Hi All, I seem to be in possession of a 2016 Tacoma...

Apologies for length, this is a composite of several other posts made at several other forums.

Last Sunday I was driving my old POS Ranger back from the grandparent’s house in NC(~300 miles). When I finally hit my exit, I turned the radio down and noticed that the engine noise was a lot louder than normal… And I had a new *clank clank clunk* sound, which I now know was my muffler bouncing off the ground.

I pulled into the local Mr Tire and handed one of the guys a $20 to just cut the exhaust off so I could drive it to a dealership. Race Exhaust! I actually kind of liked it, on a short-term basis. Vroom Vroom! Sounded like a racecar, drove like the piece of shit it was.

That was the last straw for this truck(2001 2.3L 5spd ford ranger… Ex Napa-Auto-Parts truck based on the holes in the roof, but I didn’t know that when I got it. Rode hard and put up wet. It’s been beat to shit in only 100k miles.)

My inspection sticker had been expired since December of 2014, and my plates had been expired since June of this year, because that PoS needed $4k worth of work to pass inspection, and was only worth $3k… In Good Condition. Which it wasn't. Before the exhaust fell off.

CarMax offered me $500 for it. I’d been riding it as long as I could without penalty, considering I only live a few miles away from my office and there are zero cops between here and there.

Now that the exhaust system was resting in the bed instead of working, it sounded like a fucking stock-car, and it was a cop magnet. It was time for a new truck.

I went to CarMax and they had a very nice 2014 Tacoma 2wd manual w/ 15k miles that I really liked… For 22k.

I looked at various Toyota dealerships in my area, and one of them had a 2016 baseline extended-cab 4×4 manual…. For 24k. $2k for brand new vs used? $2k for 2wd vs 4wd? And the 2016 line is a new redesign? What crack was CarMax smoking? Granted, I’m bad at negotiations, but still... New!

The “real” dealer would only give me $300 for my racing-pipe Ranger jalopy. Carmax actually honored the estimate and cut me a check for $500. For once, I walked away from a car deal thinking “Haha, suckers!”. The truck before this was consigned to the junkyard for a whopping $150, so I’m movin up in the world



I’m enjoying the new one immensely. My previous two vehicles were Rangers, a good one that gave me 210k miles without trouble('98), and a bad one that starting shitting the bed at 90k (2001). Both used. Both stick. I will miss the long-throw 3 foot steel pipe that was the shifter in the Rangers. The Taco shifter feels more like something you would find in a car.

As a curmudgeon and former cheapskate, I now have four very new things to get used to:

– Driving a “Nice Car” that isn’t a junker. Weekly cleanings! Actually going to the car wash! Offering people rides without embarrassment!

– Drive-by-wire. Both my old rangers had manual throttle cables, so when you stabbed the gas pedal they responded immediately. The new truck’s gas pedal is just a potentiometer that talks to the ECU, and it feels very laggy / soft. After some reading, apparently the ECU ‘learns’ your driving style and will adjust accordingly. After the first thousand miles it should be a lot more responsive. Either the truck will get used to me, or I’ll get used to the truck.

– Hill-Start-Assist. WHAT IS THIS?!?! I’ve driven stick exclusively for over 12 years now, I know how to do a hill-start without more than a few inches of rollback, damnit! The new truck auto-applies the brakes on a hill so I don’t roll back… Which also changes the dynamics of the whole clutch/throttle balance, and has lead to a few embarrassing stalls. I’m used to hitting the gas with the side of my right foot while still holding the brake for a hill-start. (Or just gunning it quickly ) I’ve got to find a way to turn this off.

– There appears to be a tablet embedded in the center console where my radio should be. Interesting. And there is a camera in the tailgate? whaaaat? I need to find a way to turn that on without being in reverse, so I can watch the person behind me picking their nose waiting for the light.

I’m very happy with the new truck so far, though it’s only been a day. I even got the version with deleted seats in the extended-cab section, which were useless anyway. It’s the perfect size for a future dog to call home on road trips.

Two questions for the forum:
- How do I disable the hill-assist function? There is a stoplight on a hill on my way home, and it's driving me crazy. I either stall it or blow through the intersection way too fast because the truck is unexpectedly holding the brakes. I don't want artificial assistance.
- Any tips on 'training' the ECU? I'm used to older trucks with proper throttle cables. I could 'blip' the throttle to downshift in my old trucks, but this one seems very sluggish. When I briefly stab the gas pedal to 50% it barely goes up a hundred rpm. It's got a lot more power when I floor it, but it doesn't seem nearly as responsive when I'm trying to downshift on highway exits.

 

Congrats on your new truck and welcome to the site!

 

Welcome and congrats!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TW Tiny, great story & congrats on new Truck

 

I don't think you can turn off hill assist. I think you just have to rev up a little harder when letting off the clutch so you can overcome the brake being held. Congrats on new truck!

 

I cringe when I read about uninsured motorists. Glad you got legal.

 

Whoa whoa whoa, nobody said anything about being uninsured. I still had (laughably cheap) full coverage on the ranger. I still had full insurance, including way more liability coverage than the state minimum, the whole time. There is a difference between "Dodging The Man" and "Being Immoral and Unethical". I don't mind dodging cops for violating overly-zealous inspection laws or plate-renewal revenue generators on a vehicle I own outright. Driving without proper insurance is just straight up wrong and unethical, though. I won't do it.

Expired inspection / expired tags don't prevent you from having insurance.

However, I'm also glad I got legal and am no longer rolling cop-bait

 

24,000 super good deal.
Someone is getting fired for that one.

 

Hah!

They posted an ad to AutoTrader for my exact truck for 23k+change. I walked in the day after they posted the ad and said "I'm here to buy this truck." *shows salesguy a screenshot of the internet ad*

Turns out they had shipped it to another dealer for a test-drive, and it wasn't on the lot. I drove a few others to make sure I fit and make sure this was the truck I wanted, none of them manuals. I knew the 2016 5-spd was nothing new, and I had driven slightly older tacomas with the same tranny while car shopping. I did all the paperwork / BS, referring to that internet ad of 23-and-change the whole time. They admitted that the "internet price" was way lower because it included rebates and excluded freight / dealer bullshit charges. I countered that by waving a 50% downpayment in cash in front of them, and... Lo and Behold, they honored the internet price, and lowered the interest rate for financing the rest
(I literally pulled out a stack of hundreds, then fanned it back and forth.)

They shipped it back the next day, and I've been grinning like a moron ever since.