My newbie first impression review of the 2016 Tacoma

I have decided to write my initial impression of the 2016 Tacoma. I have been researching and going through the forums asking questions the past 2 months as this was my first truck. This review may not be relevant to many of you but those of you in my shoes may relate to it.


TLDR: Loved it! Would buy it again in a heartbeat


I have had my 2016 TRD Tacoma DCSB MGM OR 4x4 for one week now, at about 500 miles. I’ve had my eye on the Tacoma for the last 3 years, but 3 years ago my initial impression of it was, well…disappointing. I was looking at Certified Pre-Owned at the time and the technology in the truck may have been something impressive at the turn of the century, but looked exactly like my cheap 2006 Corolla I was driving at the time which I despised and left a bad taste in my mouth. I opted for the Acura TSX instead, a brand I’ve always admired. Time went by and I still awed and any blacked out Tacoma that drove by. So back in April I got the wild hair to start looking at them. Again, at the Certified ones which were 2015ish. I know Tacoma’s hold their value but damn, a new one would cost me only a couple grand more so there I was looking at the 2016 and being blown away. The third generation really took it up a notch. I liked the technology in my Acura, but it couldn’t hold a candle to what the new Tacoma’s were offering, at least the TRD’s. I have to say for the record I went to 5 dealerships and reached out by phone to at least 4 more. The sales guys are horrible. Purely horrible, no matter which dealership I went to. They had no clue what anything was and couldn’t answer my questions. This led me to do my own research including this great forum. One guy said the ECT was to turn on the power socket in the bed of the truck as well as the real power switch to the left. I said, “You have two buttons to turn it on”? After revisiting a few later I kindly explained what ECT was and MTS was Multi-Terrain Select. I won’t go into other ridiculous stuff, but at that point I knew I was on my own.


My decision making process:


I was on cloud 9 about the Tacoma and was for sure going to get it, even if it set me back $40k, however reading some of the 2016 problems and how everyone raved about the second generation started putting doubt in my mind. The initial acceleration was slow on test drives, the vibration/buzzing really made me hesitant and I began looking hard for it during my different test drives. I had my doubts, but I wasn’t committed if I wasn’t happy by ordering one (since its near impossible to find one I wanted). My doubts were so bad I even went to Nissan to just check out the Frontiers. Man were they ugly but more affordable at least. Every Toyota visit I made I made sure to inform the sales guy I was looking for the vibration problems, of course they’ve never heard of it before. I began to notice it on some trucks, not as bad as some people had reported. Never really felt anything in the floor board, just a little when I got to around 70MPH and 2000 RPM. It did become a turn off for me and couldn’t see myself going into deep debt the next 6 years knowing it was there every time I hit 70. I thought about waiting until the 2017’s came out, but I didn’t want to wait another 4-5 months just to hope it was better. Well after my long search for a Tacoma I decided to just bite the bullet and order one. I originally had my heart set on a TRD Sport because I loved the hood scoop and bigger wheels. After reading enough on the forums I thought I would get more of money’s worth to get Crawl Control/MTS, better shocks since those are more difficult to upgrade than hood or wheels, not to mention this was my first 4x4 vehicle so lord knows I could probably use the crawl control for all the beach trips I plan on making.


My first impressions:


The Tacoma was ready in 3 weeks as opposed to the stated 4-6 weeks. I took beast out on a 20 miles test drive to get a good feel for it, afraid I wasn’t going to like what I find. On that rainy test drive I had a great experience. Smooth drive, I tried to get the buzz and was able to do a very light version of it around 70, not really enough to notice even for someone paranoid about it. I was sold! Drove it home that night (I held off on the paperwork cause I didn’t want to miss the USA soccer game against Argentina) and was a badass feeling it was. I don’t think this feeling was the delusion of a new vehicle and that I wanted to like it. The Tacoma sits high and I felt like I was in a tough vehicle (coming from a guy who has been in a car most his life). Even riding along other trucks including older tacomas I felt bigger than them.


