2016 Tacoma Review from a Forester (no, not the car)

Hey everyone, long time Toyota guy purchasing a 2016 Tacoma DCSB OR 4x4 White for work use. Like the title says I'm a forester (not the car), which means this truck will see a lot of hard miles. I'll be averaging 2,500-3,000 miles a month with many miles off-road in the woods. I figured I could give a unique review experience with off-road aspects and reliability as the miles will be racking up quick. I realize I'm not the average consumer and will be using this truck hopefully for what it was built for. It will be receiving a lift, 285's, and armor. I will try and update this once a week.

10/11 Initial Test-drive/Order
At this point I've gone to multiple dealers and driven just about every combination. I've narrowed it down to double cab with TRD Offroad, its necessary because of the rear locker. I'm waiting for it to arrive. I do not have the usual concerns others have when purchasing a truck so I hope to shed some light on other aspects that rarely get mentioned. So, here are my initial impressions and concerns:

Drivetrain/Chasis
First thing I did was crawl under the truck when I walked up to it. ( You can imagine the salesman was quite confused when he approached). I immediately noticed the lack of protection underneath as many have mentioned. Skid does not extend past mid crossmember and very little protection of transfer case. Next thing that caught my attention was the "plastic" skid over the gas tank. $%#*! I pulled and pushed on it and boy does it flex. I'm hoping it was built on the premise "bend but don't break" but it will be replaced. Other than this I was quite impressed, it looks like many things have been carried over from the 2nd gen with the exception of a new frame coating which I am initially impressed with. Suspension looks solid. Lower Control arms are still beefy. Upper Control arms leave me wishing for more.

Like many have mentioned the motor is underwhelming, even with ECT engaged. Though, understand I am coming from the 4.7 V8 in my 4runner so my opinion is relative. After putting many miles on it in different conditions I found it reminding myself of my old 22re. If you treat it with the mindset of the old 4banger, the motor begins to come alive. Drive it like there's no redline and the motor begins to feel more comfortable in its element and responds better. I understand this catches most off guard when they are used to the torque being at the lower rpm range coming from the larger Liter engines.

The Transmission shifts are quick and smooth, especially in manual mode. 6th gear is great, and should be thought of only as an "overdrive", not an acceleration gear.


Interior/Quality
Very impressed with the redesigned interior. Seats are comfortable. This is important as some say I "drive a desk for a living". Everything makes sense in its placement and the layout was well thought out. Cup holders could be bigger, Qi charging not important to me but cool feature. Gotta hand it to the Toyota Marketing team with the "goPro" mount... (insert sarcasm here) one hell of a marketing gimmick.

Like I mentioned I am not the average consumer, I worry about things starting to rattle loose after many miles on the dirt. These are the type of main concerns I have. After grabbing the dash with both hands(scared the salesman again), there was no play in the interior pieces. Same thing goes for the doors, and paneling. I cannot say the same for the 2015 Tacoma with the power controls in the doors. I believe little things like this can really reflect the build quality of a vehicle. Seriously, go try an do this with a F-150, Silverado/Colorado, or any other make. Any little play becomes infinitely magnified after many miles in the woods and is an indicator of whats to come. The 2016 should hold up great.

I'll update when it arrives at the dealer. Let me know if there is in interest in this type of review, and I'll continue the updates.

Cheers!

10/14/2015 Dealership Fiasco's, Delivery, and Drive Home
Dealer
Well the time came late last night! You know the saying, "don't go look at the puppy", because you'll usually end up coming home with the puppy... Yep. So since my last update I started reaching out to every dealer in Oregon and Washington because the delivery on my deposit vehicle wouldn't arrive until early November. I had probably 8 different dealers trying to track down my specific request and was upfront with them, whoever got it first I'm driving over.

Low and behold in 2 days a very aggressive salesperson called back and was having one shipped from another state. In my position, bargaining power=zero. Spent 5 hours going back and forth, "let me get my manager", another guy joins, then another, had 4 guys at the table at one point...trying to wear me down, I know the game... got them $750 off MSRP and was done arguing over $500 dollars. Then came the financing... sheesh . Spent an honest 4 hours in there, negotiating... again. I had pre-qualed from two of my banks and used that as leverage against the dealership financing. *ALWAYS DO THIS. Ended up getting a little further down on MSRP. Filled paperwork, locked everything in and signed. Tell me to come pick it up the next morning after PDI, all their techs went home. Come in the next day, finance needs to see me... Great.

They screwed up my paperwork, had to redo everything again... with a different finance guy. Must....persevere.... Long story short, I know their play. Manager unhappy with pervious guys rate we set up yesterday, basically a good old bate and switch. Needless to say, I played back. Freaked out, dropped a few F bomb's everyone in the whole dealership could hear, told them I was walking, grabbed my previous contract and started to rip it up when the manager rushed in and stopped everything. (dramatic, yes... but you have to understand their game. if they wanted to play that way I was going to play right back). Ended up getting a better rate and term and out of that office in 15 minutes. Should I have walked... probably. But after investing 9 hours, knowing the exact truck I wanted was probably the only one far and wide, and sitting in bay, I wasn't giving up. Left the dealer at 9PM

Alright, done with that bullshit!! On to the truck.

