pros & cons of the gen3

A lot of your cons can be fixed. Off the top of my head, you can change the headlight settings within the infotainment system and you can hang your gas cap by its stem on the two prongs.

 

drove a little more today
two points on the cons/wtf side
1. the driver side view mirror is heavily skewed making all autos look ridiculously fat
(should say in the bottom of the mirror 'objects may appear wider than reality' lol)
2. the drivetrain (tranny/prop shaft/diff) is not happy switching between F & R unless I really stomp on the brake
if fully depressed it is fine....guess I really gotta take my time switching direction of travel....gen2 was not like this

 

When I first joined, I never understood the hate the 3rd gen. section got. You're giving those guys so much fodder right now.

 

I actually don't a crap about that or most any of those con's. While the current tacoma is fine for what it is, toyota won't do it but they need to offer a tacoma with a 4ft wide bed with a torquier drivetrain similar to what they built the gen1 tundras as. They can still build their current massive size tundras for those who want a big truck. They can even produce a more compact tacoma 4wd as they did years before. Give the buyer more of a choice in pickup truck sizes not trims.

 

drove a little more (approaching 500 miles)
& here is a little more feedback

- average gas mileage is around 21 mpg ATM
- 4x4 use & activation is the same as the gen2 (drove on some ice for 30+ miles....totally confident)
- hood alignment is off as is the cut off on the hood on one side....where is the toyota quality control?
- center console opens so its accessible from both driver & passenger side (big improvement over gen2)
- the ignition is corky.....gotta really let it crank (gen2 was better) or its a redo
- the stock toyo tires that the truck came with grab & chuck rocks BAD!
- back seat audio is lacklaster at best, & after listening to several genres of music, the speakers suck balls (gen2 speakers/audio quality was better)

will update with more insight as I drive more

 

oil change is a big thumbs down.....so much easier on a gen2
gotta take down skid plate....whack
stupid oil filter housing....hate it
filter down below means more time on the ground....not cool toyota

 

Hmmm ... maybe OP should have concerned getting the awesome Gen2.

I have had 4 Toyota pickups stating back before they began numbering the GENs. They all were extremely high mileage and extremely reliable trucks, hence I am back for my fourth one, a GEN three. Out of all of them, my current truck is by far and away the nicest and most comfortable truck I have ever owned. Is it perfect? Heck no. But it also is not a Lamborghini.

Off the the top of my head my major cons list:
1.) can’t get 33 inch tires under the stock suspension
2.) The push to start button and the 4 Wheel Drive dial or two identical and too close to each other. Can’t tell you how many times I have pushed the 4 Wheel Drive button when I’m jumping in my truck to start it or getting out to shut it off

At the end of the day, it’s one man’s opinion and I guess it’s an interesting list. However, those in the cons list above and the “What the e’f is with this” that pop up once in a while, still are not enough to make me wanna dump my truck.