Newbie observation

I love the answers. Shows you guys really do care about this place. I'll hang around longer. So... Which lift, tires and wheels, and bumpers are the best?

 

you should start a thread

 

Do a search noob! Sheesh!

 

dont forget to start a poll about chrome or black

 

I agree wholeheartedly that a lot of the negative views toward the Tacoma on here are because some of us had higher expectations for Toyota. My Tacoma is a decent enough truck, but it's nowhere near the quality of vehicle that my '95 Avalon was, which is what personally frustrates me. Bottom line, it's not the far and away best vehicle in its class nor is Toyota the absolute best manufacturer anymore, at least in my, and a lot of poeple I know personally's, mind.

It's still by and large a dependable, quality midsize truck. It's just far from perfect and far from "the absolute best", IMO. Am I still going to drive it 200,000 miles? Yes. And I'm relatively confident that it will get there without too much of a fuss. But it will nickel and dime me more than other vehicles I've owned, that's for sure.

Just my opinion, from my experiences with the truck. I also tend to try and not be a fanboy of any brand, so maybe I'm harsher on here towards the Tacoma than some other people.

 

if you're looking for a good lift, search the SAS and LT threads

 

Well said.

This touches on what I was thinking, Sometimes post's are meant as jokes or being sarcastic but it's hard to tell since you cant tell emotion in text. But it helps when the smilies are used.

Oh and welcome to the OP.

 

And was also gonna say, if you don't search for an answer and start a thread that has been covered, you get thrashed. If you do a search and find some info on what you're looking for and comment or question on an old thread, well, you still get thrashed.

 

I bought my Tacoma (first Toyota) before stumbling across this site, and I don't regret it at all! Sure, there are some small things that annoy me about the truck, most are based on differences between my girlfriend's 2007 4Runner and the 2012 Tacoma, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. As for personalities in this forum...opinions are like assholes. Everybody has 'em!

BTW, welcome from a fellow noob!

 

Only complaint I have is the rear leafs are weak and squeaky, if you buy new there is a warranty covered TSB for this that gets you a heavier duty 4 leaf pack, also the engine developed a consistant tick/knock here not long ago, it only does it on certain occasions but still bothers me, I have the 2.7 four so idk if this is relavant for the 4.0 six. I love the composite bed and the handy little storage compartments! At first I was skeptical about the material of the bed, but now I love it, it is durable and I have dropped many heavy things on it already and it does not crack or show many scratches, I use my truck for hauling just about everything, it works hard around the house too with yard work, when I mow since our yard is so big, I use it for dumping the bag on my mower and for putting sticks and branches back there. Mine is a Access Cab but has a very spacious interior for me and a front passenger, my dad likes to sleep on long drives and can recline back, move the seat back a few inches and has all the leg room he needs. (he is 6ft tall btw) Sitting in the back really sucks, with one of the front seats moved forward a bit it is tolerable, but you could not keep me back there for much longer than a two hour drive.
Depending on what model of Tacoma you get, you are probably more than likely to get stuck with the shitty Dunlop tires, they are a great highway tire, but forget anything else. I was driving down a gravel road and a tiny pebble got jammed between the treads and punctured it. I solved that problem with these tires.
http://www.outlettire.com/images/WranglerSlntArm_bw.jpg
It handles very well in snow and ice, when in 4x4 if you drive with a light foot, you wont need to worry much about sliding, I do plan to put some sand bags in my bed though because I can drive on snow and ice in 2WD no problem and would like to save gas and wear and tear on my t-case. Also I have dogs, and prior to my Tacoma, I drove a Ford Bronco, they are Labradors and love water so being able to take them out swimming at the creek and load them back up sopping wet is really nice! I am a dirt bike rider too, and with the gate down, my truck hauls two motorcycles with ease, I would like to get a bed extender though someday. Overall I would rate this truck a 4 star truck any day of the week!

