Any truth to this article?

http://neverbuyatacomaoffroad.com/

 

Pay $4000 to hire a Toyota rep to take a second look at it? I think not. Personally, the guy is an idiot and I don't believe his story. He obviously has a beef with his dealer and Toyota but making outrageous claims is not going to help solve his issues.

 

Yep.

I’ve had the oil light come on multiple times when on an incline for too long, but haven’t had the smoking issue.
I’ve seen pictures and videos of plenty other Tacomas blowing out smoke on incline.
Even heard of someone who’s rear main seal was leaking and they were denied warranty work because the dealer said the truck had been off road.

I don’t let articles like this bother me though. Every manufacturer has issues at some point (some more than others) and every once in a while you get a lemon.
Just because this guys truck is a piece of shit, doesn’t mean mine is.
Just because one dealer sucks, doesn’t mean they all do.
The dude is salty and I don’t blame him. I’d be pissed too if I was in his situation. I doubt I’d go all attention whore on the internet though.

 

Not that I don't believe it, but pretty sure others take theirs off road with no issues. A few mods are needed though. Breather mod I believe, unless this is a snorkel thing. I don't typically "off road" like in Colorado etc, but I do occasionally drive some forest roads etc. If was to go over some rocks or debris I think one of the first mods I would make would be re-routing the exhaust from the headers. Then engine oil not getting to the engine seems strange. Personally, I wouldn't buy a new truck and take it off road. I would like to "know" the vehicle in and out. I am not sure what his options are for a mid sized off road truck?

 

hrrnnnnnnnnnnnnn

 

Yeah I wasn’t sure. Wanted everyone’s opinions. I bought my 2019 off road in January love it. No issues so far. Just kind of freaked me out reading that article

 

Disclaimer. I'm not a tacoma owner yet, but I've been driving trucks my whole life. I've done a ton of research and decided to buy a 2019 or 2020.
This guy may be an idiot, but I don't see anything to make me believe he's a liar. Tacomas are marketed pretty hard in a way that goes to the fringe of the truth. Only a small minority of owners really test the limits of these trucks. The others just tell their neighbors at the neighborhood BBQ how awesome their truck is if they were to take it off road. Driving off road should not be a reason that toyota will deny a warranty claim. This forum is full of toyota fan boys and apologists. I think its probably hard to get a real sense of what the problems really are on this forum. Then there's the other 95% of tacoma owners who never post here no matter what their tacoma experience is, good or bad. In this story, I see a dude who believed toyota marketing and the truck failed. Don't know if his truck represents all tacomas or if it is somehow an outlying lemon...
My research has indicated to me that tacomas are not great trucks, they're just a mediocre truck that happens to be better than all the other trucks sold by other manufacturers.

There's probably truth in his story. People don't generally speak badly of their own decisions and purchases, they do the opposite as a general rule.

Peace.

 

The video guy is not telling the whole story .

 

I think the picture he posted is misleading, you can clearly see he is coming out of the water there and it was probably a lot deeper than ten inches. He also probably floored it through the puddle to make a big splash for the gram. He's just pissed at his dealer

 

I believe his story. The smoking issue has been reported a fair amount. The bigger (related) issue is the oil starvation. That appears to be a design issue and should not happen on a "off road" truck. The problem that he had was that it looked like a loooong steep hill and once it was smoking and engine was getting oil starved, he continued to give it gas to get up the hill. No oil + high revs and load = problems. If backing down was not an issue, he should have winched up and got to flat ground. Now, if it's your winch, then you have issues as you really need it running to make a big pull. I doubt many will run in to that issue, and although I have seen quite a few videos repeating it, there are also 3/4 million 3rd gens out in the wild.

Takeaway:
1) Always have a backup plan in case you can't make a hill or obstacle
2) If driving a long, steep, fairly difficult hill, pay attention to exhaust and oil light
3) If oil light comes on, DON'T GAS IT, use your backup plan
4) Make it home safe and drink beer

 

I believe his story but it seems like common sense, no? I mean if you tip a container with liquid in it (ie oil in an oil pan), then the liquid will move and eventually it will be at an angle where the oil moves away from the pump and probably leaks into sections of the engine it isn't supposed to go.

Having said that, if you market a vehicle for off-road then yes, it should be designed to be able to do certain things and run at certain angles.

 

Bought a new Tacoma and quit his job; must be nice to go places

 

Hope he has a new motor in the budget .

 

Too many people don't realize that fluids are fluid, even if you take it off road.

 

“Having said that, if you market a vehicle for off-road then yes, it should be designed to be able to do certain things and run at certain angles”

Yeah, i know the old Rover V8 was specifically designed to maintain oil pressure and keep the carbs running at wonky angles, because they knew damn well it would be in those situations offroad. With these Tacos, I suspect lack of thought when they put a car motor not designed from the onset for a truck into it

I don’t like how they don’t give you a safe wading depth either

Half the owners manual on my old range rover classic was devoted to how to offroad and associated specs. Not so much on this Taco, even though it has a fairly complicated traction control set-up - Only thanks to this forum do i know what it’s doing.

 

I stopped reading at San Francisco and Land Rover LR3

 

I think he is right, this truck can't go off road.

All the people in the thread below must be really good at photoshop

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/where-have-you-off-roaded-today-3rd-gen.400627/

 

I stopped reading at bought a new truck and quit his job

 

I don't recall anything in the 4Runner, FJ, and Land Cruiser forums about their engines smoking on steep inclines.

I believe that it's the characteristic of the 3.5 engine being derived from a passenger car. I'm not sure why Toyota neglected to account for this issue for hill climbs.

 

Yeah but then they did fix and cover it and he still complains. I knew I should of stopped reading when I saw he was from SF. hahahahahaha