Questions for buying Tacoma’s

Hello all! New member here.
I’ve been looking for a Toyota Tacoma for some time now and done so much reading, I’m less confident in buying anything. My reading has come to this conclusion: 2015 is a great year to own. 2016-18 had a lot of tranny problems and engine problems. Some sites claim manual transmissions today aren’t as simple as they used to be, but perhaps you can avoid the issues in the 2016-18 if you go manual. I know the autos get better gas mileage but I’m about reliability. Every website seems to contradict the other. Any thoughts? I’ve looked at several 2015 automatic TRD Pro’s, and now I’m looking at a 2017 TRD 4x4 manual in inferno with 43k miles and a 2018 TRD 4x4 manual in inferno with 70k miles. What are your thoughts? I’m not an off-roader, but I hunt and haul some lumber/yard stuff. I want a sexy looking truck, but I have a family so I need reliability. I appreciate any help you can offer.

 

While I am a manual fan myself, you need to test drive both and see which one YOU like more
Few people get on the internet just to say how wonderful and trouble free something is

Welcome to TW

 

Welcome to TW!

 

2nd Gens (05-15) are the best Gen. 16+ are turd Gens.

In all seriousness, sounds like any year Tacoma will satisfy your needs and requirements.

‘15 is the last year of the 4.0L so yeah they had 10 previous years to “work out all the kinks”.

‘16 is when they introduced the 3.5L and along with it came the quirks you speak of. Happens anytime a new platform is released.

On transmissions, I like to shift my own gears. But that’s personal preference.

I would test drive as many as you can to get the feel for what you like and don’t like about each. As with anything, new or old, proven or prototype, you have the risk of having issues. It’s part of it!

Good luck!

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

Final gear ratio is much better in the manual on third gen. Real world, I doubt the gas mileage is much different between auto and manual. I went auto and had to re-gear from 3.9 to 4.88. The automatic transmission does have some crappy programming but the major issue is the high gearing that doesn't work well with the power output of the engine. I love my 2019, but I have spent around $1000 for a tune and $3000 to re-gear. I consider the gear swap absolutely necessary for the auto. If I was starting over, I would get a manual or save some cash/ take the hit on reliability and get something else entirely. $4000 is a bit too much to spend on an already high dollar truck just to get it to drive correctly.

 

I haven’t heard of any transmission failures and very very few engine problems either. The only problem I see is the gearing in the automatic, if they put the gears from the manual in the automatic you wouldn’t hear hardly any complaints except for mpg.