How a Blazing Blue Pearl TRD Off Road came to be living in my garage.

I owned a 2013 plain jane 2.7L, 5 speed, access cab Tacoma. I bought it because we bought a house that was in “kit form” basically a shell that was trashed inside due to frozen pipes breaking and trashing the main and lower levels. I needed a truck to carry materials.

The truck was a good little truck. It did its job. It fell short in a few areas though. One of my main irritations with it, believe it or not, was it didn’t have intermittent wipers. What modern vehicle doesn’t have intermittent wipers? The other complaint was horsepower. It had little to none of that.

I lived with the hp issue because it faithfully did its job in spite of its shortcomings. It hauled, it four wheeled, it ran flawlessly. It averaged 25 mpg. It kept getting passed by Prius’ and mopeds. The final straw came when I went up to my son’s house in Steamboat Springs Colorado with a 415 pound motorcycle in the back. I live in Colorado Springs. It’s 230 miles to Steamboat. Mostly uphill.

Going up Monument hill on 25 I was in 3rd gear. Worse than that coming out of Denver on I70 I was in 3rd again and barely able to maintain 55 up the 6% as you leave the city. Again on the next climb, 3rd gear and trailer trucks were passing me. I made it to Steamboat, swearing at the wussie little pos, but made it I did. 230 miles and a little over 1/2 of a tank of gas. 23 mpg.

The final, final straw was when I left. I filled the tank and headed out of town up Rabbit Ears pass. It’s probably 15 miles of pretty steep climbing. Speed limit 50 and probably 6-8% grade. Third gear again, foot nearly to the floor for the entire pass and barely maintaining 50 with everyone passing me and laughing as they went by. I looked at the gas gauge that was full 15-20 miles before and it read just above ¾. Almost a quarter of a tank of gas to climb Rabbit Ears! It did manage 25 mpg for this leg of the trip though, due to it being a lot more down hill.

So the very next week I have the slow little turd at the dealer to get it serviced and I see this gorgeous 2017 Off Road sitting there calling to me. Blue, V6, access cab, auto, with all the bells and whistles I would ever want. First thing I checked was intermittent wipers. Add to that that my old one needed struts, tires, a windshield and a few other little things and it was gone. They gave me a very reasonable trade in and the blue one was signed for and on its way home.

Two weeks later, barely broken in, and we headed back up to Steamboat. About the same load. Two adults, two grandkids, and a load of camping gear. No issues with any of the hills on the way up. Passed anyone I wanted. Made Prius owners cry. 22 mpg on the way up. ½ a tank of gas. The trip back was the same. Passed anyone I wanted to on the way up Rabbit Ears and cleared the top with the gas needle barely moving off full. 230 miles back and 23.6 mpg.

The next week we went 4 wheeling and did some easy rock crawling. The blue guy did great. The suspension soaks up rough stuff far better than the old one. It crawls beautifully and isn’t bothered at all with sections where the old truck was stuck in first because it didn’t have the hp to pull second.

The old one wasn’t bad, but compared to this one it was. I LOVE this Tacoma. Yes it has issues with the transmission searching for gears on the climbs, but as it gets a few miles on it, either I’m learning to deal with it, or its learning my driving habits and it seems less indecisive. I can live with it.

The horsepower issues are gone. When I step on the gas it goes. I came off a side street onto the main road the other day in the rain and stepped on it. It broke both rear wheels loose until the traction control took over. The mountain passes are no longer any problem. Prius’ no longer laugh as they pass. Works for me.

For those photogs on the forum, this shot was done with a Leica lllc and 50mm Sumitar glass.

 

Glad you like it OP, nice story there.

Edit: BTW Brian, welcome to TW.

 

Didn't read but...

 

Welcome to TW. As a new and happy owner myself our sentiments are shared.

 

Great story, and a great looking rig. I do really like that color. Enjoy your new truck.

 

K

 

Love that photo, as soon as I saw it I knew it was film. Can't replicate that aesthetic with digital no matter how close people think they can get.

Nice truck, too

 

Welcome! Nice taco.

 

Welcome man! Good color choice!

 

Supermodel color! Love it!

 

Nice truck

 

You made your grandkids sit in the back of an access cab for a 230 mile road trip?
That's gangster

 

Congrats! Nice history too. You're saying that you get 22 to 23 mpg in a your new V6, uphill, loaded (and passing Prius). I don't know how you do that, as I barely get 18-19mpg in flat HWY without load (I even have a tonneau cover in my bed). I'm jealous.
Anyway, welcome to the forum!

 

Congrats!

Wish I knew everyone's secret.....I get a consistent 15.4 mpg and I drive very casual

 

Nice truck. Welcome to the 3rd gen club. BBP rules!

 

BBP?

 

Solid story and good looking truck. Thanks for sharing!

 

Yes the grandkids rode in the back. The girls are small and 8 and 10. The worst issue is they had never been camping before!

My theory on the mileage numbers is altitude. We live at 6000 feet and the trip took us to 9-10000. Less air, less gas, less horsepower. My numbers were calculated. Put in gas and divide miles by gallons. The truck showed the same number though.
Babied around town I can get a solid 20 but you really have to work at it.

 

Somewhat off-topic, I recall an episode of Myth Busters several years ago which tested the mileage of a pickup truck (I cannot recall the make or model, it was a US make 1/2 ton is all I remember) with the standard open bed, with the tailgate removed, with a tonneau cover, and with a shell/topper. The mileage was essentially identical in each instance, and their conclusion was that it did not affect milieage in any meaningful way.

To the OP, I had an '08 regular cab 4x4 2.7/5speed, very basic truck. You even had to manually roll up the windows. No intermittent wipers either, but the biggest deficiency from my perspective was that it didn't have cruise control. I did a trip in it, hauling a bed full of stuff to my son in Minneapolis that first summer after I bought it. I live in NW MT and that trip across eastern MT, ND, and central Minnesota on I-90/94 was simply brutal without CC.

I used to joke about that truck going from zero - 60 in 20 minutes. Damn it was slow. But it was reliable and I bought to use as a truck, not a luxury people-hauler, so it served that purpose reasonably well. I recall similar expiences climbing long grades and chugging along at 50-55mph and being passed by old beater cars/trucks with pieces falling off as they went by flipping me the bird.

The '17 TRD OR DCLB is a whole different animal. It doesn't have blazing acceleration, but pretty good, and it climbs grades without lugging down. And it has intermittent wipers, cruise control, and many other goodies as well.

 

TLDR