2018 sr 4x4 v6- 6500mls impressions

Just reached 6,500 on the odometer, thought I'd share my thoughts for those looking into 3rd gens.

I chose my truck for a few reasons.

#1 utilitarian vehicle: I came from a All4 Mini Countryman that I had for 6 years from new. Although I was able to travel with 4 adults comfortably, cargo space was limited and our golden/shepard mix was not comfortable in the back seat on long trips (rear seat to himself). I also have to haul crap for work when working outdoor festivals and events, its nice being able to throw wet pop up tents in the bed instead of inside the vehicle.

#2 what I do/dont for fun: I am an avid backpacker, hiker and mountain biker. Sometimes we have to travel down fire roads to get to our trailheads. In the mini that required an alignment after venturing offroad.. which got to be a pain is the a$$. In the same breath I was not looking to blow the budget with an OR or PRO that I was going to wheel on the weekends. I have no interest in ruining the drive-ability in order to take my new truck down trails that require a diaper.

#3 reliability: The Mini was fun with its torquey 1.6 turbo it made full torque at 1,800rpms which was a hoot on the back roads and hauling on the highway. However boosted power usually comes with it's downfalls including longevity. at 65k I had to replace my transfer case.. A normally aspirated V6 along with its powertrain should last much linger with regular maintenance (running regular gas is a plus).

With that out of the way I made a few cheap mods along the way. Again this vehicle is not meant to be a trail machine, it is plenty capable in stock form as I quickly found out on some forest roads in KY.

First was the A/C DRAIN MOD. This was a no brainer with my new investment especially with the photos of premature rust along welds I had seen from other members. This took 5 minutes and a trip to Lowes.

Second was removing the "chin strap" I didn't notice any increase in wind noise and my God does the front end look better with that piece of crap removed.

Third was a soft tonneau cover. I went for the gator tri fold as I am planning on dropping some money on a GFC in a few years and didn't need something as permanent as a hard tri fold. Plus the soft tri fold is so easy to remove when I need the extra space.

Forth was addressing the low beams.. damn these things suck. My mini had the xenon package that was amazing, best stock lights I have ever experienced. So I was little let down with the stock halogens. I went back and forth with taking the time to install a true HID kit, and will eventually but fr the time being I went with the Morimoto 2stroke 2.0 for my low beams. I am really happy with the beam pattern and cut-off for all the bad sh*t I have read here about LEDs.

Fifth was installing a center console organizer which was a cheap Amazon purchase.

Eventually:

I want to replace the standard tweeters with the kicker tweeters from the Subaru forester; and eventually install the kicker cs door speakers all around for a little more sound quality and thump without being obnoxious. I was spoiled by the Harman Kardon system in the Mini.

And then as previously stated purchase and install a GFC if I could ever save up the dough and have the patience to wait on a build slot.

And THEN I will be forever satisfied with my Tacoma..

CHEERS- Brian

 

Good job on the AC DRAIN MOD. I’m looking to do that tomorrow myself. I also have the center console organizer it’s helps a lot!.