Tacomas are not underpowered

The perceived lack of low-end must have really held back Tacoma sales...

 

Agree 100%. We had a 64 Plymouth Valiant with a super 225 Slant 6 push button auto. That little wagon would haul ass pretty dam good. Now it ain't going to win any drag races, but for what it was, and dam near indestructible.

 

I agree, just got rid of my '04 V8 4runner. The newer V8 with VVTI is noticeably better than the old. What blows me away is that average gas mileage of my 4runner was only 2.5 mpg less and it was bullet proof. Man I wish I could get a Tacoma with the 4.7 VVTI.

 

I live in South Florida where AC is mandatory at all times. I used to notice a difference in my old 4 bangers when the AC kicked in, a 2002 Accord and a 98 Tacoma. I don't notice any difference in my 22' V6 taco.

 

Mine is so underpowered every time I look down I'm going like 70 MPH. I'm going to get a freaking speeding ticket any day now.



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when i bought my 3rd gen i did massive amounts of research and knew it was gona be slow and bad on gas. and even still. i was blown away by how slow and bad on gas it is. genuinely terrible engine. 3.4 in my 1st gen blows it out of the water. and how does our 7.3 liter gas v8 superduty get the same mileage as a little access cab tacoma. truly impressive on toyotas part in a bad way

 

I often wonder do the Supra (insert any car) owners complain they can not haul/tow as much with their car as a pickup ?

 

Make the go pedal kiss the carpet and you will agree its fast enough. Do it .

 

Idk about others, but when I drive on major highways where the speed limit is 65, and don't use my cruise control, I have a hard time keeping it under 80. Truck's speed keeps getting away from me. Even my gen1 4.7 tundra didn't do that as often.

 

Agreed. But I didn't HAVE the 4.0 litre!

 

That has nothing to do with power, just that the Tacoma is decently smooth, stable and quiet at freeway speeds making it easy to not notice the creep upwards.

 

It is interesting how whenever the word "underpowered" comes up there are 100 replies about going 80 mph or saying "smash the pedal".

Trying to position a heavy trailer or pull from a stop up a steep incline and smash the pedal don't work so well together.

 

Well say what you want, but I remember having a 1993 toyota v6 3.0 auto, it was hard enough just maintaining 65 mph on these same highways. That engine in that truck was so underpowered.

 

It's a nice a tidy V8 setup with a great power band and the 5 speed. VVTI setup is nice but I only have 112k on the 4runner and its in fantastic shape that I'll keep for the long haul. I do love being able to row my own gears in the tacoma though. If the 4Runner was a manual it would be a dream.

Someone did drop the 4.7 into a 2nd gen tacoma though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_toKyUGefY

Diesel Toys also has a diesel swap for the 3rd gen tacomas but at 35k it's pretty steep.

https://www.dieseltoys.com/2016-2023-tacoma

 

For those saying 3rd gens are underpowered simply don’t know how to drive or expect towing performance of a full size.

It has more than enough power for what It was designed to do.

I guess going 0 to 60 in ~7 secs is not fast enough for some folks…

 

Probably could swap that… some foreign market UZJ100 Land Cruisers w/ 4.7 came with an H151F 5 speed manual.

 

Tune plus gears =

 

Doesn't reach 200 lb feet of torque until 3700 rpm in a 4500lb behemoth.