 

Stang says a lot of what's on my mind.
I'm not a brand worshiper, and on this forum, you get a lot of that.
I had to buy a Tacoma to see what the big deal was about....and I'm underwhelmed.
It's not a bad little car but it's far from the testosterone machine many members make it out to be.
I have had to fix/re-engineer more things on this car than ANY of my previous non-Toyota products....and they are the issues commonly mentioned.
Not to overlook that Toyota charges a premium price for an average product.
People tend to get very emotionally invested in their Toyotas....and Lexus, for that matter....it's like an identity for them.....kind of sad, really.

 

Anger and frustration fuel people a alot more than good experiences. Its easier just to go with it.

With that said, I love my truck.

 

I agree with the original post about all of the negativity on here. This is why I never reallly posted on here. One of the first things I noticed when I signed up was that if you did not have 4x4 then what you bought was a "mall crawler". No what I bought was a truck that suited my needs/wants, and I really did'nt want to hear all the flack about wasting my money on a mall crawler. I don't take my truck off road and would have wasted my money on something I would never use. I have tried to use the search option and gave up after endless searches and think I found what I was looking for only to find after the first few responses on the subject, someone was nice enough to high-jack the thread then 10 pages later, still nothing on the original subject. While there is a lot of information and great resources on here, due to the few people that want to command attention, I will remain a so called "troll".

 

Spruce Mica, great choice. My '12 is my 8th Toyota. Builds and technical help is why I come here primarily. You can feel the generation gap at times, but that's evident everywhere in life. Once you identify those guys, you just ignore them.

 

Welcome to the board OP. I hope that you're liking it here so far. Some people are a little rough around the edges. You'll get use to it. Yes! There is a lot of negativity on a lot of sites, including this one. Yeah! It's the internet so you take a lot of it with a grain of salt and let it roll off your shoulders. Some people like to troll and get threads off topic like this one, don't let it bug you. Don't let it discourage you. There is a lot of good information and people on this site.
When it comes to your truck I would have done what you did. You did the right thing by getting off the road and not looking under your truck on the highway. I figure like others, "let the dealership deal with it". We're not mechanics, we're not going to know what's wrong. If we wanted to be mechanics, we would have became mechanics. There maybe some douches but there are some people who want to know what the problem with your truck was and if it got resolved.

 

Good advice but wrong thread. Spend less money on drugs and more on mods and you wont have this mis posting problem anymore.

 

Taking your own advice, I see.....

 

I was thinking of suggesting that the 2nd Gen Forum be further refined into the following categories.

Legitimate Questions
Serious Modification Write-Ups
Serious Polls
Recomendations & Proposals
Babes
Stupid Questions
Unintelligible Gibberish
"My panties are in a twist and I need to rant!"
"Wow! Look at what I did and I want to collect as many accolades as possible."
"Someone please flame the hell out of me because I am stupid!"
For those who say "Dude", "stoked", "sick", or "epic" all the time.

 

I think on top of just desiring more out of our vehicles, (I mean who is REALLY satisfied for how it comes from the dealer?) this is just the general nature of the internet. Most of the time people come to the internet forums to figure out an issue or get a question answered so everything seems more on the negative side. And people hate noobs who post without browsing around for an answer first.

Plus sometimes people give replies that come off rude or smartass-like, but they did not intend it to seem that way. Ahhh ambiguous sarcasm of the internet.

Either way it is just how the internet it. Lots of negativity, lots of hateful comments, and lots of dumb observations. Now on my observations I have not seen too much negativity on here as far as actual defects in Tacomas. Maybe some leaf spring talk and whatnot but generally speaking, problems WILL occur with EVERY vehicle, and a lot of other vehicles have more problematic issues than Tacomas, which is still a generally solid truck.

Ignore the negativity and seek the best knowledge.

 

If it makes a difference I am rather new to the Taco and Toyota in general and I have nothing but GREAT things to say about my Yota! Even when I know I am wrong I will argue that the Tacoma is the best mid sized truck in the world. I used to roll with fords and things like that but man I look forward to getting in my truck every single day and just driving. It doesn't matter where I go I just enjoy driving and looking good in my Toyota Tacoma! So regardless of what others might think I love my truck and that is all that matters because I am the only one paying for it.