Affordability: Tacoma vs. Wrangler

Yeah, I was just quoting MSRP for both vehicles, prior to any discounts or negotiation.

 

One thing that impressed me with Chrysler was that they extended the coverage for the cylinder head for 10 years and 150k miles for the whole fleet. It was a nice gesture. Toyota has been good with their warranty as well (replacing entire frames).


....Just occured to me that I have nothing better with my saturday than this. What have I become???

 

So what kind of deals off of MSRP or invoice have you guys been able to get on the new Tacoma? I went to KBB.com, and the fair purchase price on an SR5 built the way I wanted it was $31,509 on an MSRP of $33,585.

Hmm, or I could possibly get a TRD Off Road (also a 4x4/auto/crew cab) without any options for a fair purchase price of $32,701 on an MSRP of $34,630. Seems like it would be well worth the $1.2K premium, if they actually exist in this configuration.

Yeah, I checked local inventory. They actually have SR5s in stock in the $33K range. The cheapest TRD Off Road I found was $38K.

 

To go off on another tangent, what do you guys think of the Nissan Frontier Pro4 (I'm probably getting that wrong)? Good value for the buck at about $32K, but way too outdated to even consider?

 

For that money I would stick with Toyota. Not bias for Tacomas, but used to rent cars and drove a frontier for 1000 miles during a work trip through north and South Dakota. Not comfy at all. Lots of wind noise. Not so great gas mileage. I got 16-17 range through 3 tanks.

 

I'd be more worried about the long term
reliability of the Jeep.

 

I'm in Birmingham and went to hoover Toyota. I got my trd or sb 4x4 for 33050. Out the door 34800 and came with a lifetime powertrain warranty. Only options I got were towing and some paint protection. They also gave me the all weather mats. If you go to the pricing thread I got it under invoice. Good experience with them. Just letting you know. I also wanted a jeep but went with the truck. I love it and have had no issues.

 

safety = tacoma wins

total cost of ownership = tacoma wins

no contest based on those two demands.

 

Jeeps look cool but their reliability is crap

 

So here's the deal... I have owned a 1989 Toyota 4x4 Pickup, a 1993 4x4 Pickup and a 2003 4x4 Tacoma. I have also owned a 1978 CJ7, a 2001 TJ Sport, and a 2013 Wrangler Unlimited. We just traded the Wrangler Unlimited today on a 2016 Tacoma 4x4 V6 TRD Off Road.

With the 2016 V6 Your talking 20 MPG combined with decent gearing for off roading too. With the Wrangler Pentastar V6 your going to get 15-16 MPG with a Rubicon or any Wrangler with decent off road gearing and 22 MPG with the highest gearing that makes the Wrangler feel like a Corrola. No low end at all.

No offense to the Jeep people, but the Wranglers just aren't made with the same quality. No one EVER says: "Legendary Wrangler Reliability..." They're not bad, but they're not Toyotas either.

Having said all that, if I could have bought new 2006 TJ today, I would have done that... I'm not even sure if I can wrap my brain around that though! On the other hand I am so far extremely impressed with the new Tacoma. A lot has changed, but a lot has not, too and that's a really good thing, I think.

 

To OP when I bought a SUV in 2015 I drove almost every SUV on the market even if I wasn't really considering that vehicle. Same this year when I bought my truck. I drove everything. Make an informed decision. For me some of it was resale value. But in the seat time. Besides its just fun to take a ride in a dealer vehicle and not worry about using a ton of their gas lol

 

I had a 2008 Wrangler X. It was the last year you could order it with vinyl seats, which I did because I considered my Wrangler a piece of equipment that needed to be able to get nasty and be easily cleaned. Anyway, I really liked my Wrangler an I'd still be driving it today if not for the the fact that it was built by Chrysler and Chrysler seems to be committed to making shit that doesn't last. By the time my Jeep clicked past 20 thousand miles it was burning 3 quarts of oil every 5000 miles. Jeep informed me that this was normal and unless it was burning a quart or more every 1000 miles that there was nothing they would or could do about it. In reality the problem is common to Chrysler 3.8 motors from that era and from what I have been able to find out it is attributed to, surprise, crappy quality control at the engine assembly plant. It seems that piston rings did not have the gaps staggered during assembly thus leaving an open channel for oil to slip into the combustion chamber and be burned off. The Jeep ran fine, it didn't smoke but it burned the hell out of some oil. I was concerned that ultimately I would end up replacing the catalytic converter at about 60K or something like that and we know how expensive those can be. Aside from that it had the occasional water leak around the doors because it was a soft top and it had an intermittent electrical issue with the radio whereby the radio would randomly either turn itself on or off. At one point the vehicle suffered some hail damage to the hood. Rather than leave it in a shop I ordered a new hood and had it painted to match because replacing a hood on a Wrangler is dirt simple. When the new hood was ready a buddy of mine helped me remove the original hood. When I unscrewed the hinge I discovered that the bare metal hood beneath the hinge was already beginning to rust which again speaks to Chryslers quality control. My guess is that you could probably find rust under most of the hood and door hinges on Jeeps that are on the road today. This is all just food for thought. Wranglers are cool as hell and they have an aftermarket that is second to none. The biggest problem with Wranglers is that the company that makes them just refuses to commit to quality.

 

When buying a wrangler, everyone uses the Tread Lightly discount, (1% below factory invoice), saves thousands:
https://www.treadlightly.org/join/individual/fcusa-affiliates-reward-program/

 

1% of factory invoice would only be "hundreds" not "thousands" unless your buying a vehicle over $100k. Just wanted to make sure you are up on your math today!

 

I think that while you may pay a bit more to get into a Tacoma, over the life of the vehicle, it will end up costing you a lot less in maintenance.

 

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Well I will comment on this post, as far as safety and everyday driving the Tacoma is the way to go. I just traded in a fully set up 2012 Jeep Rubicon on a 2016 TRD 4x4 only because I use it as a work vehicle and I'm compensated by my company and I have to meet with clients. The Tacoma is more efficient but my Rubicon would run circles off road around my Tacoma on a 3" lift and 35's. If your not off-roading its a no brainer the Tacoma is the way to go. I will not bash Jeeps they have their purpose but when the jeep truck comes out in 2018 I will go back to a jeep only because of the transmission issues with the Tacoma. Going from the Jeep the Tacoma was the only option I would consider, both are great vehicles in their own respect.

 

My 4x4 SR5 V6 Double Cab was MSRP of 31K before negotiations. Not very close to the stock 23K for a two door Wrangler, but then again I was looking for a truck bed and Toyota proven reliability.

 

When I bought my jk, msrp was the final selling price.