Consumer Reports 2016 Tacoma Review

This is my experience also. The article was an opinion, not fact. I consult CR when buying a toaster, not a Taco.

 

Ignore Feature Many of us don't see these morons unless they're quoted.

 

At the Toyota dealership, I bought it while waiting on my truck to come out of the 30 day check up my dealership does

 

Let me know, it was $15 or $16 and a priority box to wherever you are would still be an alright price... It's my favorite hat

 

Some one stated that alot of the gripes posted in the consumer report are opinion based and I agree. The interior is way quieter than my 11 subaru and of course it's going to handle like a truck. Obviously door seals and humming are issues some owners deal with but the comfort of the seat? Person to pserson basis and i dont think it should have been published with that in there. The owner can decide if its comfortable or not. Every dealer I went to let me spend as much time I wanted in it.

One thing I don't get is how the trucks score can be knocked down by not having "modern safety features" like frontal impact avoidance and lane departure mitigation. How about you put your phone down and watch the road? It blows my mind that those features are luxury and will soon be required when the person behind the wheel should just pay attention.

 

What's numb steering? The only thing I find true is that the truck is sluggish on accelerating. I find my seats very comfortable. Luckily I don't have any
kind of vibration issues. I enjoy driving my truck.

 

There is only ONE review that matters to me..............MINE All the car ND DRIVERS, Motor Trends, Consumer Report means nothing to me.

My truck is problem free (for 3000 miles)since last October 8th 15

 

Well....this is my first post but have been reading here for 7 months. 30 years a Ranger owner now own 16 DCSB 4x4 SR5. Must say I was indeed surprised by the Consumer Reports review. Must also say it always confused me how in the past Consumer Reports would not recommend the Tacoma but they always sell well and the resale value is extraordinary. Guess I figured why would people repeat buy this truck is these issues were so obvious. This truck is my first auto trans.....always a stick for me but this is my retirement vehicle so I decided on the auto. Must say I am a little disappointed with the transmission and I have the rumble strip vibe when slowing down but overall I really really like the Tacoma. To me it is VERY quiet on the inside, rides really nice, and looks great! Handling?? Seems great to me. Brakes? Stops fine for me. No howling sounds at any speed and the steering wheel is always vibration free. Controls are handy. Front seat is a little short on the seat but compared to past Rangers feels great! No one drives the truck but me so why would I need electric seats that never get moved?? Engine seems quiet to me and I love the Entune stereo. Love how it sits up as I can just slide right in! Tranny does frustrate me and had a pint of fluid added but after 4 months and 4000 miles I would buy it again

 

I think the important thing to keep in mind here, is this is a truck. All the complaints about the new taco, really, if you want a truck that drives like a car, go buy a new jeep crossover or a subaru etc, even a new toyota landcruiser. (I have an fj62, so I feel comfortable saying that).
I want a truck and a midsize one, thats why I buy a tacoma. I wish we could still get the old fleet options with role down windows and steel wheels ha ha. Trucks are not usually made to go fast, there made to haul, tow, and be used offroad. Complaining, that you can't keep up with the audi in the lane next to you, is not what the thing is for. Go buy a sports car, and 20 mpg, in gas engine, is pretty solid. BMW M5's get the same. I have driven trucks mostly old ones my whole life. When I test drove the new tacoma, I was extremely impressed,its quiet, comfortable, and responsive. To be fair, I did not try to drive 100 mph, and swerve through traffic, while texting and watching netflix, so maybe my assessment is off. I buy a truck for a truck. A stock tacoma, will get you most places offroad, and with about an added 2k you could drive to south america, I have done it. That is pretty amazing in my opinion. Thanks Toyota..

 

only a 2nd gen could acomplish that...you must be delusional....lmmfao

 

As a point of reference, Consumer Reports rates the new Colorado/Canyon 51.

 

been on this forum since last fall, if the dealership wouldnt have lowballed me today on my super clean 12 sport, i would have left with a 16 blue sport. they wouldnt budge on trade, the reviews dont bother me, ive had 4 tacomas and they all did rite by me

 

i am not saying the 2016 tacoma is the holy grail.. I am just getting tired of reading about how people want their truck and sedan to be one in the same. Look around the world, numerous people are driving modern toyota's through the toughest terrain.

 

16 Taco is my favorite truck and now has 10,000 trouble free miles (minus a little cross wind howl...). Previous trucks have been a F-150 Flairside 351 Cleveland (2 20gal tanks and needed both), Dodge 2500 Cummins Turbo Diesel 5 speed (leaked from head gasket immediately after warranty expired), Dakota with pressed gears in trans and banjo (patooey), 2008 Tundra 5.7, 2011 Tundra SR-5 5.7L, 2014 Tundra SR-5 4.6L and the 2016 TRD Sport. We find the 2016 to be comfortable for hours of travelling, great handling, great ride on hi-way, economical ( I avg 23 mpg) doing 100 mile/day in it, quite and once the transmission was "trained", it shifted differently than I'm use too, but works well. Truck has plenty of power if you know how to use it. The engine has been used for years in the Lexus 250/350 and is one of the best engines ever made (Weber eval if I recall). D4-S has been around for a while in top end stuff too. That Consumer Reports doesn't like it only adds to the luster as most of the advice I've followed from them has resulted in replacements.

 

The back and forth/flaming in this thread is pretty entertaining.

My opinion? 3400 miles in and I haven't had any issues other than a superficial piece of plastic sheathing behind the glove box making a subtle buzzing noise. Fixed that with a piece of electrical tape.

