The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

Funny you say that... My wife got pregnant after we placed our drifter order and the VO guys now have about a month before my baby arrives! It's gonna be a tight finish.

 

Thanks, MJ for that awareness. It helps as do all others experiences that are posted.

 

No prob. I’m just old school with certain things. Hell I got my truck in Jan 2007 and went 5 years or so without Amazon prime. That’s what really has f’d up most people’s mindsets (mine included with certain things )

 

I just went through the email again and it was an assumption on my part that the full payment would be due then. I wanted to add a few things and Phil said that we can do it once they are able to finalize a build date which is usually 3 months out. Nothing about the actual money. Sorry for stirring the pot.

 

Damn that’s really too bad. I’m all for everyone getting the camper to best fit their needs, but it sucks for some of the GFC customers that have to keep dealing with problems on their campers - especially if they don’t live close to Bozeman.

From what I gather, they’ve had replacements for leaky latches, rusty tubes, new seals, and new tent material. Hope there’s not anymore for their sake because that’s just inexcusable. Its kinda like my buddy with a Jeep and his million mile warranty. Like its great that you have that, but I’d rather not have those problems in the first place. I can’t even tell you how many times he’s had to take it to the dealer to get stuff fixed. He keeps arguing, “But it’s free!” and I’m like dude the inconvenience of getting it fixed means you can’t use it - at least not properly.

FWIW - I’ve had to bring my Drifter in once, but not because anything needed fixing, it was because the insulation package wasn’t available when I picked up my camper and I went back to have them add it in. Luckily I only live an hour away from the VO shop, otherwise I would have gladly waited for them to fully complete it before picking it up.

 

The inconvenience of getting it fixed - meaning that you cant use the vehicle - is called opportunity cost.

Opportunity cost is the cost you incur tangibly or intangibly in terms of time, opportunity and money that could have already been spent doing something worthwhile had the vehicle been working properly. Said otherwise, there is a cost associated with being tied up in a waiting lounge with neil diamond playing on the overhead, waiting for your car to get fixed.

So although getting the jeep fixed may be financially free of cost, there's an opportunity cost associated with it where your buddy lost time and opportunity to hang out with his family, friends, or to do something else productive and worthwhile.

Delays in a promised delivery could also be seen as an opportunity cost. Derping on performing a good QA of one's product can create unnecessary un-materalized opportunity costs down the road when stuff falls apart.

To keep a happy mind, dont fret too much over counting white and black stones, be grateful that you have the means and freedom to acquire a drifter at all, even if it takes awhile.

Im sure those guys are aware of their backlog and are reminded of it every morning when they get to work as they perspire over their own opportunity cost of having starting a company and created a product that keeps them so busy everyday that they cant get any free time to truck up into the mountains with their own family and friends for quiet time. haha ! life's strange like that.

 

What are you guys doing about your Tacomas GVWR? I went camping with my cousins recently and on the way back we got on a truck scale. With 4 guys and camping gear the truck was at 6700lbs, this is 1k over GVWR!!! Im concerned that with a Drifter and Goosegear the truck will buckle. I have E rated tires and a heavy duty leaf pack, any other suggestions? Vagabond can you guys chime in?

 

I was 6400 with my FWC loaded up when I weighed it during a winter trip.
Been using load range E for a long time. Basically Crom's suspension set up v.2 with an OME AAL.

 

I tell you what, one thing that sucked were the brakes. I had to jam my foot against the brake pedal hard but the brakes felt like they were made of cheese.

I have also heard that if you get into an accident and your vehicle has been purposely modified and exceeds GVWR then you can be charged.

 

I don't know how much your truck is modded, but you could get screwed over for every aftermarket part that's on your truck, a good number of them have "for offroad use only" anyway, so if anything goes wrong, you and your insurance get to have a "heart to heart" about who's paying in the event of an accident.

The "recommended GVWR" for these trucks and a lot of vehicles sucks. If you look around enough you'll find 4 grown men will easily exceed 50% of the available weight for most cars and "small" trucks, some vehicles will be maxed out just by a typical fat ass American family.

Box your rear frame, get a proper suspension for your uses, if you have a lead foot be sure to build for "oopsies".

 

In simple terms, Toyota North America needs to get their act together and spend less time developing infotainment systems, radar BS, etc and more time expanding the mechanical capabilities of the Tacoma. I been to many places around the globe (Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia) and I have to say that Toyota USA has the least capable midsize trucks in the world. In Australia you can still buy a new Toyota 4x4 with a solid front axle!

The Tacoma should as least have the same payload and GVWR as the Toyota Hilux. There should be really no excuses for that! Really disappointing.

 

That's not what American consumers want. They want Apple Carplay, power seats and automatic climate control for driving to the grocery store.

 

Really disappointing! I still don't buy that, truck should be a truck not a Toyota Corolla.

 

I mean I kinda want those things too.

 

Then buy a third gen!

 

Them's fightin' words...

 

I do enjoy the automatic climate control in my Subarus (past and present), and always wished my Tacomas had it.
Audio upgrades are ALWAYS a must, so a standard double-din allows for easy addition of Android Auto or the sheeple variant.

 

Yeah, I'd love more offroad-capable trucks from Toyota as well...
But don't hold your breath. It's only going to go in the opposite direction.
In 10 years we'll probably all be wishing we still had ICE motors, body-on-frame, and could actually drive the things ourselves instead of being driven by a computer.