Drove a new 3rd Gen...

I started this out as a reply to the following in the Premature Seat Wear thread but it got to far off topic so I thought I'd start anew:

I had to see this for myself and yesterday stopped by the Toyota dealership in Saint Augustine--sure as crap it's gone:



What the heck were they thinking? It's a truck for gosh sake!

Drove a new one while I was there, a TRD Sport equipped pretty much the same as my '09, $37k MSRP.

It was of course new which makes solid objective comparison difficult (I think "new car smell" is an hallucinogenic) Was not wild about the power-train, it did not seem to accelerate as well as my '09 unless you really go on it¹--also being old I was not thrilled by the trendy looking interior; when I bought my '09 I thought the interior was kind of SUV looking, they have taken it a step further with the new ones.

Didn't drive it long and not at all on the highway, had it up to 75 in a long 55 mph posted section of US 1, much to the dismay of the young lady trying to sell it to me; that 6th gear is tall. The bottom line is I saw nothing that would prise another $20k (vs. what I paid for the '09) out of my miserly old wallet. I will maybe drive 5000 miles this year (ride my Silver Wing mostly) so it will last me a good long time...

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¹ - Figured this out when I got home, that claimed 278 HP happens at 6000 rpm so to take advantage of that you have to drive like you just stole the truck

 

ok..

 

Yep the low end torque and throttle response is not there. You feel like you have to floor it to really get it moving. Every time I get in our 2016 4Runner with the 4.0L I forget and will push the pedal a little hard, it jumps on me. Dead pedal feeling in the third gen is a real thing.

 

Sorry to say, but was this thread really needed? I think these experiences are almost biblical at this point, although I personally havnt tried a third gen. I just think this gen could use a little bit of a break and some positive commentary instead of the repetitive topics such as this, although I know this was your personal experience.

 

"The bottom line is I saw nothing that would prise another $20k (vs. what I paid for the '09)..."

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. New "looking" sheet metal a drivetrain borrowed from Lexus, crawl control from a 4R, new entune and sometimes an included bed cover don't justify an extra $20k for me either.

But if they had put in the Tundra V8 drive train there might have been more ppl jumping for joy for the extra bucks??

Nah, I J/K, they probably tried that and didn't get past the marketing scheme, just saying...


Cheers!

 

Good point brother, I would bet money that Toyota heavily researched the "need" for this power train in today's gas conservative economy. It fits the bill for many commuters Im sure. Im just lucky that the second gen aesthetics tailor to me more or else I would probably be out shopping like many satisfied third geners have done.

 

Great thread, best yet.

 

If they had a small v8 option or a supercharger people would be tripping over themselves to buy it. Let's not kid ourselves. Yeah this is a dead horse discussion. OV tune is working on an "upgrade"

 

If you are happy with what you have, keep it. But keep this in mind, everything was cheaper 18 years ago, my house has more than tripled in price in less than 17 years.

 

You should compare them to 53 years ago when I bought our first house (on 2 acres with 200 ft frontage on a 7 acre pond) for $12,900...

 

Part of the Vancouver housing market?

 

I love the power band for my usage. I have a 2wd and do zero "off roading" but to hammer across the Az desert i love it.