3rd Gen Reliability experience from owners so far

My '17 Taco doesn't have all that safety crap on it. Less to go wrong later on.

Been flawless after 4 horrible winters, and 4 hotter than hell summers, so far.

 

2020 Off Road. First year of ownership was a nightmare. See my post elsewhere on this forum. Truck kept stalling out. Toyota replaced high and low pressure fuel pumps and still had problem. They finally found a loose wire in the fuse box from the factory. Truck is at 10,000 miles now and hoping nothing else goes wrong. Been trouble free since the loose wire was located

 

My 16’ has a lot more miles than yours but I replaced my battery sometime last year after it left me stranded. Even if you don’t replace it right now, it might be something you keep an eye on.

 

18 Off road. 52k miles no issues.

 

The battery failed within a month of my post last year. It was nice enough to die at my home and was fortunately not a problem. Just sounded weak one day and failed to start without the battery charger the next.

 

I owned a 2016, lots of issues (transmission, engine smoothness, rattles). I now own a 2019 (2 years, 24k miles), only the fuel pump TSB and I had a fender flare separate from it's backing (dealer covered under warranty without argument). Is 3rd gen reliable, I think so. As good as past generations, of that I am not sure.

 

Seems like that’s how Toyota rolls, they come up with a design and work out the kinks with time. The highest rated trucks in each generation seem to be the ones at the end of the design cycle.

 

How much did your aftermarket cost?

 

Given the underwhelming reliability (or lack thereof) of the 16’ year models. I can again say I must have gotten extremely lucky. 150-160k miles with no oil leaks, no paint issues (super white), no transmission issues, the list goes on.

I have done routine 7-10k mile oil changes, emptied the trans pan around 10-15k miles ago (first time ever), and had to replace the battery around a year ago when it left me stranded. I haven’t even changed the spark plugs yet.

I have installed aftermarket rotors and pads, but the originals were still pretty decent other than hot spots from towing without a trailer controller. Other than that, it has been dozens of air filters, both engine and cabin, tons of windshield wipers, likely hundreds of gallons of wiper fluid and five or six sets of tires.

As of today, I owe $0.00 on my Tacoma (paid off final balance of $1,900) and I can say it has for me been money well spent. It may not be the fanciest, fastest, or the most powerful, but I love my little Taco and it has been incredible. Here’s to the next six years and hoping it will be just as great as it has been thus far

 

I think mine was about $250? That was for a Pilkington windshield. Apparently they are OEM for Toyota

 

$200 installed. Toyota quoted me $800, saying the windshield had to be "calibrated" after install.

 

My battery exploded and leaked acid on my brake booster vacuum (?) at less than 5,000 miles. I was not aware of this as I slowly lost brake pressure but didn't notice it, thinking this is a new truck and I am just getting used to how it drives and all.

The revelation came was when I lost total brake pressure and almost crashed into my house at a low speed reversing into the garage.

Dealer replaced the battery and damaged braking components. It's been another 4,000 miles and no problems.

I really like the truck. Most annoying thing is my driver's side mirror whistles loudly at about 45mph and up. Too annoying to drive with windows down. Luckily the truck is well-insulated from outside noise and the auto AC system works great. Dealer did not attempt to fix the mirror on the first service visit, saying they could not replicate it (yeah right!). I will bring it up again at the 10,000 mile service.

I am positive the whistling noise is not from the door as some earlier year models had that issue. I can grab the mirror and pull it towards me or run my finger along the gap of the mirror and the arm while driving and I can effect how much whistling noise I hear.

 

2020 TRD Offroad DCSB - Manual Transmission (Built in Texas)



Purchased in October 2019 with 5mi on the clock, just rolled over 30,000mi. Modifications include:
- Clutch accumulator delete
- Soft Topper for bed
- BFG K02's (265/75/r16)
- Used Techstream to tweak some settings related to PCS behavior

Recalls:
- Fuel pump recall, never had issues but it was replaced anyway

Issues:
- Squeaky clutch pedal, sometimes
- Rear diff howls right around 50mph, but seems to work perfectly fine
- Passenger front speaker seems to crackle when the vehicle is very cold, but goes away in warmer climate
- Mice got into the cab, but thankfully didn't destroy anything. Upon investigation I found they are able to sneak in through the cabin intake, so I added a metal grille.
- Tailgate is a little bit misaligned and has been wearing on the bed
- Battery is leaky and causing some corrosion on the battery bracket

Regrets:
- I wish I had done the long bed, but then again having 4-doors for more whores has been essential too...
- The premium package with heated seats would have been nice to have... But then again it comes with so much other junk that I don't care about...
- The stock tires are trash. They are literally bad at everything, should have swapped them sooner lol

Aaaaaand... That is pretty much it. The last 2 years have been incredibly care free and The truck has handled everything I ask it to do. Would absolutely buy it again if I went back in time.

For what it is worth, my buddy has a 2017 MT Pro that has had pretty much every problem you could think of... So maybe he got unlucky.

 

I bought my 2017 SR DCSB new in July of 2017. Overall it's been a great truck. I'm approaching 60k miles and am on my second set of tires. Used Toyotacare for service right up until my last oil change which was the last of them, I'll be doing them now.

Tsb for squeaky leaf springs was done in 2018, new pads between the springs I believe. Also at one point there was a recall for the blower motor that was done, but I didn't actually have any issues with mine.

Nothing else has been done yet. I think my front brakes are getting thin though, that'll likely be the first "repair".

I love everything about it except for the transmission software, they really made it underwhelming to drive with that. It's constantly a gear or two high for any situation, staying well under the torque curve. A manual transmission would solve this easily. New software would too, although I still haven't pulled the trigger on that. I drive in ECT all the time which is better, not perfect but noticeably improved.

I have no reliability concerns with mine of any kind though, it's been rock solid, like my past Toyotas have been.

 

10k on my 2021. Obviously no issues

 

My 2018 just entered it’s 4th year of service with 30k miles. Recalls for fuel pump and TSS completed and so far no hints of any problems. My personal experience is, very reliable.

 

Nice looking truck. Geez, seems like you've had a few issues for a 2020. My 2020 access cab sr5 auto with the premium package was built in texas to, except for an initial dirty door switch it has been flawless, plus i swapped over to a set of goodyear adventure a/t tires which work fine here. Only thing that aggravates me at times is all this electronic safety crap.

 

I don't know, these issues have been so mild I'm not particularly bothered by it. My roomie and his friend opted for a GMC and Dodge respectively, the GMC has fewer miles than my Taco and has had 2 transmissions replaced and a slew of other electrical problems, the Dodge is still in the shop after 4 months because of a transmission and turbo assembly replacement... So in the era of modern trucks I think we Taco guys are still coming out ahead lol.

 

Never spike the ball till Ya cross the goal line.

 

One thing that does concern me a bit: I had read recently that the cylinder walls of the 2GR-FKS are so thin that you can't bore/hone in the event of cylinder wall damage. If that is true, that means we should be extra cautious to preserve the cylinder walls at all costs, unless you don't mind swapping an engine. Let the truck warm up before setting off, change the oil religiously, try not to bog it (manual guys), try not to redline it, basic stuff really. Would be curious to know if anybody has a super high mileage 2GR that could chime in.