Drive home Portland, OR to Olympic Peninsula, WA
My god does that exhaust sound amazing with no traffic on the road... I immediately got to spend 200 intimate Miles with the truck on interstate and windy two lane roads. Here's my notes:

Body roll is way too excessive in the corners and unacceptable. The truck leans over on tight corners like it's about to wallow over. Toyota must have used a smaller sway bar if I recall on TRD OR. People will say, HEY! ITS A TRUCK NOT A SPORTS CAR. Yes, I know. But I also know my '03 4runner can take the same corners I just drove at the same speeds and be completely flat all the way the through (Also due to its stiffer springs). SO, I will be ordering a kit today. I'm thinking going the cheap route for now with with toytec package http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com/NEW-3-Lift-With-front-coils-rear-options_p_233.html

Overall ride quality is exceptional. One of the best riding trucks I've ever been in.

Interior Road noise is a little more excessive than I would have thought over 70mph but nothing crazy. Did get quite a bit of air noise at times coming off the windshield, reminding me of the FJ. Other than that, no rattles, information and dash units displayed awesome info, and happy to say after 5 hours straight the seat was comfortable the whole time.

Engine and Transmission were awesome! Like I said earlier it takes a bit to get used to the higher RPM's. But once I figured out the shift points I could play with the throttle more and get it to shift when I wanted and to stop hunting for gears. Yes, I know M is right there. ECT did change the shift points down it seemed and felt like it did play with the throttle a bit. Unsure if the throttle is drive by wire or electrical. But it definitely took less depression of the pedal to open up the throttle more.

MPG's- About 18 mpg @ 75mph, 19mpg @ 70mph, 20mpg @ 65mph, 21mpg @60mph, and 22mpg @ 55mph. Mind you this is hilly stuff, and lots of climbs. It was better than I expected. And yes, driving home at 2am and no traffic allowed me to really check these numbers over a 15 minute period each.** This is based off the computer numbers, driving light-moderate with the throttle, some cruise control, and ECT off. Take it with a grain of salt but these are much better than what I was anticipating!

Alright now to answer some questions below.

Cheers!

 

You brought up many many many points that a lot of people don't put into perspective. I look forward to your upcoming opinions and reviews.

 

May I ask what exactly it is you do and how you got in it? I am a big fan of the forrest.

 

....It will be good to hear from a guy who actually uses his Taco as a truck....for work....every day!..

....It will be a very fresh look at the vehicle...from someone who practically lives with/in the truck on a daily basis.....

...I look forward to hearing more from you and your new Taco!....

 

New and interesting perspective for this forum.

I'm glad you joined. I very much enjoyed your initial observations, and I definitely look forward to your weekly updates.

Thanks........................ Frank

 

I am a forester as well, most co workers like the Tacoma, perfect size for a work/woods vehicle. I am looking to trade my 1/2 ton in on a 2016 Tacoma, I need a double cab, so TRD sport it is for me in Canada (which I think is absolutely ridiculous! Why no trd off road dc??)
Look forward to your review as it directly relates to my line of work.

 

sub'd. gonna hold you to the updates

 

Great initial review! I’m also looking forward to your updates. I hope you don’t have to wait too long for your truck to be delivered.
Where in Oregon do you do most of your work?

 

What's a DBLCB? Double-bed-long-cab-box?

 

sub'd - looking forward to your review - to dbags point - are you getting DCLB OR or DCSB OR ? Long bed v short bed?

If you are getting DCLB ignore the haters - they don't think it is actually possible to go off pavement with anything but an SB

 

great first post from a new member, or best first post from a new member?

 

He's a lumberjack and he's OK

 

Looking forward for your reviews
Interested to see how it holds on an everyday work truck in dirt roads

 

I work with people that still run 1st gens with 400-500 thousand KM. that's a lot for a woods vehicle and they held up fine. Second gens are doing great as well, some over 300K on them, no reason to think they dropped the ball on the 3rd gen, only time will tell.

 

Alright! Got my truck, I'm incredibly stoked! Thanks for all the responses and glad there's some interest I will continue to add to this. I added an update, and will answer some questions. I'll get some pictures up today. Better to use Imgur, or post pics on site?

Forester has a lot of roles. I work for a private company which focuses on timber harvest. SO in my capacity I plan harvest units, manage harvest operations "aka the loggers", logistics, road engineering (someones gotta figure out how to get to the timber), harvest layout (protect watersheds, wildlife, endangered species, and boundaries), inventory... a whole bunch of stuff.
Long story, shortened... Was in business school, didn't want to sit at a desk. Literally happened upon a class list for a Forestry Business degree. Went out on a whim. Dove into the program head first, 110%, networked, made contacts and did some internship. Graduated in May, and here I find myself at 23...Crazy couple years its been! PM if you have any other questions.

YESSS!!!! Hope I would find another one here. That's crazy!? WTF

I'm finishing a contract job up in Washington on the Peninsula, and will be based out of Eugene with the next job. Mostly up the Mackenzie river valley, but we have property all across the Cascades from California to Washington.

 

If I had a dollar for every person that thought I was a lumberjack, logger, or ranger working for the *Forest Park Service*(There's the Forest Service and National Parks, no Park Service) lmao ... I'd be rich. hahaha

 

nice update.

also in the future when you update the original post, you might want to add a separate post to the thread so it will update everyone that is watching the thread.

same way I did on the master list, update xx post when I updated the original post.

 

I don't want to sit at this damn desk anymore. Are you hiring?

 

What he said

 

Update 3. Added some pics. Ordering lift kit today should be putting it on this weekend.