First major roadtrip and my review of my 2016 Tacoma Limited.

I live in Southern Illinois and the mother in law lives in Raleigh, NC. My wife, son and daughter loaded up the Tacoma and headed there on Spring Break. We are actually still here. Here is my review of how my truck did.
First of all, the factory tonneau cover works amazingly well to house our cargo. We had some rainy weather along the almost 800 mile trip and our cargo arrived perfectly dry.

As far as the ride quality of the truck??? It was mostly interstate driving with some 2 lane roads when we got within about 30 miles of her house. The truck rode very nice, handled all the road's bumps great and always felt in control and handled great! Once we got into the mountains the gas mileage went to hell as the best I could average was about 17.4 mpg. However, before and after the mountain areas the on-screen average showed about 20-22 mpg. Not too bad in my opinion. I will say I was hoping for a little more though. Road noise was minimal and wind noise was not noticed either. It felt more like a luxury car in those regards.

As far as power on the interstate it was awesome on the flatter areas of the ride and held the set cruise speed of 75mph with very minimal downshifting. However, once we hit the mountains the tranny stayed 'busy' trying to keep that speed up. It was able to stay right about the set speed, but only by down shifting quite often. I will say I think this would be common in about any truck except a diesel. Ive noticed the 2016 Tacoms like to be revved to generate their power as it tends to come on higher in the rpm range than what I'm used to. My truck is an auto trans but I'm thinking a manual would be fun to drive because of this. I just thought if I'm spending $40k I didn't want to shift all the time, lol.

In summary, I love the truck. My wife is 5'6" and so is my daughter. My son is 6' and he and my daughter sat in the backseat. It would be nice if there was a little more rear legroom. I'm 6'1" and moved my seat up farther than I usually like and was ready to get out and stretch any time we stopped. Not real uncomfortable but not optimum either. A little less engine noise when it downshifts would be nice, but it wasn't unbearable by any means either. Handling and ride was excellent. Gas mileage a was ok. I would have liked to have seen mid 20s on the flat roads but it still beats my old f150 with the 5.4.

Can't think of anything else to say. Will add more commentary when I get back to Illinois as we are still in Raleigh. Happy Easter everyone!!

 

Thanks for the review. I'm always curious to hear about real world reviews, the good and the bad. Happy Easter!

 

Great information as I'm planning a road trip in a few months. I do not use the cruise if pulling a trailer or in the hills as the tranny shifts FAR less with my foot on the gas.

 

This may sound far fetched to a lot of people but I have never used cruise control. I have a 06 sport and I do a lot of traveling up and down the east coast.

 

You are not alone. With the way people drive these days, its almost impossible to use the cruise control in a safe manner...Unless its 3 in the morning.

OP, thanks for the write up.

Your description makes the 3rd gen sound exactly like my 1st gen.

 

I've had the same experience and can tell you that you can get that mpg to about 24 on flat roads if you set the cruise between 65-69. I've noticed the fuel efficiency decreases noticeably with each mile per hour over 69.

 

Nah, not at all. Haven't switched mine on yet and only used it once in my Gen2 on a long trip from L.A. back home to Vancouver on the I5. I find it's just easier to modulate the gas rather than having to shut off the cruise when traffic gets in the way and then reset when in the open.

Glad you are enjoying the truck OP, good write up and happy Easter too all as well.

 

- This is what I experienced on my trip back from Paso Robles, CA to Newport Beach. Just under around 290 miles, moderately babied the truck on the drive (wanted to enjoy the 101 South drive, absolutely gorgeous views).