Sales are Down

Could be, I think my "09" was made in CA. not sure I would have to check

 

I noticed a trend at the dealer around that all the Auto DC's I saw were made in Mexico and all of the 6 speeds were make in Texas.

I don't know though, cause my 14 Baja is Auto and was made in Texas. Can't blame you, I wouldn't want a Mexican Tacoma.

 

Toyota needs to bring their engines into the modern age. Doing that would ensure they remain at the front of the pack in the mid-size truck market. No doubt about it, Chevy will offer turbo / DGI engines in their trucks at some point in the future.

As I've said before, I like my '14 Tacoma a lot...because it is an established platform and it is fairly basic/simple. The only thing I really dislike about the truck is the piss-poor gas mileage, especially when it would be fairly 'easy' to integrate engine upgrades into new models rather than the standard cosmetic changes.

Bottom line, I think Toyota will see a lot more sales slip away if they don't take steps to keep up with the features and technologies their competition offers.

 

personally i don't have a clue about ford trucks since i've never owned one or even considered owning one. i never will either. pieces of crap is all i've ever heard about them. breakdown after breakdown. same goes for chevy and dodge. sure they'll last maybe 150-200k miles but they won't last 300k plus like a toyota, honda, or nissan.

again the person looking to buy a truck isn't necessarily comparing top of the line to top of the line. they are just wanting the most truck for their money. many think a v8 is more of a truck than a v6. it's just human nature.

 

Ford's 2015 Explorer (4,563 pound curb weight) with the 2.0L I-4 EcoBoost engine is rated at 20 city/28 hwy/23 combined. This engine puts out 240HP @ 5500RPM and 270TQ @ 3000RPM, which is pretty impressive in my opinion. Even more impressive, a $600 ECU tune will have this engine putting out 265HP and 329TQ with minimal losses in the MPG department. Their 2.7L EcoBoost engine would also be ideal for a mid-size truck (link below) and based on my personal experience their 3.5L EcoBoost engine is a beast.

Chevy is following suit and if Toyota doesn't do the same I'll definitely be taking a close look at the other options when the time comes to replace my Tacoma. Hopefully Toyota gets the memo and steps up to the plate.

 

I have a 2013 dcsb PreRunner SR5 I4 made in Texas

 

This is really crazy. My wife's duramax weighs 7400 pounds, lifted 7", runs mud tires, is tuned to 475 HP and over 900 foot pounds of torque....and gets better mileage than a stock Tacoma. I mean, this thing is as aerodynamic as a parachute.

 

Pretty hard to believe. Care to provide more details about your wife's Duramax truck? What engine, what transmission, and what is the gearing like in the rear?

My stock TRD Tacoma gets 19mpg avg. I know a person who has a 2013 2500 HD series Silverado, and he claims around 13mpg avg out of his with no lift and all terrain tires.

 

I think it is possible Snowbrdr1220. Duramax is diesel. Although newer diesels with the urea requirements etc. are not that efficient anymore, the older ones are. A friend of mine has a Ford F-350 Dually Diesel and he gets 24 mpg while pulling a trailer accross state ("state" is Florida which is flat and he does not exceed 65 mph, but still awesome mpg for the size of the truck and pulling a trailer). I get average of 23 mpg with my truck (V6 Tacoma) without a trailer if I do the same road. On dayly trips which includes a lot of city driving I get an average of 16.5 mpg, while the diesel Ford still gets 15.

 

Ahh ok guess that makes sense then, but not exactly an apples to apples comparison with the Tacoma. Deisel prices in my area are higher than regular gas, and I don't really know but aren't the maintenance costs of diesel engines much higher?

Guess I don't understand the infatuation with diesel, other than the fact that you get all your low end torque immediately, which would be great if you haul heavy loads regularly with it. On the other hand they stink, they're dirty, they're louder, higher maintenance costs, higher price of diesel, and in some other countries I've actually noticed that gas engines are an upgrade on a new vehicle over the diesel option.

