First Tacoma advice... 2012 or 2016

This

 

Wow. Why toyota... why...

Anyway, I have one with the 4.0 and another with the 2.7. Honestly I love the 4banger to death with a 5 speed, the 4.0 has much more getup tho. It all depends on your needs, I'm plenty happy with the 2.7 but I don't really tow anything. I personally wouldn't buy the 3.5 but I've always kinda had a woody for 2nd gems and earlier.

 

Yep move past 12' and go for a 13-up truck, The Air issue is a crapshoot.

 

Because.... EMISSIONS.

 

Sick of EPA vehicle classifications, they must have it out for this segment.

 

I believe I've seen at least 1 4cyl that had the air valve issue but not as prevalent as the V6. I'd take any 4cyl 5speed from all gens.

 

One of the problems is that "more power" and "more efficiency" really don't go together very well, which means that you're stuck with "pick one", or coming up with some kind of half-baked hackaround for it (atkinson cycle) -- which ends up sacrificing BOTH to some extent, but still putting a smile on the face of someone who doesn't actually put the thing to work.

Combine that with the stupidity that is known as SAE J2807 that specifies **rate of acceleration** as a factor in deciding a vehicle's towing capacity (which is the stupidest thing ever conceived and probably influenced heavily by the manufacturers of american branded oversized pigmobiles), and you end up stuck between a rock and a hard place. Target efficiency and you miss the tow rating. Target tow rating and you miss the efficiency rating.

If I remember correctly, the oversized american pigmobiles aren't even required to comply with any kind of efficiency ratings.

Remember back to the 70's and you had trucks with 160 hp that were 2000 pounds heavier than a Tacoma and had tow ratings of 10,000 pounds. Yet the 4-cyl Tacoma, which can accelerate a 10,000 pound trailer a heck of a lot better (because it has the same amount of power, yet 2000 pounds less bulk) is stuck at 3500. And while I can certainly appreciate that the chassis size can make up some of the difference, somehow the V6 gets 6500 pounds? Because the 4-cyl is borderline or just under the J2807 for a 6500 pound trailer.

 

Given the rate of failures on 4-cyl, I'd place that firmly into the category of "everything that exists CAN be broken". 1 or 2 or 10 doesn't have a statistical relevance given the number of the things that are on the road. There were so many of the V6's with the air valve failing that the design of the thing was revised for the following model year.

 

Right, that's why I'd take a 4cyl regardless of generation. The air valves and pump failing on the the V6 was mostly concentrated on the 2012's so I advice against that year since the revision on 2013+, the failure was greatly reduced but still some failures nonetheless.