Taco or Jeep?

From a guy who works in the auto engineering industry directly with FCA, the running joke is that their transmissions are wear components. As long as you ditch it before 100k you should be fine though

BUT jeep trails are called jeep trails for a reason. There is not offroad equal

 

It becomes just another story for someone to use to make their point valid. There are plenty of similar stories on here. I've owned too many vehicles, many Toyota's, a FJ, 2 4runners, 2 Tacomas. Hondas, Subarus, etc. The Tacomas Ive owned and been in are on par with the Subarus, excluding the motor issues of the EJ257. Tacomas dont feel built to the same standard or quality of the FJ and 4runners, not even the Scion I once owned. Tacomas are generally reliable, in the sense of dependability. Reliability has to be defined or a scope has to be established. People only think of it as does it leave you stranded. In my experience my FJ had 65k on it and nothing wrong, I have over 30k in miles in a 4runner with nothing wrong.

I have 15k on my current Tacoma and had 11k on the last. The last one would shut off while driving, leaked at the rear diff and howled. The passenger door would occasionally open while driving. The clutch pedal would groan when using it. There was a constant rattle at the pass. A pillar to dash area. The front diff bearing failed at 1.5k. Vibrations in many situations. Theres more, but I've forgotten it all.

My current Tacoma has a clutch pedal groan. The rear window slider is loose causing a rattle. The transmission rattles loudly while driving. There are vibrations when slowing from 30 to 0. The rear diff leaks and howls. There is a surge and shudder in power when accelerating in 2nd from 1800 to 2500 rpms.

I can live with these, with the exception of power loss while driving. But I wouldn't define that many issues withing 1 year of use as reliable. Sure it starts up and goes, but no other model of vehicle Ive owned had this many quirks and issues within a year of use. The fact that most of them are reoccurring on my new truck and the endless threads here are all I need to see and live through to know that I wouldnt consider it up to Toyotas notorious reliability standard. Hell the first one actually did leave me stranded.

When people are hard on Jeeps they list things like leaks and noise and ride. All of these are similar to things we see daily here. Some years had issues with the motors, like the early Pentastars, but some Tacomas had HG issues and many still have leaking timing chain covers, including some 3rd gens.

There isn't really a point to this though, people will continue to hold onto their beliefs. Some of us will buy Jeeps and some Toyotas. Most of us will love what we bought and even more of us will argue they're better than anything else. These are still machines and they will all fail some how, I work with machinery for a living. None of this is new to me or a surprise, but I can recognize quality and its varied degrees when I see it now. I love my Tacoma, but I couldn't honestly brag about its build quality and part reliability. I couldn't build a solid case for it using data from this forum either. If you're experience is better that's great, but that doesn't make the poor experiences out there less common or less real.

 

Jeepers will tell you “It’s a Jeep thing. You wouldn’t understand.” And there’s a lot of truth to that. A Wrangler will smoke a Tacoma in the “fun” department.

But then Jeep prices shot through the roof, quality remained unchanged and customer service tanked. All of a sudden, even I didn’t get it any more. No matter how hard I tried.

 

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Ridgeline?

 

Just find something like this !!!!!!!


https://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/d/claremont-1968-fj-40-toyota-land/6899864678.html

 

