Drivability from ‘16-21

Aftermarket.

 

I went from a 16 to a 21. Both OR and I see a big difference its not a car it's a truck but it's much smoother than my 16.

 

Same here with my 2018. Not a single tune I’ve tried has made a noticeable difference in anything sadly. I dont even mind the gear hunting that much. Just the bogging/shifting at 1700ish RPM while I’m accelerating and the unpredictable behaviour. I know the engine/trans is capable of adequate power. It’s there if you really push the pedal. The shift logic just does not let you have any unless you drive like an asshat lol. As far as this threads concerned, I’ve tried two other 2016+ Tacoma’s and they all drive different from one another. Very odd.

 

One thing I noticed about the loaner 21 they gave me different than my 16 is with ect off on the 21, it holds the gear, which is damm annoying. For example at 25mph if you let off the gas the truck seems to drag down, moves you forward a tad from momentum, because its holding the gear, where in my 16 it shifts out and coasts. In the 21 automatic its like in a manual just holding 2nd and letting off the gas and it's drags back. Very noticeable and annoying, I keep lurching forward a tad when I let off the gas. It's not a damm manual sports car and I don't need that. My Camry doesn't do that either, smooth ride like it should be. If I need that on my 16 I hit the ect switch. Any year imo can be adjusted with a pedal commander, that's the only thing they are changing it seems like. 21 is definitely not smoother than my 16. Can't wait to get my 16 back from the campaign mod, and with my fox suspension it's a no brainer. All this stuff I have been reading about smoother rides on later years I don't agree with. It seems like they just changed the gearing up the 21 with the ect switch off, where normally you would turn it on for that feel. I have had 0 problems with my truck in 5 years other than a battery, and I would not consider trading in for a later year.

 

I had a 2017 that drove me nuts. Love my 2021 OR.

 

I'm in a rather unique situation where as I regularly drive both brand new tacomas and used tacomas at my dealer. Has it improved massively? Yes. Would I say the difference is noticeable? Heck yes.

 

After driving a loaner 21 because of the rust campaign mod on my 16, seems all they changed slightly was the shifting/software response of the pedal which with a pedal commander or aftermarket software you can do the same thing if not better with any year. With ect on both trucks there is no difference imo. Same engine, same tranny, different software. Same truck. 0-60 times - same. Power - same. Torque - same. I'm open to any different hardware part numbers such as added cylinders, nitro injection (lol), anything, that has changed over the years that have made this "massive" performance increase which there aren't any. Only thing that has changed is software version x.xx or your wallet.
Problem with later models you can't smooth it out. It's like ect on all the time.
Put your own suspension and tires on, maybe pedal commander or OVtune and you will be way better than stock. It's all hype imo and factory software to make the pedal feel more responsive. Same power, engine, tranny, is in all truck years.
My truck feels the road a hell of a lot better than the 21 I had because of my upgrades.

 

So I checked this out specifically today, sorta. At an actual, corrected for my tires (I have 33's) 70 MPH, 5th is 1900 RPM and 6th is 1600 RPM. 4th is like 27-2800. 4th on my 265's was 3000 RPM from memory @ 70.

So it's only 300 RPM and my truck never dropped out of 5th, yet I had to pick my spots to check 6th. 300 RPM isn't enough speed to affect MPG which is exactly what I have observed.

 

I will continue to buy Tacoma trucks. I Traded in my 2nd Gen 2wd Prerunner 2015 that I bought new in ‘15 with 8 miles and

Traded that in when it hit 49,000 miles
and Bought a 2017 new.

Put 100,000 miles on it.


The bad:

Rear end……..
About 4,000 miles the rear ended started humming. Had to get Toyota corporate involved. The dealer actually helped me in dealing with Tbe corporate office. They swapped the rear end 3 times. The 2nd one they took a truck from their lot. That one hummed. 3rd try and it was perfect. I never had a issue since.


Radio….


The head unit died after 2 years. They replaced it even though my warranty expired due to all the rear end issues. 2years later (4th year of owning it) the head unit died again.


I looked at aftermarket radios and figured upgraded head unit, harness, install and maybe front speakers $1,500-$2k. New tires $1,200 or so (spare tire also because I wanted to bump up the size) New shocks because well after 4 years of driving a sport it needed a new setup. My wife said if you’re going to spend $4k you might as well buy new!



Ok I will . Found a 2021 manual and bought my 3rd Tacoma in 6 years. My 2017 was basically paid off and the money I got for my used ‘17 with a 100k miles on it became a easy decision.


My 2015 not many issues. It was 2wd. Traded it for the 17 Sport and loved it. The radio was annoying but it didn’t have TSS. I wish I could get a 2021 without the TSS. Maybe I’m not the generation that wants my car driving/telling me how to drive. If I could rip all that out I would.
I want to control my car. I don’t want my car controlling me!
Hopefully this chunk of metal gets me 100,000 miles (it will) in 4 years. 2025 Tacoma Refresh? 4th Gen?