Need MOD suggestions for my Taco

Im pretty new here, so sorry if im in the wrong place.

Anyways, I got a 2017 Taco SR as a DD, but honestly its unbearable in its stock form for me (I prefer much older vehicles). Any suggestions that will make it more unique looking without breaking the bank or killing the only thing I like about it, 24mpg.

Truck: 2017 Tacoma with the 2.7 I4 and the autotragic, 2WD in Barcelona red.

Currently have the stock rims painted black, and the carbon filter removed.

Thinking about getting a softopper, but wondered how bad it will hurt my MPG?

Also looking into lifting just the front end a bit, either a 2inch spacer or a 3inch Rough Country lift kit and leaving out the back blocks.

Any other suggestions that would make this truck more fun are greatly appreciated.

 

What do you plan to do with it? the best way to go about this is mod with a purpose.

 

I have a soft topper, and I haven't seen much change to the MPG. It allows full bed access with it folded up, or a reliable dry place when I need it. If there is any difference to the MPG, I imagine when folded it's moot.

I highly recommend it if you like the way they look, it has made my truck much more versatile.

 

Softoper has not had an effect on my MPGs from what I can tell, money well spent.

 

A spacer leveling kit would probably serve your purpose just fine but keep in mind that if you level out, and then you carry a heavy weight the truck will be pointing front up. If it were me I wouldn't be looking for completely level, be conservative with your spacer needs.
If you don't carry weight very often then the spacer is a good simple option. I would imagine that will take a couple of MPG's off though as it will change your aerodynamics a bit.

 

Check my build thread.

I took my SR from this:


To this:


And I'm looking at doing some vinyl decals on it soon to really make it stand out.

If you're looking for power, hands down the LCE Header is the only sensible mod.

As far as visual uniqueness, I had my front bumper painted for about $300, I added the flares for $300 plus about $80 in parts and supplies, I grabbed a TRD Off Road suspension out of the classifieds section on here for like, $150 if I remember right and that actually gives you a nice lift b/c 4x2 4banger is lighter in the front than 4x4 V6.

Tires and wheels are a bit more expensive so I would stick with your painted ones for now.

I briefly had a bestop soft top and it didn't affect my mileage.

 

looks nice, grill is an improvement, but not as needed as the SR's don't have the ugly freaking braces.

 

Some light off-roading and maybe some camping. It'll mostly be a street truck that I occasionally take through some trails.

How hard was it to add the fender flares? for that much, I could buy some beefier aftermarket ones.

 

If you look in my sig I did a full DIY write up on how to install the flares. If you can use 3M tape and a socket, you can add the OEM flares.
I went OE instead of aftermarket mainly because most all of the choices are much wider (to the point where it might look silly on stock offset) and have the faux rivets look which I'm not a fan of. Also a lot of aftermarket flares notch themselves out for the fuel door, which looks tacky IMO.

 

Getting the bumper painted, can you tell a difference due to the texture? Your truck looks amazing and im kind of regretting not getting a painted front end.

Any ideas how much a 3" lift in the front will kill mpgs? I had 6" on my Silverado and didn't notice a change until the 33s came in.

 

Also, has anyone figured out how to turn off the damn seat belt alarm?

Or suggestions for headlights that actually work?

 

Simple .. wear your seatbelt @ all times.

 

Well first off thank you! Regarding the painting, my paint guy said that there wasn't really any texture difference, and you can't tell that it was sprayed after the fact. He did say to be very careful when I removed it because apparently scratching the bare plastic leads to a pain in the butt whereas a scratch on a pre-primed piece can be easily wet-sanded out.

A 3" lift in the front will give you a crapload of bro-lean, my suspension setup is TRD Off-Road coils & shocks in the front with a Toytec 1/4" spacer. I got roughly 1.5" of lift with that combination on a 4x2 Auto. Mine is about dead level, as you see in the pics.

Can't say specifically as to how much 3" would affect the fuel economy, but I still get in the 20's with a 1.5" lift, tires, and performance mods like the header.

Seatbelt chime can be disabled by the dealer, and as far as the headlights go I haven't had a problem with them. Whatever you do, don't put LEDs into the projector housings because it will only look brighter closer to the truck.