Need a little input

Hello, my daughter and I are on the cusp of purchasing a 2016 SR-5 from a reputable dealership. It is in good condition, clean Carfax, only 45K miles, 6 foot bed (which is important to her),etc... We already own two G3 Tacomas in my family so fairly familiar with the ins and outs in general. This one has a 3.5" lifted and I believe the tires are 285-75R16. I have always been in the camp that if you don't need a lift and big tires there is really no good reason to get one and it won't help with anything. That said, my daughter really likes the truck and it has been really tough to find something that checks all of the boxes like this one does.

My biggest concern is the cut in mileage she is going to take as she is going to be driving back and forth to college a few times a year - about 700 miles each way. When we test drove the average mileage showed 9.4 mpg. However, I am wondering/hoping that is because the computer was reset when they reconditioned the truck and those miles are only from any test drives since then. Does this make sense? Any idea what type of mileage we can expect with the lift.

Aside from that, I have also read that lifts can potentially cause increased wear and potential damage to the truck. Is this a concern we should have?

Any input on the above or otherwise would be great. We have an appt at the dealer in about 5 hours where I'd like to either purchase it or walk away if there are any red flags.

Thanks!

 

Lifts can cause "angle" issues with CV joints, differential bearings (ECGS bearing replacements are common after lifts). UCAs and LCAs. But I am just speaking from reading, not from having done. Still I would want to know the previous owner actually addressed these issues during the "design phase" of the lift before I pulled the trigger on a large lift.

 

I don't buy modded vehicles, too many hacks out there. That said; long beds are hard to find.
I would have a reputable off-road shop inspect it.
As you probably already know; be sure to have the front timing cover inspected for leaks, the steering rack, and the rear crossover coolant pipe. All are semi common and $$ to fix.
The MPG's will be poopoo. A lot of it is the wheel and tire weight. I would prepare for the worst (13-15 MPGs, maybe even worse??) and hope for the best (15-17 MPGs).
It sounds to me, you are looking at a toy and not a college commuter, but everyone's situation is different, so I will let you two make that call.

GL

 

Pictures of the front suspension would be really helpful. Might be easy to just pull out a spacer, or adjust the front suspension to remove some lift. Then you could trade/sell the larger tires to step down a bit. That would gain you a little mileage back. If it's a drop bracket, not so easy. So yeah, if you can, pictures of the front of the truck head (like the whole front view of the truck), plus a close up of just the coilover on one side, where we can see the top mount point and bottom if possible. A shot of the rear suspension might be good to, to see if there is a lift block, or just higher leaf springs.

 

My MPG typically is in single digitis after I fill up. Takes about 10 miles of driving at goods speeds to show in the teens.

Maybe take it for another test drive at good speeds and see if the MPG increases.

 

Chances are pretty good that 3.5" lift is a Rough Country lift without any corrective drop brackets, which has both good points and bad points (the good is the frame hasn't been altered for the lift, the bad is the greatly increased angles on the front suspension due to no drop brackets). I would not avoid the truck simply because of the lift, but what I would strongly suggest is bringing the lift height down to around 2.5" (will require at minimum new front springs, but I'd suggest new (better) front coilover shocks instead since RC shocks typically aren't the greatest). This shouldn't affect the tire fitment, but will lessen the stress on the front axle components such as CV joints, and steering parts.
Lots of info on the forum here regarding lifts in the range of 2-2.5".

If the truck has aggressive load range E tires, swapping those to SL-rated tires with a milder tread pattern will also help with gas mileage. Typical MPG will likely be in the low-mid 20s HWY and high-teens in-town on a truck having 2" lift and SL-rated A/T tires, although addition of things like racks and roof tents will sharply lower that (wind drag).

Hope that helps

 

Keep looking! Great comments above!!

 

Mileage is suspiciously low for a 2016, but, hey, my 2022 has less than 10,000 miles so anything is possible. I prefer to buy unmolested vehicles. If gas mileage is a concern, a pick up truck is probably the last vehicle you should be buying a young college student if she’s paying for any of the gas herself, especially if you live outside the US in a country like California where gasoline is still five bucks a gallon in some places.

 

Personally, I’m passing on anything lifted. For numerous reasons.

 

Thanks for all of the replies. It's not a RC lift and I can't recall what it is, but my office manager's boyfriend works at a offroad shop and said it is roughly of equal quality to RC when asking him about it. Unfortunately he isn't able to go look at the truck with us. I've attached a picture that shows the side view. Not positive of the lift height but it was definitely taller than my TRD OR. He thought it might be 3.5" when describing it to him.



In terms of it being a commuter and gas mileage, she wants a truck for sure and I just am hoping to get something in the upper teens or above. Her current truck is my old 2005 Chevy Avalanche which is finally not worth trying to fix anymore. She was running about 12 mpg with that so I'd be ok with 15+.

Thanks again for all the replies. Certainly gives us something to think about.

 

As a parent of an adult human female, I will tell you that what she wants and what she needs are two separate things and there will be no good compromise, and you will probably wind up having to pay for it.

Edit: I would say the piss poor gas mileage is about right because my lifted 2013 4runner barely makes it past 10 to 11 miles per gallon.

 

Looks like a spacer lift to me? Anyone else? No better pics in the ad. I also find it annoying it is missing 1 of the 4 wheel center caps.

 

Something about that pic doesn't look right, like it's been photoshopped... The shadows are wrong, as is the angle of & lighting on the wheels.
Have you seen the actual truck yet? If not, I'd be very careful with this dealer or seller since that appears not to be a real (unaltered) picture of the truck.

Edit, OK, more (better) pics... Where's link to the ad? (not seeing it)

 

I wondered about this, too. I searched for the truck online and found it. It was a pain, lol, but I see this is common among a ton of different dealers. The same background, floor, and crappy photo-chop.

 

This though....



Ouch... lol. that's GOOD??

 

im looking at that suspension in there thats one good size spacer lol

 

That thing has to ride like absolute trash. My lower back hurts just looking at it.

 

He said they drove it, apparently the gas mileage wasn’t enough to scare them off.

 

lets be honest you are buying a truck do you really go and look at mpg lmao

 

For 31k there r alot of options out there. And alot of those options sound like they would fit her needs better than this truck. Including, new options... cars, small suv's...etc

On another note, and possibly and unpopular opinion. 2024 nissan Frontiers current have 0.9% financing and the sl/sv can be found with 6ft beds and 4x4 for 31k or not much more. It won't b as cool as a lifted taco... but is new, has a warranty, fits her needs, probably more reliable than a 3.5" lifted taco, guaranteed better gas mileage and will last a minimum of 10+ yrs.