TACO leads small pickup sales AGAIN in August 2017

Based on my time on TW, I am definitely in the minority. I would put looks about 6th on my criteria for selecting a truck. Probably lower.

 

The Tacoma looks great IMHO. I get a lot of comments on the truck from strangers . Way more than I anticipated.

I think the Tacoma's looks are what is carry it the most right now

 

Not surprising.
While Ford quality is below Toyota, it's way higher than that Chevy garbage.
It'll bee fun to see what Ford brings to the table.

 

Ha at everyone slapping eachother on the back like they are executives at Toyota. Even funnier that they think that sales numbers speaks to the quality of something. Don't get me wrong I think the 3rd gen gets a worse wrap than is warranted, but this isn't what you should all be pointing at like you just won something.

 

a storgae compartment a cooler.... It is called a put a effing cooler in your truck bed with a bungee and the trucks bed is one big effing storage compartment

 

This guy^

 

oooooh nice!

I am hoping that they do an XL, diesel, manny, Super Cab. As it seems Toyota as no interest in making a little work truck anymores, well at least here.

https://www.ford.com.au/commercial/ranger/models/4x4-xl-super-cab-pickup-3l/?intcmp=vhp-return-model

 

A big demand equals more sales. That's simple. What drives that demand is what these guys are talking about. Is it reliability and durability? Is it performance? Looks? Value? Who knows but it's fun to discuss.

One thing that is known is the Tacoma has the highest residual value of ANY truck. That is fact. Why is it that people are willing to pay a premium for a used Tacoma? Now we are back to conjecture about Looks, reliability, value etc.

Bottom line is, perceived or real, the Tacoma has enough demand that Toyota is increasing production by 30%. You don't get that if customers think the truck is crap. This forum is no indication of the real world.

 

You do realize you're on an enthusiast message board...right?

 

I am a partner in a large heavy highway construction company. Four years ago we upgraded all of our crew trucks to fords - 250s, 350s.....

Out of fifteen 6.7l power strokes we purchased, 9 had to have their left cylinder banks replaced due to valve stiction caused by excessive heat during the regen process. Our diesels, non diesels and the explorers we bought for our construction and project managers are all prone to having tranny issues. They seem to be made of the same material as Tony Romo's spine.

Bottom line, I will never purchase a ford product again. I'm not even taking into account the 6.0 and 6.4 power stroke fiascos.

We tend to romanticize things in the past while criticizing things in the present. My first car was a 1979 Toyota 4x4 truck. I've also owned a 1999 7.3 powerstroke, a 1996 12v cummins and a few other cars held in mythical status on the forums. I could go on for days about all the issues I had with those vehicles. The trannies in the ford and dodges? Crap. KDP mean anything to anyone? Tranny issues when I upped the wheel and tire size in the old Toyota, plus a host of other small issues. Never mind that all three of those trucks were thirsty, slow and a chore to drive.

Got heartburn about the throttle response and auto trans? Well better not buy a ram or a ford - go on those forums and search for "dead pedal". Don't like the leaky door seals and the road noise? Better not buy a GM truck. Hate abrupt shifts and gear hunting? Cross the ram (even the mighty aisin) and the gm mid twins off your list. Worried about the weeping diffs? Well, there are main seal issues with some of the other truck makers.

Do the 3rd gen tacomas have issues? Yep. So does every other car out there. If you don't like it, sell it and try for another brand. In the meantime, despite the issues, the demand for tacomas and the resale value of them is just stupid. That includes the previous gens - rust issues and all.

Sharing knowledge on these issues on these forums is a great thing....but beating the horse until it's bones have turned to dust is embarrassing and pathetic.

If our Tacoma turns out to be a turd, I'll post my experiences and move on. I sure as hell won't pop in here to try to crap on posts by owners who are happy with their purchase.

 

n=
nah I just want taco kisses

 

That's fair enough.

I do. And I do consider myself a Tacoma enthusiast, it just looks funny to me. You bought the truck because you like it. And as you can see from that comment thread it clearly isn't just a toyota thing. I just find it funny because no other appliance has a following like this. You don't see people buying a new grill then shouting from the rooftops when 100,000 of that same model were sold the next month. I don't mean to be malicious, it is just intriguing to me.

 

You can say what you want about the Ridgeline but after seeing my Taco, two of my friends went to buy one but came home with Honda's. I understand why younger guys that off road would pick the Taco. It's just so cool looking and is built on a frame. The Honda's very practicle and drives like a luxury suv. I have always wanted a Tacoma and at age 62, I bought one. I like my truck but thought Toyota had better quality control.

 

Forums are like news media. You are going to get bad news an bad opinions shoved in your face ever day when news comes on. Regardless whether there is good news or not. Same here people are more out spoken about small problems or big problems. Which they have a right to be but bringing to this forum does not fix issue. Just lets us know what is going on with a small percentage of trucks. We hear about it over an over week in an week out.

The forum members that are happy with your truck you hear very little from them. Its like a thread someone started recently. Wondering if owners are happy with purchase? Out of 190 votes, there is a 89.5% satisfied with their purchase.

 

I don't really care how many Tacomas Toyota sells month to month, I only care about the Tacoma they sold me back in Feb 2016. Been happy with it so far after 22k miles.

Parts are on order for the weeping diff that the dealer pointed out at the 20k mile service. No big deal, they get installed when they get here, still daily driving the truck.

 

I have probably owned Toyotas longer than some of these guys have been alive, do consider myself an enthusiast...but seems like there are more and more fanatics that follow the brand blindly, almost wants to make this long time owner want to try another brand and distance myself from the nutters. Despite having great sales, I am not to keen on the direction Toyota has taken with their trucks. The work horses are all about disappeared and are being replaced with bloated glammed up mall crawling whores.

Payloads have gone down in favor electronic gee gaw bling, and what is up with piss poor gas mileage? Years and years ago I started buying Toyotas for the more than doubled gas mileage compared my '76 F250 I had at the time...now fullsizes have the same to better fuel consumption. Where is the 30 mpg Tacoma I might ask? Heck, the current midsizes are about the same size as the old fullsizes. Power has gone up, but gas mileage has stayed about the same since the weight has gone up over the years too.

 

thanks for your honest commentary

 

It is the law of diminishing returns. Gasoline engines are only so efficient. Aerodynamics of a pickup truck are only so good. Drivetrain efficiency is what it is, especially with 4WD thrown into the equation.
The phase we are in now is the gimmick phase to try to increase efficiency. Atkinson cycle, shutting down cylinders, stop start, hybrid, eight and ten speed transmissions, etc are all just ways to try to increase efficiency of a gasoline engine that is just about maxed out as a stand alone unit. Adding a turbo or supercharger are other ways. Bottom line? A modern gasoline engine is about 26% efficient. Thats all. So now we are at the point of tenths of an increase until something drastic changes. I think I am going to write a tech article here about the fallacy of comparing MPG of vehicles.