always had this assumption (based on past experience) that a 'soft ride' in a truck usually doesn't help when you want to haul heavy loads and for towing. The stiffer the suspension is, the harsher the ride, better handling for hauling & towing.

Personally - I load the truck up from time to time and I'd rather have 'stiff' for safety sake. But then again...I've been driving trucks and tacomas since 99. I'm used to it.

 

Maybe I can apply the triple door seals to the 2nd gen and possibly the windshield as well.

 

The OR can be stiff bouncing over pavement strips. But, once on the interstate as you increase speed or hitting potholes on a dirt road it hands these conditons well and that's what "tuning " is all about. Some trucks are tuned to ride best over the roads they were designed to travel on. The harder and more severe the conditons, the greater the difference and advantage of the upper end model OR. Without a doubt too, these midsize trucks can't a big advantage of having longer wheelbases then the old standard cab 120 plus inches is a huge advantage. That, IMO, is the biggest reason they stopped making the shorter trucks. One ride in a short 4 wd standard cab vs the access or double cab, and most people just plop down the added moaned for the better ride. I did. I can drive my access cab LB for hours longer the a freak'n' bouncy regular cab with their usual bench seats which they need to make believe seat three.

 

The way I heard it was that they used more sound deadening materials so maybe that could help a little? Just speculation at this point.

 

Add to that list of things: new frame materials. Same frame design but allegedly new HS steel. So that could/will also change the ride quality and/or perceived feel of the ride.

 

I could have sworn that one of the reviewers stated that the trd off road had a better on road ride then the other models, but I could be mistaken (after reading so many reviews and watching so many videos, they all start blending together). The Off road is the only model with Bilsteins. Anyway, if anyone remembers, please post the link to the review.

 

Imagine how great ride and comfort would be if would come with a good set of shocks. Bilsteins at that level are crap