Long Time Tacoma Admirer, 1st Time Owner (Mini Review of 3 Tacomas)

Hello, everyone. I've been lurking for a while, then I joined TW after finding my Tacoma, but waited until all paperwork was done and my Tacoma was in hand before posting. I selected my 2016 Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 and negotiated the purchase price on Monday, which coincidentally was my 1000th day completely nicotine free (cold turkey). I was not expecting to purchase a Tacoma that day. I had already been to the dealership and they didn't have anything I was interested in purchasing a week prior. I assumed I would have to wind up ordering a 17.

I'm very pleased with my purchase. On my 40 minute commute home from the dealership, I averaged 24.1 mpg and saw as high as 26.7 mpg prior to beginning my assent at the county line. The truck drives smooth and quiet, the tranny shifted smooth, didn't hold gears too long, etc. The dealership claimed they didn't know about any low fluids in transmissions. They didn't put up a fight about checking although they had just certified it. The result was 1/2 a quart low. They will do the TSB for the LCA's when they get the parts from Toyota. They put that in writing to me as a "We Owe", although my truck didn't make any howling noises. I just wanted it done, and since mine is slightly used, I could negotiate it into the purchase.

My immediate mod, as in Monday or Tuesday will be Maxxis Buckshot II mudders in 245 75 16 C (yes, I know it is negligibly smaller than stock but it only weighs 41 pounds and I have no interest in lifts and bigger tires). I will also add the WeatherTech liners in the very near future.

I appreciate all the insight, information, and snide remarks here at TW. I feel like that helped tremendously when I was test driving. I look forward to being a part here, learning, and sharing my experiences, as well. I hope my experience test driving helps someone else, whether it is to make a purchase or to decline a purchase.

If you want to skip this part, it will be a mini review/impressions of the 3 Tacomas I test drove for about 45 minutes each. All 3 of them were low mileage used white Tacomas, so I took advantage of long test drives, working the 4x4 system, driving on the interstate, highway, country backroads, and some city driving.

On Monday, I drove 3 different 2016 Tacomas. Two were 4x4 Off Roads and the other was a 4x4 Limited. All 3 were Track/Courtesy Tacomas the dealership provides to customers when their vehicles were left at the dealership. So, my Tacoma is a new-to-me Tacoma. I'm very happy with it. I'll breakdown each vehicle. Hopefully, someone on the fence can get something out of what I say. TW really helped me a lot and gave me some very specific things to look and listen for that I was able to identify in one vehicle but not the other one. I will list them in the order I drove them.

*2016 DCSB Tacoma 4x4 Limited:
This Tacoma had 10,500 miles on it and was completely stock. It was white with the beautiful tan leather-like two tone brown and gray interior. This interior is very visually appealing to me, and the Limited is the Tacoma I started out wanting. I was about 75% sure this is the trim level I was gonna get. Immediately upon entering the truck, I noticed two things: the leather-like seats had a mild nonoffensive chemical type smell, and the seat material felt stiff, not soft and inviting as the aesthetic appeal led me to believe. **Note that I didn't say the truck smelled bad. It did not. Leather has a distinct smell, and whatever material those seats are seems to have a unique scent. One thing about the seats I noticed during my 45 minute drive was that the seating posture was comfortable to me, but dang those seats were hot. The heated seat feature was not activated, either. Those seats could give me a serious case of the swamp ass in the sweltering heat and humidity here in Central Mississippi. lol. I figured out how to reset the mpg's so I could see the average instead of the tank average. I managed 22 mpg's during my drive. I varied slow easy accelerations and quicker more spirited accelerations to study how the transmission reacted. I didn't notice anything that I would call odd or off putting. I did notice, particularly in the city and country backroad, that the transmission would go from 6th gear to 5th gear, or 4th of the grade of hill was enough to warrant the lower gear. I didn't notice it shifting to 4th where it seemed out of place. My vehicle I just sold was a 2014 2 Door Wrangler Rubicon X. I'm used to easy slow starts. I drove the Tacoma the same way I drove my Jeep. The Tacoma was smooth and steady. If you want a spirited quick take off, you have to put your foot into it for it to respond. The JBL system sounded great compared to my Jeep's shitty Alpine system with subwoofer. While the JBL may not be a top shelf audio system, we Tacoma owners are very fortunate to have the JBL - trust me, ya coulda had the shitty Alpine system in Jeeps instead. lol Overall, the drive was pleasant, and I was surprised the transmission didn't shift erraticly. After reading so much on here, I was looking for anything that could be a red flag. I saw the 2 other TRD OR's and wanted to drive them, too. The only thing I noticed out of place was that the trifold tonneau cover didn't sit flush on the bed where it met next to the cab on the driver's side. Other than that, this truck was clean, no scratches or dents, etc.

