New Member, input on new tacoma

Hello everyone, I've been lurking around TW for a while now ever since the new tacoma had been revealed and I thought I would give my thoughts on the new truck. (I have NOT driven one yet)

A little bit about me, I am from long island, NY and am 22 years old and I love the outdoors. I like to run, ride motorcycles, ATVS, and I love to go 4wheeling. I've gone through way more motorcycles than i have cars, currently have a 2007 Honda CB919 (hence my name)aka CB900F. My current ride is a 2000 Jeep grand cherokee laredo 4x4. It is my first and only vehicle that I purchased about 4 years ago now pushing about 202k. I honestly don't know what made me purchase the jeep maybe just because all i wanted was a 4x4 vehicle and I heard the 4.0 straight 6 was bullet proof and it certainly is, as the jeep has served me well. If i could go back in time though I would have certainly bought a first gen tacoma!

Anyways to the point!

TL;DR: Discontinue the 2.7L i4 (sorry to the guys who love the good old 4cyl) and have the 3.5L as the base engine. Add 4.0L from previous gen with added technology, or 4.6L v8, or a diesel.

Alright now before I start getting bashed at hear me out. According to toyotas website the the the 2.7 mpg is rated at 19/23 while the 3.5 is rated at 19/24 so we are talking about a 1mpg difference. Also I'm pretty sure the new tacoma is about 200 pounds heavier...which you would think that 15 years later it should be lighter (that's better right)...

Now currently in my jeep I am averaging 16 mpg according to the top display and remember my jeep is 15 years old and over 200k miles on it. It's all about how you drive...keep the rpms at under 2k rpms (1500 is the sweet spot for me and you will be fine)

Now when I had first heard the power specifications and believe me I had been checking lurking on here like everyday before it was announced I was pretty disappointed. Once I saw that there was more horsepower than torque I knew it wasn't going to be good. I'm sorry but if you're buying a truck there should always be more torque than horsepower (even a gasoline engine). The 3.5L is rated at 278HP @ 6000rpm and 265tq @ 4600rpm.

IF you look at the previous generation tacomas, the first gen was 190hp and 220tq and the second gen was 236hp and 266tq. I was really hoping that the 3rd gen was going to keep that trend with having more torque than hp...I mean heck I would have been happy with 250hp and like 280tq.

If I wanted a vehicle with more hp I would have bought a sports car, a truck is designed to have power down low for pulling, who the heck cares about hp at all you can only go so fast there is a speed limit remember? Torque is what pulls you back to the seat when you give it gas which is a heck of a lot more fun then speeding and getting into trouble.

It's not only the numbers i am disappointed in, it's where they make the power. If you have to rev the engine high (which is where all the power is) that means your rpms will sky rocket which would lead to worse mpg.


I'm not blaming Toyota for this as it seems like all manufactures are doing this because of epa. Now don't get me wrong you shouldn't base your truck just off of numbers...if that was the case I would have purchased the colorado which I would never do.

For work I drive a lot, and one of the vehicles i drive is a Ram Promaster, which has the 3.6L pentastar v6 and makes 280hp at 6400rpm and 260tq at 4400rpm. (Pretty similar to the 3.5 in the new tacoma) This truck drives me NUTS! Whenever I'm on the highway it's constantly changing gears and always revving high, I feel like i have to hammer the gas pedal all the way to get it moving especially on hills. I would honestly prefer the older GM express fans with the v8s.

All I'm saying is a feel like toyota should have stepped up alittle bit in the engine department...i get emissions and epa and all that crap is forcing them to do this, but get rid of the 2.7, the 3.5 makes the same mpg at more power. Honestly if i was buying a truck I would never buy a 4cyl...you're just making the truck work harder to do truck dutys which would make it wear out quicker. Bring back the 4.0 with more tech which I am the most for...proven technology. IF not offer a the 4.6L v8...not sure how well that would go....didn't work out for chevy with the 5.3 in their older colorado. Then again, that vehicle didn't really sell well at all though so that doesn't say much, or offer a diesel which again not for because i believe the cost it just too much to justify the purchase.

Now like i stated previously I have not driven the truck yet so my impressions could be much different when I ride it but by some of the reviews i've seen on here that seems to be the case.

I would rather have a truck that is overpowered so when I ever have to tow something or haul or something it would do it with ease which little to no wear on engine then visa verca. I baby everything I drive so I'm sure if i had the tundra i'd be getting pretty decent mileage on that despite how bad mpgs are that most people get.

Anyways end of my rant, I'm sure i'm missing something I just had to let this out sorry for long message. One thing I do know is my next vehicle will be a toyota, either tacoma obviously for maneuverability, ground clearance and better for off road, tundra obviously for the power.

 

If you think you're gonna tow a lot, get a full size. The Tacoma (even the 3.5L) can tow here and there, and nothing crazy. It isn't built as much for hauling, as much as it is for being a rugged all-around good truck, and being very off road capable. I towed roughly 4000lbs with my '14 4.0 and the engine wanted to rev higher and hold on to lower gears. I imagine the new V6 being the same. The way I see it, it's a Toyota and built to work. The 3rd gen autos have this ECT button that basically changes the shift points to make the engine rev higher and accelerate faster, to get the power. I would think with that towing should be easier. If you're gonna tow 2k-3k pounds frequently I think you're okay. Anything much higher probably better with a full size

 

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I agree, the tacoma should be more than enough for my wants/needs. I noticed on your sig you have a 16 on order, looking forward to your impressions! I guess the best thing for me to do would be to wait until I purchase a truck and go for a test drive and see how I like it. That won't be for a while though, I'm the type of guy that buys and holds onto a vehicle for 10+ years.

 

Just test drive the Tacoma and see how you feel about it.