 

LMM engine. 3.73 gears with 35" Nitto Trails. It's been tuned with a clean, no smoke EFI live map and the DPF is deleted, slightly better intake (still uses the stock airbox) and 4" exhaust. The trans is an Allison 6 speed auto. The TCM has also been tuned, and it has a shift kit. It did get pretty shitty mileage in stock form, as the DPF functions by injecting raw diesel into the exhaust system to burn off soot. There is no more soot build up with a clean tune. There are some mileage misers getting high 20's with the economy tune. I am not one of them, but when the wife is driving she gets 21-22 highway. I drove for almost 4000 miles over 9 days (generally 80-85 mph) and averaged 18.6, hand calculated with a GPS verified odometer. That average included climbing pikes peak and several other high mountain passes.

Maintenance costs are far, far less than MY tacoma, but mine isn't exactly stock. Ha.

 

Sounds like a pretty sweet truck for a Chevy. I gota ask though, how much money do you have into that thing with all of the tuning and aftermarket parts? What does she mainly use it for with that configuration?

 

We have about $10K into it, plus the purchase price which all told is considerably less than I have into my tacoma. It's her daily driver, and on the weekends it tows a 28' trailer into the woods and other street oriented duties. We don't "offroad" it, but I've taken it places a truck that big shouldn't be. More or less it's a tow pig and family hauler, and the tacoma is the offroad toy/ my daily driver (when it's not broke down).

 

What continent is Mexico in? Answer: North America. So yes, our Tacomas were made in America. North America.

 

Jeebus Christ that's alot of vehicles!

X2

You've got a true TACO!

 

I never said they were located in Japan; however, I'm just saying its a Japanese company/truck. They are moving to Plano, Texas. I'm curious how many employees move here.

 

My DCSB OR was built in Mexico. I have heard they do a lot of DCSB V6 trucks and custom orders. I was disappointed originally that it wasn't made in the U.S.A. But after researching that plant and seeing the build quality of my truck, I would probably pick another truck from Baja Mexico over San Antonio. My truck is tight and has no rattles, noises, or loose pieces anywhere, very happy with it so far.

Here is some stuff I have found out through my own research about the Mexican plant:

Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California (TMMBC)

For the Annual J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Survey (IQS) of 2008, TMMBC was awarded the Gold Plant award for Quality among all North and South American automotive manufacturing plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_de_Baja_Californiaarticle from earlier this year:

Toyota Announces $11 Million Investment in Baja California´s Plant to Keep Up With Demand

With this expansion Toyota will increase in capacity over 2013 to 63,000 Tacoma units for this year, since its 2004 initial production of 30,000 Tacoma trucks Toyota’s production capabilities, the company have increased 210% in the last ten years.

At the event executives of the company highlighted the productivity increased by the plant, fostered by the efficiency of its workforce. “I have not found a plant with people with so much commitment and willingness to work. It is a marriage of great people and a great company,” Da Rosa also commented.


http://tijuanaedc.org/news/toyota-announces-11-million-investment-baja-californias-plant-keep-demand

 

Thats a really unbiased and factual news source. I bet they say the crime rate in detroit is down and housing prices are on the rise.

 

Why so negative? I was quoting company executives in my post, so yes I understand they are probably a little biased. What's your point? I've also heard from other TW members with first hand experience, that the work culture at the Baja plant is very different than in the U.S. and not in a bad way.

Believe what you want, but the Mexican plant in Baja is one of the more accredited auto manufacturing plants in all of North and South America. That's a fact! They have also won other awards besides the one from JD Power that I quoted.

I'm not trying to put down the San Antonio plant or anything, just passing on information for people to feel better about their Mexican built truck. Even the Mexican plant still uses more U.S./Canadian sourced parts than most domestic companies use, with the exception of the F-150 I think.

 

Why not support American labor? Fords are built exclusively in Mexico, and the same for GM. If your truck was "hecho en Mexico" and doesn't have any problems, good. If you don't like that your truck was built outside of the US , don't buy from a manufacturer that supports it. Mine was built in Tx, and that's part of the reason I bought it. I'm not a fan of outsourcing labor, and that's my stand.