*2016 DCSB TRD OR 4x4:
This one had 9,500 miles on it and was completely stock. It also had the gray/black interior. It didn't have a tonneau cover on it at all. As soon as I sat inside, I noticed the cloth seats were surprisingly comfortable and soft, yet supportive. I was not expecting to like the way the seats felt. I went on the exact same route and performed the same driving styles as I did in the Limited. I reset the Average MPG and the best I could get out of this truck was 18 MPG's. I don't understand what caused this truck to only get 18 mpg's. (The Limited got 22 and the other OR, which is the one I bought, got 20 mpg's after 45 mins and was up to 22 mpg's. I did notice a bit more finicky transmission shifts in this one. The shifts were not quite as smooth, and it did seem to downshift more frequently. I was hesitant about it getting that much less MPG's and the more frequent shifts. I was very impressed with the off road features, terrain selections, ease of use, etc. The JBL sounded good for what I had been used to in this truck, too. All in all, I was more comfortable in the OR and enjoyed the delivery of the total package more than I did the Limited. I decided to go ahead and test drive the remaining used 2016 OR. Glad I did, because I bought it.

Mine - 2016 DCSB TRD OR 4x4:
Mine had 5,450 miles on it when I began driving it. I noticed immediately that the truck still smelled new. Upon start up, it had a bit more throaty sound. The salesman noticed that, too. It doesn't have the upgraded exhaust or muffler etc. It sounded no different than the Limited or other OR once driving. This one has the orange and black interior. I happen to like it. It breaks up the gray and black interior of the other one enough to be asthetically pleasing to me. As soon as I put it in drive and began going forward, I could immediately tell that this truck felt tighter. I don't know how to explain it other than it felt tight/solid, more so than the other two. I managed 20 MPg's and figured it was because of the OR equipment. The JBL sounded great and the 4x4 system worked great. The transmission seemed to shift smoother and only shifted in what was predictable shifts. Anytime it shifted down, I felt like it should have downshifted. I have the build sheet with the codes for all of the options etc. It is pretty much loaded with about $5,200 in options. I knew this was the one without question. I had them to remove the chrome tube nerf bars/running boards. I'm not a fan of those or others on these trucks. YMMV.

My family has owned a few Toyotas, and I have always liked Toyota. If not for my Jeep fever in 2013 and 2014, I would have bought a Tacoma then. After a lemon and then a freaking Rubicon X with a cylinder head replacement under the powertrain warranty at 66k miles, I tapped out with Chrysler. That is two licks of the Chrysler lollipop and both licks left me with a very bad taste in my mouth for Chrysler products.

I'm sorry this turned out so long, but I hope someone who is on the fence like I was will read and think about how each Tacoma I drove had a slightly different quirk, feel, and performance. There is a good chance you may experience the same. So, you should drive several And spend some time on your test drives. None of the 3 trucks drove poorly. The other OR sold two days after I got mine. The Limited has someone looking at it and will probably be gone by early next week. I hope to get some pics uploaded tomorrow.

 

Congrats on the new truck. Couldn't be happier with mine!

 

Congrats

Read the whole thread

Since you bought a used certified one, did you get a killer dealer, compared to a new one?

Pics ?

 

The differences in mileage and shifting from the 2 ORs is probably due to how the tranny "learned" from the other drivers. I would have them reset yours so it can properly learn your driving habits, but you will have to bear with it while it learns. Also, 45 mins is not enough to get a good mileage reading even going the same route. You really have to take it with a grain of salt. One extra heavy foot for 30 seconds can skew a trip that short pretty easily.

 

Not sure why the two OR's drove differently. I would have been very interested in where the two OR's were assembled i.e. Mexico vs Texas production built models.

Also what price did you pay for these slightly used trucks?

 

I posted a couple pics. Sorry, I'm not very good at posting pics etc. I double posted one of them.

I don't think I got a smoking deal at all. In MS, we are under Gulf States Toyota distributorship. Tacomas here are higher than a Halloween cat's back. Basically, we get to pay $1500 more for the same truck than other areas not under Gulf States Toyoya or South East Toyota for the privilege and honor of them being middlemen. Anyway...

I got $3300 off OTD of what would have been sticker if it had been brand new. So, for a used I think it was a bit high but was within market for my area. I also got them to throw in a bed extender plus installation, manually check tranny fluid, and remove the chrome tube steps. But, I added a 7/125k mile bumper to bumper warranty for $1900. They don't like to deal very much on the Tacomas because they don't have to in order to sell them. The other TRD OR that I test drove sold 2 or 3 days after I had agreement on mine and it was $1000 higher with 9,500 miles, LED bed cargo lights, predator steps, but it didn't have a tonneau cover. The Limited was exact same asking price as mine ($38,991).

 

Agreed, but split among 3 trucks with two being identical I felt like they were all within the same range with the one being on the lower end.

I did ask them to reset the transmission. They may not have. After being home and driving to eat last night and then this morning, plus taking my dad on a test drive with a quick acceleration, my mpg's are showing 22 mpg. I'm not upset with that at all. I do know that over the course of a tank of gas, different weather, temperature, traffic etc, mpg's can and do change. In my Rubicon, I'd start out getting 20-21.xx mpg's but by the time I used a full tank, my mpg's wound up at 19-19.5 and down to 17.5 - 18.5 if there was a strong headwind.

 

All of the Tacomas VIN on the dealer's lot start with 5, so San Antonio.

I talked about price in one of my posts before I saw your question.

 

Thank you for the info

You got the truck you like and that is all that matters

I helped two people from ih8mud buy land cruisers on the west coast since they didn't want to deal with SET and GST Toyota distributorship garbage and forced tacky port installed add ons

Enjoy in good health

P.S. I envy the beautiful green grass and trees in the background

 

Thanks, sugar