Double Cab Short Box Off-Road Manual trans test drive

This is going to be a long rambling post about my first test drive in a 2016 DCSB OR MT Tacoma. I'm taking the time to give some background so that you can better understand my perspectives--I figure this might help someone better understand where I'm coming from as I comment on things.

For the last 2 years I've been in the market for a new vehicle. All I really want is something with four doors, four seats, 4wd, V8, manual trans and ability to tow my old 2500lb Willys flatfender on a car trailer. That's it. I'd prefer a "wagon" shape to a pickup, but a pickup is acceptable. I keep testing pretty good SUV's but the mandatory automatic just... kills it for me. The 8 speed auto in the grand cherokee is pretty good, but I'm not sure I'm willing to spend that much on fiat/chrysler product. I almost bought an x-terra. Almost. I really wish they would bring back an updated version of it.

What I currently have, just for perspective.
2002 Chevy 1500 fullsize, standard cab, standard box (6.5'). V8, manual, 4wd with some options.
2006 Jeep rubicon unlimited (that's the long wheelbase 2 door wrangler with locking differentials). Straight six, manual trans, hard top.
1947 Jeep CJ-2a mostly stock old retrowheeler with a swapped in big old HD 4 speed.
2005 Honda Accord- V6, Auto, leather etc - wife's car

It's been awhile, but I grew up driving, owning and working on many 1980's and early 90's Toyota pickups and 4runners. I have a soft spot for the Toyota trucks.

The 2nd gen tacoma double cab was pretty high on my list. No V8, but it otherwise more or less met my needs. I test drove four of them over the course of 6 months (back in 2013/14), each time hoping I'd like it more than I actually did. My main complaint with the previous model is the uncomfortable seating position. I just could not get comfortable and test drives over 30 minutes made it glaringly obvious that this truck just isn't going to work. Another concern I had with the second gen is fuel mileage, actually have a coworker that routinely gets 1-2mpg worse than my chevy and he's tried everything it seems. And even though it wouldn't stop me from buying, the old interior and previous etune system felt cheap and dated and honestly not nearly as nice as my 12 year old chevy pickup. (OK, so my chevy doesn't have blue tooth or a fancy LCD, but it does everything else etune did). At the end of the day, I just couldn't see spending that much for something that was in every way a downgrade to my Chevy--other than having 4 seats.

So now that the new one is here, I had to drive it and see what I think. My local dealer just got a DCSB OR MT, so that's what I drove. It also had the technology package/sunroof - which I wouldn't get, but that's what it had. I didn't mind any of it, but we never make 'use' of the sunroof in our Honda, I don't care about most of the goodies, I kind of like the old fashioned heater controls, and although I like heated seats--I can't see spending $2000 on it.

First thing I noticed is that the seating position is better. I would say it's about the same as my wife's 2005 Accord with the seat in it's lowest position, with about the same headroom as her car with the seat in it's highest position. I have a short torso, no butt and I'm 5'8", 140lb so I struggle to see over the steering wheel in most cars, usually my line of site is right at the windshield wiper. The seats themselves are "fine". The material is that kind of slippery modern cloth stuff that feels kind of cheap compared to the old SR5-SR5-SR5-SR5 seats of the 1980's or the cloth in my Chevy. They are nicer than the seats in my wrangler, but that's not much of a compliment. The dark grey/black color in the interior is a HUGE HUGE improvement over the basic rental car monotone grey of the second gen.

With the front seats in a comfortable position for me I felt like the back seat was adequate, but just. My feet need to tuck under the front seats. They fit, but just barely. I have about an inch between my knee and the setbacks. The seatback is slightly more upright than ideal, but fine. The rear cushions are 'fine', but do lack a center arm rest. Overall there is less room or comfort than our Accord, but the seats are a little flatter, so there might be more left-right space for car seats (three across) or that sort of thing.

In the Tacoma I can definitely see over the wipers and, unusual for me, I can see the hood. It's a big hood. Driving this, it feels a lot bulkier than my full-size Chevy, it feels like the back corner of the bed is a mile away and as if the hood slopes upward from the base of windshield with no clear idea where it might end.

