New Member comments on 16 Tacoma

Posting after several weeks of reading about the Tacoma Saga.

Looking to replace my 2007 Tundra that was a great truck, initially looked at another Tundra but don't like some of the changes since 07 or if I want to retain a large truck for the next 10 or so years hence the interests in the Tacoma. Smaller Tacoma cab means my wife will have to sit closer now.


My first Toyota, before anyone thought about Tacoma or Tundra, was an 85 SR5 4X4 with 5 speed manual. Could be wrong but think they only came in one cab configuration and the SR5 also only came with a short bed? Great truck never let me down and while it could get squirrely in the snow, locking the front hubs and moving the transfer into 4 wheel drive cured all of that. I guess the only real complaint I had was moving my luggage or packages from the bed to the cab whenever I used the truck for trips. Trucks were trucks then and very few owns had a bed cover. The 85 was my third vehicle so that one short coming was easily overlooked for a while.


I fixed the one real gripe I had by trading to an 87 4Runner SR5. Like most on this forum I found the stock wheel and tire combination lacking and went upscale in both but then discovered Toyota did not equipment vehicles with shocks that could handle upgrades. The 4Runner met all of my demands to include an occasional trip with 4 and luggage. Again great vehicle for someone living in snow country, but as family grew and we acquired two large dogs I had to move on to something bigger and left Toyota for several years.


Currently thinking about a 2017 Pro but that decision keeps going different directions as I read and see the current complaints. Looking for a 17 vice 16 because my trade window is between my states vehicle registration window and termination of lease for my BMW next spring. Looks like the 17 will have all of the 'necessary' items I want that are now options on the 16, but my wild drive it across the desert days are gone so a lesser optioned 17 could also be considered.


So first issue everyone complains about is fuel economy and yes it appear ridiculous that my Tundra beat most of the real world results for 16 Tacoma owners but nobody should be buying a truck for fuel economy, if I wanted that I would just buy the Diesel BMW I currently lease and continue with 38~42 mpg.

Next series of complaints regarding low transmission fluid and grease for some deliveries is unacceptable but fixable with a better QA process by Toyota. Sorry to hear this but much less a issue than what happens with the Big Three. That said, this should all be fixed and future deliveries will have their own issues when I want to take delivery.

Final topic and one that may be a decision changer is the reported vibrations with the configurations I am looking to purchase. Appears Toyota may now be practicing what BMW and Mercedes did for years, offer new models and let the owners find the last engineering challenges that did not pop up during development.

So I will continue to see where this goes and stay the course, go backwards and return to a Tundra, or purchase the oldest Toyota technology with a 17 4Runner that is in need of a redesign but seems to be keeping their owners happy.

 

if you've waited ths long wait a bit further for the 2017's. Personally I wouldn't pay the kind of premium they will be asking for on the TRD Pro version. You can get your dealership to install the trd pro(read Bilstien Package from 2015) for alot less money, yes it isn't Fox however it is still a good setup and will get you another 1.5/2.0" lift so you can put the rim/tire combo you like. Just my 1.5 cents worth of advice, take it or leave it.

 

Eldedo, you are probably right there are several alternatives that will cost less and there may be a whole set of new issues with the new TRD Pro

 

certainly possible, but hopefully they have all the bugs worked out on the 2016 design for 2017

 

Yep the 2016 seems to still be a bit mired in the Development, Test & Evaluation trials...or perhaps Operational Testing at this point...regardless the End user/operator is the one finding the bugs, kinks and glitches. Whether or not Toyota does much to address some of these problems in the 2017 will have to be seen.

 

Yea, they have been know to say the messed up phrase "working as designed/intended, no issue seen"