3.5 Hit or miss?

Meet with your approval ?

 

I think not settling for something is realistic. Just think how good of gas mileage if our trucks had an 8 speed trans. I get ya on the reliability, but I think there could other areas to address to increase mpg without reducing reliability.

Good point. Only thing I'm saying is that a 1/4 ton truck should get considerably better mileage than a full size and still be cheaper than a full size. I just think all of us could have great mpg too.

My whole point is that if sales had dipped on the Tacoma, they would have been forced to address the issue long ago. And I don't drink coffee.

 

Basically what Dagosa said

 

lol. ok, tea then, beer, Scotch, shit some people even pay money for water. I get what you're saying about all of it but could it be that full size pickups get the same mileage as 1/4 tons because of the bigger engines having not to work as hard to keep 'momentum' after a certain speed. my Tacoma with the 4.0L gets about the same mileage my Santa Fe did in the city and better mileage on the highway.Yes the Hyundai had a turbo but isn't that suppose to make it more efficient? The problem was that the Santa Fe had to work much harder then the 4.0L to move its mass. A full size pick up with a V8 has to work less then a V6 to move it's mass.

I don't know what the answer is. Lighter materials means higher costs....and to your point about people still buying the product as is...100% correct. why spend more money on making something better if the masses is willing to buy it as is.

 

TLDR ... so it's yea or nay ?

 

I really wish they would have used the 8 speed tranny that Lexus introduced in 2014...I have an 8 speed tranny in my Ram 1500, probably the best thing about the truck lol

 

Yup, we'd be getting great mileage

 

Seeing as this thread is about "3.5 Hit or miss": I will just say that I have about 3200 miles on mine, and everything has been running perfect. The Taco is very slow to accelerate unless you lean your foot into it, but if I am NOT on an on ramp there is no problem getting up to speed on the highway. I have plenty of power to get up and go and pass someone if needed, and the LITTLE limited off road driving I have done: I have NOT had any power complaints. With that said, this is my first TACO; so I cannot compare it to the 4.0 liter.

 

As far as QDR goes, time will tell. D-4S adds another level of complexity to the new V6 engine in the 2016 Toyota Tacoma. This system uses both port and direct fuel injection and the Atkinson cycle. Very complex electronics. Could be an improvement over the 4.0 V6 in <2015. Some of those engines are noisy with piston slap issues that Toyota doesn't want to fix.

 

I do not have nearly as many miles on mine, but my experience is the same. I was babying it the for few days and noticed that it was "sluggish", but smooth. For the past few days, I have put my foot into it just a bit more and thought "Wow! there's that extra power I've read about on the webz". It doesn't seem to affect mpg and actually makes the engine/shifting feel smoother. I think it just takes a bit more foot than folks are expecting (or are used to in the 4.0). The shifting between 5th and 6th and 5th on the highway is only noticeable when I'm looking/feeling for it (happens at the same spots on my commute). Now that I'm becoming more familiar with its behavior, I know to just give it a bit more foot and it drops into 5th and stays there until I'm ready for it drop back into 6th for cruising.

 

I'm pretty sure that the 2nd gen had strong sales numbers back when it debuted in 2005 and years after, and at that time there was even more competition than now! Nissan had its new gen Frontier, as well as the GM Twins of the time, Ford Ranger still selling well, Dodge Dakota, Hummer H3 SUT, Honda Ridgeline was a new offering. That was a lot of options for the mid-size truck buyer to consider! I doubt the current GM twins are going to make any threat to the Tacoma now or years from now.

 

All of the comments "it feels like" don't mean diddly.
Someone needs to do a V6 side by side comparison 15' vs 16'.
1/4 mile.
Stopped, then up a long grade towing a small boat
From 20 MPH to 80 MPH etc.
That's the only way to know for sure.

 

So the "new and improved" 3.5L can't even hang with the ancient 4.0L in the Tacoma. How then does it stack up against the more powerful dual vvti version found in the 2010+ FJ, 4runner and 2011-2014 Tundra?

 

Well said.

 

Keep the mileage and horsepower and just give me 40 more ftlbs of torque from 2500 - 4000.

 

Hilux 3.0 L diesel, 252 ft/lb torque from 1400-3400 rpm and 30.55 mpg.

 

Welcome to the post-CAFE world. The days of having a grunty engine in a smaller truck are over. If you want grunt, you gotta go full size. The only reason GM went with the D-max is because 1: It helps their overall fleet CAFE score and 2: Isuzu specializes in diesel tech and they already used a version of this motor overseas. I was really optimistic about the 2016 for towing my 3,000 lb trailer but after a test drive I don't see how it could possible tow it well. I literally thought something was wrong with the motor when I tested it. In fact, the sales guy almost apologized for the low end power and immediately hit the ECT button for me. My poverty gen 3.4 liter had SIGNIFICANTLY more power in stop and go traffic. If you had told a year ago that the 2016 Tacoma would feel weaker than a gen 1 around town I would have thought you were crazy.

 

I don't think this new 4 cylinder Duramax has anything to do with Isuzu. The 6.6L was co-developed by GM and Isuzu and even the early Duramax GM trucks had "ISUZU" stamped clearly on the engine.

I think this new Duramax is a VM Motori product. Same supplier that makes the pos Ram ecodiesel motor.

If we were lucky enough to get a real Isuzu product similar to that in the NPR ECOMAX but more HP and torque for non commercial use. It would blow the van motor Tacoma out of the water.

 

I don't know wtf some of you are talking about. My 3.5L is MUCH quieter than my 2010 4.0L and the 2016 will drive circles around the 4.0L. The injector "ticking" noise that sounded like a header leak is gone and the slight shudder on take off is gone too. The engine is not as loud and although I would have liked to see 300 HP too the 278 HP is more than enough. I don't know, maybe I am missing something?

 

I guess the fact that people say there 3.5 feels more responsive as it is broken in sound good, but I am guessing that is psychological.