Talk of Tacoma powertrain upgrade from head guy at Toyota US...

I've owned a small displacement gas turbo (VW 1.8T) and a second gen Prius. No prize for guessing which was more reliable. A friend of mine who has always driven small, high performance cars (WRX, GTI etc), switched to a VW TDI a few years back. With 6 speed, quite fun to drive and great highway MPG. He drives a new Prius now and gets better mixed-use MPG than the VW. I use my 3rd gen Taco for long distance road trips to get to fun places to explore in 4wd. A hybrid with 4 cylinder turbo could be very good for me. Improved in-town mileage, adequate highway torque, there's always low-range for offroad crawling grunt. Plus, engine shutdown on long freeway descents and at traffic lights really helps real-world mpg, especially where I live with lots of hills. Others may disagree. That's OK.

 

And since 99% of the world's supply of raw resources comes from China it's not hard to imagine everyone else scrambling to find resources and get them out of the ground at anywhere near the bargain basement cost (toxic health side effect, where, here?) they do now. The only mines and smelters churning out rare earths (neodymium, cerium), since Mountain Pass mine in California is currently idle, as well as about 80% of all lithium production are Chinese. It's a strategic move on their part since all electric and hybrid cars are going to need their resources, as opposed to oil which they have to import and use petro-dollars to pay for.

 

I vote for a hybrid too...never thought I would say this, but I have been looking at Priuses and hybrids lately...went from a 5 mile round trip commute to a 60 mile commute has me looking for something that gets better fuel economy.

Don't think a hybrid Tacoma would get what the Prius achieves, but somewhere above 30 mpg would be a nice middle ground.

Was once hawt for diesels, but seeing how reliable hybrids have become, no longer interested in diesels.

 

They are.

 

LOL the article talks about raising the CAFE score and you mullet types are seriously thinking they are gonna drop a 4.7 V8 in it.....

 

What's wrong with the mullet?

 

Premium gas is a deal breaker for the masses.

 

They specifically mentioned the Ranger and powertrains, it could be a turbodiesel and a hybrid

Maybe even fuel cells?

Lexus, Audi, BMW and Mercedes are launching fuel cell cars

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/lexus/...rids-in-favour-of-fuel-cell-cars-and-full-evs

 

subd 4 phun phaktor

 

Nothing wrong with mullets!

 

Building on the current engine and trans seems like a bad idea, hopefully they have a new drivetrain in development right now.

 

I agree. Toyota is cheap though so a different tune of the 3.5 might be what we get.

 

A small 2L 4 cylinder turbo could also work, a lot of car manufacturers are going that way

Honda replaced the CR-V's good 2.4L engine with a 1.5L making more power

 

Exactly what I was about to say. If Ford can squeeze 20-22mpg out of an F-150 with a turbocharged 6, it seems reasonable that Toyota could squeeze 25-30 out of a turbocharged 4 in the Tacoma. Those waters have been tested and accepted by the public. It'll take some balls to be the first company to release a hybrid pickup. I'm not sure I would take that risk as the market leader. Then again Ford took the risk on turbocharged 6s and aluminum bodies as the market leader and that worked out, so I could be wrong there.

It is fairly obvious that a turbo 4 will be offered in the ranger, and it will probably get great gas mileage and have impressive power. Toyota sees the writing on the wall there and is trying to be proactive.

 

Can you imagine the timing potential for turbo motors???

Don't wait too long Toyota

 

It didn't require premium.

 

You don't think drilling for oil all over the planet pollutes the land and ocean?

 

This.

I have owned too many vehicles that required Premium fuel.

It wasn't a big deal when there was only a 15 to 20 cent difference per gallon from regular to premium, but now when it is 60 cents or even more in my area, a vehicle requiring Premium is a no go.

Modern performance engines will now usually run or Regular while getting better power figures when running Premium.

It used to be that all turbo motors required Premium, now most don't. Even the twin turbo Raptor runs on Regular thanks to far better engine control for taming knock.

Premium nowadays is becoming limited to the high performance models from the manufacturers.

 

My buddy has a 17 Raptor and we took it up a local trail in Colorado Springs. While my truck could get through tight areas, I was having to drive through, get out of the truck, deadlift some boulder out of the way, and clear as much of the path as I could for him to get through. Despite all of that, I still get the "my truck is better offroad talk". I think the situation speaks for itself