My review after 12K miles...the good and the bad...

I wear prescription lenses that have anti-glare, polarized, all that jazz...the reflection is there no matter what ya do...

 

I have bought my share, and I get official surveys from Toyota asking specifically what we like and don't like...very detailed, too...

 

I was not prepared for the blinding glare from the hood valley when driving west in the afternoon. Definitely rethinking my choice of white and my need to keep my truck shiney.

 

I have never received a single survey from Toyota. I have bought vehicles for myself, my wife, and my daughter since the 1990s.

I literally did not even realize that they sent out surveys until someone mentioned it on a 4Runner forum a few years back.

 

Yeah I am not sure how I got on "the mailing list" but I def did. They're pretty lengthy and detailed, too...

 

And second to that–to me–is the ride quality of the ORs on rough roads. I have never been a vehicle that handles washboard like these new Off-Roads.

 

Yeah I find myself on gravel roads all the time doing aerial (drone) real estate photography work out in the country, and it is very well-mannered...

 

I like the speaker. If I am ever doing work in the driveway on something (car or not), I always grab it instead of having to go inside. I know it's charged and my phone will connect to it quick.

 

Yeah, and that was what their thought process was, I am sure...but 95% of people have numerous bluetooth speakers these days...and none of them will leave a hole in your dashboard if you lose it.

 

Also, most of them live in your house, out of the sun when they're not being used. This one sits in the sun getting baked in the summer and frozen solid in the winter. I'll eat my hat if the battery in the things lasts more than a couple years like that and they don't just become a wired speakers.

Or worse, if the LiPo battery it probably has does some of the things LiPo batteries do when they fail, like swell up and break the bezel in the dashboard or experience what we called a "thermal event" when I worked as a tech for a company that sells fruit themed devices that have LiPo batteries in them. I specifically avoided the upgrade packages so I don't have a $300 hand grenade in the middle of my dashboard.

 

Battery in that speaker is not LiPo. It is solid state.

 

Nice write up. I just picked up mine today, trd off road w/manual transmission. Totally agree regarding the power. I had a 2023 trd off road manual transmission and it was a slug compared to this one.

I just hope the longevity is there. But, im also not going to put 231k on it like my tundra, or 299k like I did on my 22re from 1991. I estimate 165k in 15 years. I'm thinking 5k oil changes and it should make it. My first turbo, a bit leery.

 

I bet that manual is fun. I had a 2016 TRDORP with the manual 6 and although I didn’t care for the 2200 RPM @ 65 MPH and horrible MPG, it was fun to drive.

Enjoy…

 

Huh. I didn’t know that they really were using lithium ceramic batteries in consumer devices much yet. That bodes well for this thing having a snowball’s chance. Either way, I don’t care about the thing myself, so I ain’t paying for it.

 

I think it is a thief magnet and hate the idea of someone smashing my windows to get it. Am waiting for someone to come up with a dummy that reads through the windscreen that this is not what you seek.

 

Jeeze, I didn’t even think of that. Hopefully it doesn’t become common knowledge that’s what that thing is rather than just another fixed speaker.

 

I just got an offficial survey this morning from Toyota .

 

Toyota emailed me one less than a month of "buying" mine. Guess it depends on how dealers share information.

I am a little tired of getting the offer of the Toyota credit card.

 

This is my 2nd survey . I have the credit card

 

Thanks for the write up/review. It's unacceptable that a 50k truck doesn't come with LED daytime running lights unless you get limited/trd pro.

All new tacomas regardless of trim should have it, especially when the 2023 tacoma had it with about a 10k less pricetag.