new tacoma review

Dont even get me

Dont even get me started about gun control... im a HUGE 2a advocate.. ill save those rantings for my gun forums.

But i agree that this was a poor and biased review.

 

It's funny how all of these bajillion reviews are so formulaic and similar. They all start with mentioning how the Tacoma is "long in the tooth" and they talk about the mid size market has been stagnate. I wish Toyota would fly me out to a demo, I think I could do a review much better than most of these guys. The best reviews so far have been the Autoguide one posted at the end of page one on this thread and the Univision Spanish Language one which is nearly a half hour. You would think a New York Times journalist would be more capable than regurgitating the exact same bullet points as everyone else.

 

This! What is up with these "reviews"? We already know what the engine is and that you can get it in a 4x4...is it that hard to just do a thorough walk through of the truck?

 

If your an "automobile journalist" and you want to be invited to these premiere junkets all expenses paid then you better tow the line. I suspect that's why all these reviews are similar. Every company does it.

Being a journalist is just a catch phrase. There are very few individuals that I would consider being a journalist in the correct definition if the term.

 

I agree. Toyota flies them out, gives them good food and free goodies in hopes of a positive review. Symbiotic relationship. The only good thing about the NYT review is that he seemed much more honest about his criticism of the new Tacoma. Most other reviews talk it up and will complain about something minor such as the seating position (which is how EVERY Tacoma has ever been). I suspect when people start doing reviews on actual production Tacomas you will see a bit more honesty.

 

I've worked as a journalist. It's important to remember who the audience for this little piece is—and it is little; the NYT doesn't have a huge audience interested in the nitty-gritty of truck reviews—and what they're actually interested in hearing. The Times may be one of the biggest and best sources of journalism on the planet, but they can't give a feature-length effort on something that's better served by the enthusiast press. The reason a lot of these reviews sound the same is because the basic bullet points of what has changed is similar. It's not about pleasing the manufacturers, per se—although managing those relationships is always a factor, although any publication worth reading puts their relationship with their readers way ahead of any worries about PR friendliness—but just about trying to distill a relatively unimportant piece of news (an updated truck) into something that's parseable and understandable for most people.

 

AMEN my brother. I have had ford, chevy, and dodge pickup trucks and neither one came close to my 2006 Tacoma for realiablity and service.

 

That went over my head

 

It was not him stating facts and letting the consumer decide but he regularly insinuates the negative by saying something or not saying something. Thus he is BIASED
lol
And I'm pretty sure $40K is not an economy anything.

 

I don't think that's hard to do. I read your other last post as well

 

Right, you wound me.

 

James Bond; This is a much better review from someone who knows trucks. Thanks for posting!

 

Thats a proper review.
Why you may ask, (funny guy), because the reviewer points out the good and bad, and when he points out the bad he's not a dick about it.
Hope that didn't go over you head Tunn.

 

Well that's not the worst review I've seen but it's far from the best. You want good reviews go see Alex on Autos or Engineering Explained or lastly Consumer Reports where they are not flown out all expenses paid by the manufacturer to "review" the vehicle. Consumer Reports and a few others buy or rent their vehicles so there is not an obvious conflict of interest going on.

The Auto Guide guy looks like he watched the Ferd 15,000 video before making his video. The bad? The seat height, back space and the headroom.... I've been in the truck, there are a few more problems than that.

 

If you want an unbiased review, then look for a review from someone who was not "given" their review vehicle from Toyota (or whichever car manufacturer). As far as I know, there is only one major company that does automotive reviews that buys all of their vehicles and does not receive anything from the car manufacturers, and I'm pretty sure you all know who that is.

They never go to these pre-release events, so you have to wait a few months to see their review, but that is what you have to do if you want an honest review.

Some of these car reviewers seem to love every car they review. No big secret why, but I wonder why anyone would trust them to review anything if they never have anything bad to say about any vehicles.

 

Awsome! he screams like a little girl going over the incline. Tacoma is not meant to be a LazyBoy Minivan of trucks like the Canyon/Colorado and Honda Ridgeline. Plus, with new CAFE regulation...only idiots will buy diesel engines. He needs to use a little muscle to push the back seat down to make it flat! I don't ever need my truck to be fast ...i need it to be freaking reliable. Ask him which truck he would take on a desert/mountain/jungle adventure...i'm sure he will not take a GM/Ford/Nissan/Honda/Doge. There is only 1 vehicle..a Toyota Tacoma.

 

Under the circumstances, this review isn't half bad. We will find out for sure if thirty more horsepower does indeed make a truck faster....gee it used to. Over 90% of even an off road truck is on the paved roads so merging and passing is still important. As far as comments about the frame and brakes, I had a 4 Runner. It had a mammoth fully boxed frame and rode better then my Tacoma. It also had disc brakes in the back and was still pretty good off road. I will say that the front discs are more protected by suspension components and the drum rears do technically offer better protection.
I too am looking forward to a head to head review with the Colorado from a publication that does not accept advertising.

Let's not get out panties in an uproar just because someone critiques the truck and we don't like everything they say. The "honest" evaluator did it for years and it did little to affect sales of the 2 nd gen.

 

Funny - I'm anything but a journalist and was invited to be flown out to Willow Springs Raceway(SoCal) for a 10/2-10/4 2016 Tacoma event. Invite came from an AutoGuide admin on another Toyota yack site.

We shall see how that works out.

 

I honestly don't view Toyota as an economy brand. That went out the window 20 years ago.