I'll stray from the pack here a bit, keep in mind I've owned 8 tacomas all generations for the last decade or so. Anywho, my mom has a 2018 JLU Rubicon and I actually found it for her and drove it the first 100 miles and every opportunity I can get when I'm back home, that or my Dad's new Raptor (my parents have some cool ass toys), regardless I have first hand experience with the new JLUs from lifting my mom's this past summer for her to driving it a bit. The new JLU is amazing, I thought I would never leave the Tacoma family but I found myself at a Jeep dealer last winter considering trading on a new JLU Rubicon (just couldnt stomach the payments). For those claiming FCA is unreliable keep in mind the 3.6 Penastar is a proven drivetrain and has been around for some time as well as the 8 spd ZF transmission, I wouldnt fret on that aspect, the 2.0L turbo is a fiat engine and I'd stay away from that one. Fit and finish is on par if not slightly better than my last 3 3rd gens, Toyota fan boys really need to stop with this Toyota is the best nonsense, Toyota of today is not the Toyota of before. My concern however would be some of the frame weld issues and electric steering issues that have already popped up, but the Jeep extended warranty though pricey is extremely comprehensive and from what my buddies say the way to go if you plan on keeping it. As far as driving characteristics its amazing, super nimble, easy to get around, park, etc. just felt really planted and easy to drive, the electric steering is a bit over reactive at times but I think they addressed that with the newer models. But as far as an adventure vehicle that you can mod the sh*t out of a Jeep just can't be beat, and the community is really tight knit and extensive if thats something you're into. For me I just couldnt give up the bed as I still had a bike in the garage and the price kept me from jumping. Sure you can get a Rubicon for $45k but to get the Alpine Stereo (similar to our JBL) with the sound dampening windshield, proximity keyless entry, leather, LEDs, Freedom Hardtop, cold weather package, etc. the price balloons to over $50k. But if you can swing it, don't need the bed and want to try something different I would say go for it!

 

I have had both, and have both right now. Jeep wheels alot better than the Tacoma right off the lot. You can build a Jeep to be an insane vehicle. But you can do the same to a Tacoma. I personally like my Tacoma over the Jeep. Been building it to be more capable then the Jeep. This takes more time and money, but it can be done. Tacoma gets to be parked in a nice comfy spot for it. Jeeps are parked out in the back 40 where spiders can make nest in them. Good luck with your find.

 

$45k otd with the alpine/sub and nav.
No frills. Been a blast so far.

 

Any issues with it so far? I've heard the JLs have had some problems with poor frame welds and loose steering

 

Were the doors and roof included in that price...?

Yeah, a no-frills Rubicon is probably the way to go nowadays. Options drive up JL price FAST.

 

Nothing. There were some issues with the track bar welds in the first batch of production. They caught it early and it was remedied.

I've been under it several times and I don't see any issues with any frame welds. They actually look really good.

Edit: The only steering issues I've hear of in the community are individuals lifting them with cheap spacer lifts and not correcting the geometry. alot of people will add a higher end steering stabilizer but that's not really fixing the issue, it's just masking it.

 

Who needs doors and a roof!!

 

I agree anecdotes are just that, individual stories. But there are statistics, which show Toyota in the top tier and Jeep down at the bottom:

https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2019-us-vehicle-dependability-studyvds

My impression is that Toyotas (Tacoma included) hold their value because of reliability. Jeeps hold their value because of their image. JMO.

 

Nice man! I did notice you can get pretty close to invoice without too much haggling. I wanted a Mojito JLU with Alpine, LED upgrade and freedom hard top. I kept getting quoted around $46k last year, $51k MSRP.

 

Jeeps hold their value mostly because there are no alternatives if you want to off-road. While most vehicles get sent to the scrapyard, Jeeps go to the 4x4 shop. Low-mile 20-year old XJ Cherokees still get snatched in seconds because they can be built up and wheeled for many more years. “Reliability” takes a different meaning the moment you build a rig.

That’s what’s happening to FJ Cruisers too: a low-miles FJC now costs the same or more than when it was new. That’s because Toyota fans who want to build an off-road rig don’t have many options.

 

Why do people keep saying jeeps are reliable. Overall they arent, they are bottom of the barrell. They are ranked near jaguar and dodge, ha. ALways laugh when people say with a straight face that Jeep and Tacomas have the same reliability. Yeah. No.

 

Who's saying that? I don't know of a single person who thinks Jeeps and Tacomas have the same reliability...

 

BTW: JD Power methodology is representative; Consumer Reports isn’t.

JD Power sets quotas by region, age, gender, income group, and randomly samples recent buyers. When they get the data back they weight results by sales. All of this is to provide results that are representative of the total market.

Consumer Reports’s samples subscribers, then recommends them to buy some products, and samples them again. CR’s sampling has a heavy built-in bias. It would fail a 1st year stats class.

We now return to our regular programming...

 

This is also brand not model, Jeep has some real turds in their lineup, but I remember seeing the reliability was better in the Wrangler.

 

Jeep is a trash can vehicle. We settled that here, already. Wtf.