The technology is phenomenal. I’ve read some Entune issues but so far I’ve been fine. Touch screen, weather, easy syncing to phones, the speaker lady reads my texts (including curse words), and when you mute the radio or even in general it records the radio so you can go back and listen to a song over and over or catch what you missed while on mute. The steering wheel controls are easy to use. Getting into the car and locking the car without ever getting my keys out of my pocked is just beyond what words can describe. My two biggest gripes about trucks these days is they seemed behind on antennas and better keys. You will notice most trucks have the 1990 antenna wobbling around even on new model trucks, this has the modern antenna up top. So many new cars have push to start functions but I have never seen a truck have it, until the 2016 Tacoma. Small details but much appreciated.


My experience driving the Tacoma every day is a thrill. When the Tacoma arrived I sent my sales guy an email with information regarding the low ATF and the dry u-joints and asked him to get his sales manager to approve getting it checked before I came in. They claimed to have done it whether it was done or not. I honestly couldn’t be happier with my purchase. I don’t know why second gen people are anti-third generation, I’m not an Engine guy as much as I like power and speed, the Tacoma suits me well. Maybe I got lucky with my Tacoma on the vibrations and buzzing or maybe they’ve been working on fixing the issue. I’m glad I didn’t let any of the negativity stop me from purchasing the vehicle. I know I’ve only had the truck for a week but I’ve never been this happy about a car purchase before.


My one gripe, which I didn’t notice until I was switching my stuff into it from my old car was the lack of sunglass holder in my particular model (OR 4x4). My heart sunk as I loved having this feature and saw it in the other model Tacomas I drove. It made me second guess my OR>Sport decision. The other option I feel I wish I would have gotten would have been a Sport 4x4 Quicksand Longbed, but I’m still 100% happy with this.


Nearly every day I’ve been buying accessories for the truck. It is currently back at the dealership where I am getting a leveling kit installed and I’m stuck with a Ram 1500 as a rental in the meantime. It drives fast but doesn’t give me the enjoyment that I got from my Tacoma…call me biased.


If you’re on the fence about buying a Tacoma, don’t let the negative reviews stop you. Test drive it like crazy if you have to and decide for yourself. Find a dealership that can give you the best price, I used the Master Price List to get them to drop the price $600 from what they were selling it to me for.


Hope this helps some people out.

 

There should be a drop-down sunglass compartment by the cabin light switch.

 

Glad you like it, just keep your wallet wide open for the next year or so...I tried to explain this to my wife its not like the last 7-8 trucks we owned, not even like previous toyotas,,,back to 84 xtra cab 4banger 4wd 5 speed, ( 3" lift and 33" tires for under a $1000) you could take the hose to the cab at the car wash and just spray it out and wipe...but we still had to fork out some cash to make it a truck...same deal today it just costs more....... like 400% more...give or take depending on your tastes....

 

I'll have to check this out when I get it back today. I hope you're not teasing me.

 

No kidding, the more I buy the more my list stays the same size. This site doesn't help either, lol.

 

Congrads on your new Tacoma. So they let you take it home and keep it overnight without doing the paper work

 

Not on his model. You have it because you don't have crawl control, etc with your manual. His is an auto, and those controls take up that space.

 

Glad you are enjoying your new truck. Toyota has sold probably over 150,000 of these since they were introduced. No doubt folks have gotten lemons but many post about their problems in every thread that is created in the 3rd gen section. Even more do not own the truck but feel the need for whatever reason to pursuade others not to buy it. Many even will flat out call you a liar if you are not experiencing their same problems. It definitely can get weird in this forum.

 

Oh, that's right! I forgot that the AT's have crawl control. Mine is located at the bottom of my left leg

 

Yeah, I was doing a trade-in and they didn't want me to put anymore miles on my car than I had to. It was nice to technically have a 24 hour test drive with it before committing.

 

Congrats! Yes, I've had my 16 for about 5 weeks now and still love it! No issues at all, even after lifting no vibrations! The tech package is nice with all the bells and whistles!

 

I too am upgrading from a TSX. Taking delivery next week of a DCSB MGM OR 4X4. Longest week of my life!!

 

I originally had ordered the tech package with the 4x2, but I could only afford that or the 4x4, and went with the 4x4 after doing more research. I'm jealous though!

 

Nice write-up, enjoy!!

 

I have my wife send me sexts, then have the Entune lady read them back. It's hawt.

 

I would have chosen the 4x4 also if I had to pick between the two. You'll love it

 

Can you post a pic with your leveling kit?