3rd Gen Test Drive

My vote still goes to a supercharged 4.0. Hard to beat that imo

But yes, i was referring to OVTune's TT kit in my previous post. Sorry if that was unclear

 

From what I'm seeing on the boards, sites and such is that the next gen will get some new goodies but mostly superficial stuff but the engine will stay the same.

 

yeah I dunno how credible it was, I know in building this turbo kit he's been in talks with Magnuson and other big aftermarket brands but it's too soon to tell for sure what the next gen Tacoma will be

 

Threads like these keep my truck resale value higher than ever, having a 2nd gen is as good as equity in a house lmao. 3rd gens have a black mark on them after all these years of being bashed on here

 

I wish the 3rd gen had an engine to match the VQ40DE in my Frontier. It has more low end than a 1GR and all of the top end of the 2GR. No clattery sounds and the throttle is very responsive, it's also known to be very reliable.

 

In this forum, sure. But the 3rd gen is dominating sales. No 1st or 2nd gen sales have come close to matching the 3rd gen sales, especially for 2018. So the general public and most consumers/users of our trucks would disagree.

To be fair, I initially searched for a low mileage 2nd gen and found that a brand new 3rd gen was only 4-6k more than a used 2nd in my market. I got mine new for ~36k OTD with everything but JBL. I also had a loaner 4runner at various times and was not impressed by the mythical 4.0 in the 4runner, which has much more HP than the 2nd gen taco. Definitely had more low end grunt, but not enough to justify the sharp fall off in power after 35mph, which is where I do most of my commuting.

 

When HP Tuners begins supporting the dual VVTi 1GR, there's gonna be a lot of happy 2010+ 4Runner (and FJC) owners. The 1GR in my 2014 Tacoma was a dog before it got tuned.

 

The 1GRFE felt strong in my '06 AC 4wd SR5, I definitely wished it had more power. It was a 3900lb truck with no traction or stability control. The 5th gen 4runner is nearly 1000lbs heavier so I can see why even the updated 1GRFE doesn't feel too strong in it.

 

Yea, but that’s a $7000 addon.

 

Probably way more than that once you figure in install costs (most people won't be doing it themselves I bet) and whatever other issues they'll definitely run into along the way...boost is an expensive rabbit hole

 

The price I posted was just the parts and software. I have no doubt that’s just the beginning.

I’m happy with my analog 2015. I never was happy with the cruise control and freeway behavior of my 2017 OR. Around town it was fine with ECT enabled. Basically, I did a 14 month test drive. When it came time to get my fiance her car, saying goodbye to the 2017 wasn’t hard. I liked the look and some of the features but the engine tranny combo is annoying at times.

Finding a low miles, clean 2015 for a good price isn’t easy. Took me quite a long time. The main reason it seems is that folks that have them in north Texas, keep them.

 

Word is the Tundra will be getting a dual turbo hybrid motor for the next redesign then will move to the Tacoma.Toyota is moving to put hybrids in their entire line of vehicles.

 

Sure is. My friend has a 3.3L SC (VG33ER) 5spd Xterra, makes good power but it's a 15mpg truck on premium fuel. Pretty cool that it rolled off the assembly line with an SC though! Doubt we will see that again.

If I wanted forced induction in a 3rd gen Tacoma I'd start with a 2.7L truck.

 

I have been snooping around the HP Tuners thread in this section of the Forum with curiosity.

What is the biggest noticeable difference between stock and your tuned setup?

Have you towed with tune? I would like more torque at 70mph pulling an enclosed trailer.

 

There's a lot to read through there but the biggest differences for me has been:

-throttle response. Our 2014 felt softer than our 2006, even with the tiny 245 tires it came with. After I lifted, tired, armoured the newer truck, even more so. Turns out the 2012-2015 Tacomas have softer throttle mapping. Now it feels stronger than the 2006, even with all the junk bolted on.

Fuel economy: As we know, the 1GR-FE can be thirsty when we start making comparisons to other vehicles. Before tuning and after lifting/etc., I was getting pretty lousy fuel econ on the 70 odd miles to town and back. It's in the thread but if I remember, I was lucky to get 17 MPG. After tuning, the same route, driven the same way started showing 21MPG. I just drove up to Oregon with the truck loaded to full GVWR and probably then some and averaged 18.4. Same trip last year with less gear was in the 15's.

-The ability to control lots of other systems and parameters. I haven't even got into the tranny tuning capabilities. There's so much there, but even with my limited knowledge and the little I've played with all of its capabilities, I would purchase again without question. After all, looks like it'll pay for itself in fuel savings alone by this time next year.

 

Thank you for the very detailed answer!

Maybe this will convince someone to keep their 2nd Gen...

 

What black mark?

 

The sales numbers have been great. That doesn’t mean the platform is perfect. They’ll get it really nailed down right before they launch the fourth gen.

 

After owning a 2017 auto, the manual drove so much better, although I agree with you that it really did remind me of a 4 cyl. If I had originally grabbed an MT, I probably would've toughed it out. The auto was no bueno.

I was in the same boat, but my "test drive" was 6 months. It was hard to find a good 2014-2015, so I feel you on that one. For being in a place that has sooo much Tacomas, I found a lot of people treat them like crap.

I started looking into the HP Tuners at one point, but started getting lost and overwhelmed in the info and pages so I gave up in a way. Nice to hear that you got happy results from the tune. I'll have to give it a second look.

 

What island are you on? I probably would have kept the 2017 if I lived on Maui. The 70-85mph annoyances would not come into play there.