Otherwise, she's great. I drove a 2004 Tacoma (TRD off road, 5 speed manual) and then onto a 2010 4Runner prior to this truck. I can say that aside from the brief period of getting used to the Gen 3's 6 speed transmission, the thing actually shifts smoother now than the 4.0 liter 5 speed that was in the 4Runner. Maybe that's the adaptive transmission doing it's job? Either way I've had no issues. I have no weird vibrations, now howling, no issues with the brakes, etc. Maybe I'll be decried as a fanboy because I'm not trashing the truck, but I won't trash it if it doesn't deserve it, and so far it's only been worthy of praise. I got an average of about 20 mpg with the 4Runner's engine and I'm getting nearly 23 mpg with the Gen 3.

Bummer to hear some of you are having issues. But I'm not. Pretty sure I'm not alone, either.

 

Had my DCSB OR 4x4 for nearly 1000 miles and I am very happy with it overall. I can say I have noticed some of the issues people have brought up on the forums but I have found them to largely be tolerable.

Before I get into the issues, I have owned and driven the following: 1988 Honda CR-X, 1993 Honda Del Sol S, 1998 Honda Civic, 2000 Honda S2000 (by far favorite car ever owned), 2001 Dodge Dakota 4x4 Sport DCSB 4.7L V8 (one hell of a tough, durable, ballsy truck), 2000 Volvo XC70, 2008 Volvo XC70, a 2011 Honda CR-Z EX, and now my Taco.

Some of the issues I have noticed but have found tolerable are:

1) Rumble-strip feeling when breaking below 15mph but I chalked this up to the bulky kevlar-reinforced tires. Didn't notice this on the Dakota with similar sized tires, usually BFG TA. Feels more like tires than brakes or transmission anyway and I was going to play with tire pressures to see if there was any difference.

2) Noticing a slight hum from the rear end.

3) Anemic radio (no tech package so no JBL) - seems to also depend on the audio source as to how loud and clear the sound produced

4) Entune sucks... OK sucks is harsh but it takes a long time to connect, tries to launch on iOS but doesn't always start, induction charger works ok with adapter card bought separately. Messaging was a bitch to get working correctly and I develop software for a living so I can't imagine how a regular Joe/Jane would struggle through it. I also thought it would auto-reply when I was driving but if it does I have missed where to set this up.

Many have complained about the transmission hunting or engine being under-powered. I find the engine has enough power for a V6. I do notice the transmission hunting issue but chalked it up to the engine trying to be economical and over aggressively up-shifting. Discovered the ECT PWR button for the first time today and WOW... much better.

I haven't heard the howl people seem to get from the holes in the a-frame or chassis that some have plugged up but then again I haven't done much driving with the windows down or the radio off.

Plus I bought it for the Toyota reliability, resale value, fuel economy (compared to the V8 RAM 1500s I was looking at), right-fit size as I think full-size are too big for my needs. Styling is wicked and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the 4x4 OR features for some light off-roading. Your mileage may vary.

 

This is something I noticed with mine as well. I was thinking it was the transmission downshifting. I may try putting it in manual 3rd gear, and trying to replicate.

I'm still relatively low miles, but so far I don't have any vibrations from the rear-end or steering wheel. No howling noise. I am experiencing the low shift points in the transmission, it's very aggressive downshifting to keep low RPM. I think this is what is causing the engine to feel a tad sluggish until the RPM gets up to 3k or so (like turbo lag). People keep talking about the transmission learning your driving patterns... not sure what that's about but maybe it'll fix itself.

 

I had an issue with getting messaging to work with my iPhone 6 at first, too. Basically I had to screw around with it for a while and eventually Entune decided to communicate with my phone and now it works. The whole "all touchscreen" functionality isn't my favorite, but I've gotten used to it enough that I don't mind it so much anymore. Still debating whether I'm going to keep my Sirius/XM radio, I think I'm leaning towards letting it lapse and forgetting about it.

 

... ^^^ ... I have had Sirius for years and love it now ... you can negotiate with them for a better price at renewal.

Many good channels for me and can use Sirius app on laptop, iTouch and cell too.

I haven't hooked up my Entune to my iPhone yet ... not in a rush to solve that problem yet.
.

 

I'm coming from a 2007 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer I had for like a decade, so this vehicle certainly feels a ton different. I did have an '85 Toyota 4wd pickup, and this Taco sure feels a hell of a lot like that, and I LIKE that. I had that little guy for over 250K miles, it was like home without a basement.

No, I do not like how the new Taco downshifts at the mere whiff of a hill, but whatever, I'm still getting more than 25% better mileage than the Exploder. As for the noise, it's a tacoma, not a taurus based mom mobile i needed as a single dad with 4 daughters. Yep, there's a little washboard chatter when coming to a stop on a downslope. I don't know why, but it doesn't bother me.

My daughters boyfriend managed to fit in the seat behind me in the Taco, and he was a practice squad defensive tackle for the Patriots for a couple years. My granddaugters car seat fits fine, and I have all my off-road emergency necessities stowed under and behind the seats so my Kelly can't see the stuff, she think's I'm super neat about my truck now. I'm not into plastic gadgets, or I'd have bought a GMC, but these stowage spots work out pretty well and are easy to clean

I freakin LOVE how the thing drives. Sure, at first it's a little mushy when you're coming from a car-based SUV, but it is SUPER predictable, unlike the worst free car I ever had, a Saturn Vue (holy GARBAGE!!).

Is this thing perfect? Nope. I bought a first year vehicle of a new generation of vehicles knowing this could be the case. Do I REALLY like my "mid life crisis vehicle" as my kids call it? HELL YEAH! I love being able to drive over curbs and medians at around-town speed just for fun. I also can't wait to put it to use on the beach to go striper fishig all over New England, New York and NJ.