Anyone else gone from a Wrangler to a Tacoma?

I had a 2013 Wrangler Unlimited Sahara that l had setup just about right. Here’s a summary:

Automatic with 3.73 gears and LSD
35” Goodyear MT/R tires
Teraflex Sport 2.5 lift
Falcon 2.1 shocks
Aluminum steering bits
RockJock AntiRock sway bar
LOD bumper with Warn VR Evo winch
MORE aluminum skid plates
LOD sliders
Hardtop with Sunrider
Slant back soft top

I regret getting rid of it but that’s history now. I bought the Tacoma because of the reliability and ability to tow my boat. I haven’t done anything to make it more capable of doing the same trails except for RSG sliders and 235/85r16 Toyo tires. I spent last weekend in Moab and resisted the urge to do trails I love and have done, Hell’s Revenge and Poison Spider.

I’m sure that I would have done it had I had a lift and slightly larger tires but I’m not sure I want to put anymore into the truck. As great as it is, I found myself missing my Wrangler more and more.

Has anyone else had a bit or remorse going from something to the Tacoma? I’m at a crossroads and am not sure what I want to do. The option is to put money into it or go to a Gladiator to keep the higher towing capability.

 

I've driven a lot of jeeps and I really really hate solid front axles. The only way I would ever own a jeep is if it has IFS or beams.

 

my dad and brothers all drive Jeeps. I'm the black sheep with a Tacoma. There's good and bad to both - they can do the convertible thing and have more closed storage while I've got the truck bed and the reliability. Personally the reliability has been the biggest win for me over the years. Best case scenario would be to keep my Tacoma and add a nice TJ some day.

If the only thing holding you back from keeping the Tacoma is the ability to do those trails, go for the lift and tires. You'll never be able to go top off, but you can get the Tacoma to do those trails.

That said, they can't sell Gladiators these days so if you really want the convertible truck, that's the only game in town. You can get your Tacoma to do trails that a Gladiator could do.

 

I was surprised to see that a company makes trail doors for Tacoma’s. I’ll probably keep mine but do miss the Jeep and parts of the community.

 

I like jeeps, always have. But their reliability sucks. Everyone I know with jeeps have had some problems. A few years ago my nephew returned his to the dealer for 100% refund under the “lemon” law.

 

I went from a Wrangler to a Tacoma; '23 to '23. All I had ever owned were Toyota trucks, so in '22 I wanted to get a new vehicle and decided on a Jeep because it was not a truck and not a Toyota.

I custom ordered the '23 Jeep in 2022, waited 6 weeks and finally picked it up.

Three months later, CEL. Six months after that, CEL. Three months after that, CEL. Three months after that, CEL. All were some type of sensor problem. The day I picked up the Jeep for the last CEL, I traded it in for the Tacoma. After fifteen months of misery, I was glad to get rid of it.

 

Departure angle and wheelbase are 3Gs weakest links. You would have to do quite a bit of work to do same trails as a Jeep on 37s.

 

I have both. Kept my Jeep when I got my Taco.
2016 JKU Rubicon(Manual). 2.5" lift. I have 34" mud tires on steelies as well as more reasonable 32" Falcon WP-AT3W's for daily driving.
Soft top, full front/rear steel bumper, winch, swing out ect ect.
I couldn't get rid of it. I had an offer from a good friend before I bought my Taco for close enough to what I paid for it, but I just couldn't part with it.

I strongly considered selling/trading in my Jeep to get a Gladiator. But in the end I still love my Jeep and where its at. Never had any issues with it and I have had it since new off the lot.
I think I would have regretted selling it to my friend and or selling it even if I replaced it with another Jeep/Gladiator. Lots of good wheeling memories in that.
Ended up with a Taco because Gladiator prices are way too high IMO, and I didn't feel the need to own two Jeeps at once. For the price I got my '22 SR5/Trail for out the door, I couldn't even get a Gladiator Sport S for the price at the time.

Fortunate I guess that I am in a position to own both at once. I mean if I HAD to only have one vehicle I would keep my Taco for practicality, but would rather have a Gladiator at that point. But as others have noted above Not sure about the JL/JT platform reliability. Not interested in the 2.0 turbo, not interested in the 4xe platform, I see way too many issues with youtubers Diesels that I just don't feel like dealing with just for the extended range (like DEF).
Not to say the old Pentastar V6 mated with the new 8spd Auto isn't a way better platform to drive then my old 6spd manual. My friend has one and I have driven his. It's so much easier to wheel but I don't feel the urge to trade over/trade up.

 

Definitely best case - that’s exactly what I did lol. Had an XJ before the Tacoma but always loved TJs so bought this one a few years ago and love it.

 

I can get cheap prices on Jeeps because of the Chrysler discounts for my family, but every time I sit in a Wrangler, my head is touching the roll bar, which means I’ll probably crack my skull in an accident.

Do wrangler owners have tiny legs or are they just really short?

 

I went the other way: from Tacoma to Wrangler. I had a 2015 Rubicon Unlimited. And while I get the "fun" appeal of it, I didn't really like it. It was great off-road, but that was about it. The more I pulled apart, the more I realized the build quality was very sub-par. I hated the motor and transmission more than the equals in my 3rd gen. I had a hard time believing that the transmission was a Mercedes unit because it was terrible. To the point that there were days I thought it was on its last legs (turns out it was "normal" behavior). I tried to get Jeep to replace my gas tank because of the known problem with the EVAP nipples breaking off (Jeep had made a change to later parts). Nope. It was all my fault. On and on. I was not impressed and couldn't believe what people were paying for the things. I sold it and didn't look back. Not even when local dealers were discounting Gladiators tens of thousands of dollars.

I hear the JLs are much better, but after my experience, I'm not going to find out.

The Tacoma is far from perfect. And there were tons of times that things about it irritated me to no end, but it straddled the line between toy and practicality for me. Toss in some other elements and the Tacoma checked many more boxes for me than the Wrangler did.

 

I would’ve bought a wrangler if it weren’t for the cringey ducks.