The controls all feel damped, heavy, thick and isolated. In particular the steering is heavier feeling than any of my modern cars but also with less feedback. It's not 'slow' but with the added heft, it feels slow to steer. It's not nimble and responsive like the old Toyota pickups I grew up with. The brakes feel fine, but also kind of have that numb feel that it seems many newer cars suffer from. But they weren't bad. As others mentioned, on tip in the throttle is also fairly lazy, but acceptable. Clutch effort and take-up is good, a little lighter than my (10+ year old vehicles) but not as light as some cars are.

The transmission lever feels like it's way over to the right, but I made custom bent shifters on my Chevy and Willys so it's not really a fair comparison. The shift pattern has a heavy spring loaded LEFT and FWD for reverse, which is a little different (like an old VW!) but, again, no problem. This one shifted very nicely, throws seem pretty reasonable, a little shorter than my other three cars, not notchy like my Chevy can be. Overall, quite happy with the trans. Since some have asked, it doesn't have a 'granny' gear 1st, it's a "regular" double overdrive six speed. With the lower rear end gearing and slightly wider total ratio, it idles along in first acceptably. For example, you can put it in reverse and once moving rest your foot on the brake while backing up and not kill it. (speaking from experience backing up over the curb into the show area of at my dealer's lot).

Speaking of backing up, the rear view camera is great and seems to work as well as any 'modern' setup I've test driven, complete with the parking lines and so-forth and at a reasonable, but not "HD" resolution.

Gear ratios from another thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2016-gear-ratios-at-awesome-mt-now-with-double-overdrive.387347/

2016 6MT 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th (with 4.30 axle gearing)
Gear ratio 3.98 2.02 1.32 1.00 0.85 0.71
Final drive 17.1 8.69 5.68 4.30 3.66 3.05
5.61:1 total spread

2005 6MT 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th (with 3.73 axle gearing)
Gear ratio 4.171 2.19 1.488 1.193 1.00 0.849
Final drive 15.56 8.17 5.550 4.450 3.73 3.167
4.91:1 total spread

The drive:
I'm going to try not to repeat what others have said, but here are some things I noticed.

-Noise: Less wind and road noise than any of my cars. Definitely less than the 2nd gen tacoma. I forgot to specifically look for the complained resonance mentioned in other threads- but I didn't notice it.

-Ride: The ride felt great. Kind of isolated and numb but it seemed to be controlled, yet not harsh. I thought it rode great. I hit some patchy roads on purpose and it thumped over it without much noise or felt roughness.

-Handling: I didn't push it at all, but from what I felt, it cornered pretty flat and seemed to feel tight and controlled. The steering is numb compared to any of my/our cars (which is sad when you think about it--I'm comparing this to a jeep wrangler of all things. And a 12 year old chevy pickup! And a 68 year old flat fender!!) but it wasn't as bad as I recall the last 4runner I drove, which was really numb and heavy. I forgot to verify that the tacoma has hydraulic assisted steering, but I have read that it does.

Overall it was a remarkably uneventful test drive. I thought it drove nice, the seats didn't hurt, it shifted nice, I felt a little like I was sitting in a big bulbous inflatable school bus (the raised hood and the rear corners being a mile away as I mentioned before). Power wasn't a 'wow' but I felt like if you ask for it and downshifted, like there is something there. Again, brand new car, I just couldn't bring myself to rod on it, as much as I wanted to.

Cruising down the road, I didn't get a good feel for fuel mileage. It has an instantaneous display (a blue bar with 0--|--30 mpg tick marks below it) and that thing was all over the place. I just couldn't get a feel for cruising mileage. When I started it said 13.7mpg average and 50 miles total. I tried, but failed, to reset the odometer or fuel mileage. When it ended I was at about 68 miles and 14.7mpg.

Overall, I came away thinking 'this is something I could buy.' I do wish it were a 4runner or something not so darn long. I wish it had a v8 (not so much for the power, just for the sound). I wouldn't mind a little more upright seating. But, this is decent.

 

Cool. Wish they offered the manual in the DCLB. If they did, I would pick one up today.