Tacoma, one year later...

Hey everyone,

Figured for my first true post in the 3rd gen forum I'd do a quick mini-review of how my Tacos been as I'm coming up on year one with it. For context, its a 2019 Barcelona Red DCSB 4x4 Auto V6 w/ Premium and Tech, and I live just outside of Pittsburgh, PA commuting into downtown for work 5 days a week.

So lets cut to the chase, shall we?

Exterior
Objectively I love how this truck looks. The hood scoop is an interesting touch on a truck from factory, even if it blinds the ever living hell out of me most mornings...and I have to say I really enjoy the looks compared to a lot of the other trucks out on the road. Especially since around here its a good 60/40 split of trucks to cars.

Interior
One of the must haves I had for my next vehicle was heated seats and dual zone climate, so I ended up going with the premium and tech package. Surprisingly at 6'1 I have no issues with the sunroof unless I'm sitting straight up, but as a true office lackey I generally sit hunched so its no problem there. Not having CarPlay and missing that by a year is annoying as hell, and I'd love to have the 360º cameras, but the JBL system does the trick for me and it'll do as far as audio systems. The leather seats are fairly comfortable, and seem to be holding up really well.

Truck + City
You would think that having a truck in downtown, especially Pittsburgh, would be an issue but its actually not. I park in parking garages all the time and even with our tight streets I usually have little issues. I know if I had gone with the LB option or a full size it definitely would be an issue, but I've been extremely surprised with how nimble I can dart around in the truck.

Towing
I bought this truck explicitly because I knew I would be towing my 83 Caddy down to Ocean City for the annual shit show, I mean H2Oi show, and having completed this finally I have to say the truck handled the Caddy (~2200lbs), the auto hauler (2200lbs as well) and probably another 1k lbs of stuff including me and my GF without a single issue. Bought a ScanGuage to monitor trans temps during the tow down and back, and I was pleased to see that the trans fluid never reached the danger temps and braking never showed any signs of fading. I might have to haul my S4 around here and there, but after taking the Caddy to OC and back with no issues in the hills I would have no fear moving the Audi locally.

Here's pic of the tow setup, and yes I know I should have flipped the hitch but it was a late start and we needed to get moving, surprisingly never scraped the hitch or chains on anything but my driveway.


Ride quality
For a truck I have to say I am REALLY impressed at the road manners on the highway. You can easily set the cruise and just go. I had NO issues on my drive down to OC with comfort (probably because I was nervous as hell about the Caddy) and I wouldn't hesitate to take it down there again. There's times in the city with our garbage roads that I wish I had gone with the softer suspension of the OR, but at the end of the day I'm very content with the ride quality and don't plan on changing anything until I have to.

Auto trans
This is probably the lowest point of the truck. I got the auto because I knew this was going to be my daily and I didn't want to bother with shifting in traffic or when towing...plus my S4 and Caddy are both manuals as well. But the way this thing wants to just hold the lowest RPM possible is a gigantic pain in the ass on every hill in Pittsburgh. Which is literally every road in the city. I've been following OVTune and will probably head that direction eventually, but for now I'm going to grin and bear this silly transmission and its insane tendencies even though every lugging upshift (does anyone else have issues with the trans not shifting when your turning downhill), hesitant shift, etc...

Gas mileage
As of recently, WOW does this engine not love winter mix. I noticed my average of 18mpg drop down to 14/15mpg as soon as we went to winter blend. During the summer though, I was consistently hitting 18mpg city and easily 20+ on the highway. When I was towing my caddy down, with S4 and ECT on I was getting a solid 16mpg. But, it's also a V6 truck, so this is exactly what I figured it would do. Sure beats the 12mpg I was getting in a tired Ford SportTrac I was driving before this...

General Ownership thoughts
Without question I would purchase this truck again. Coming from general VW reliability (ha.) it's been great. I hate the transmission, but for that being the one low thing I have to say I enjoy everything else enough to deal with it. Good power, decent mileage, and usability for hauling stuff and people and just general DD duties. Can't wait to see what the next couple years are like with the truck.

Here's a pic of it out by lake near my parents house before putting the Lamin-X on the foglight...I think this was a week after picking it up!

 

Awesome first year review!

 

Toyota Rabbit Development (TRD)My dad had a powdered blue Rabbit

 

The Mk1 was my favorite GTi. I had two of them way back in the day

 

Good objective review. I noted many of the same points you made. I'm not in love with the transmission either, but the entire package makes it worth it in my opinion! Winter gas is terrible..lol!

 

FWIW, the latest OVTune beta is pretty good. There’s still a bit of TC lock/unlock, but overall the drivability is much improved.

 

Nice write-up. Thanks for sharing. I was reading through wondering how a Caddy weighed only 2200 lbs. Then the pic. Oh, it's a VW truck. How's that a Caddy? Haven't heard of them referenced by that name.

I agree with your observations, but can't comment on the tranny. I have the manual tranny. Yeah, I had to say that...

 

Nice recap.

Couple of questions:

1. Do you find that the HVAC system dries out your eyes?
2. How are your shins holding up?
3. The wipers - they could cover more area - amirite?

 

Have you been trying out S-mode?
It allows you to keep it in your desired gear and RPMs without upshifting to overdrive and the back and forth hunting.

 

Driving in downtown Pittsburgh sucks, too many one way streets...

 

It's not the winter blend that is messing mpg. The truck suck gas like crazy until it is fully warm up. The winter weather takes a longer time reaching warm up.