Thinking of a new Tacoma to replace Subaru Legacy sedan after lease. Should I?

Hi,
Im Stephen. Just posed this in the second gen forum as well. Sorry if this is a repost...new to the forum.

This is my second post. I have never owned a pick up truck. Always loved them though, ever since Back to the Future I've loved Toyota trucks. Just love the look of them, heavy duty. etc. I have two kids though, one is five other is two (so both in carseats). Is the ride really truck like? Or is it somewhat smooth? I have owned Jeep Cherokee and a Wrangler, as well as a Corolla, and now a Subaru Legacy sedan, on a lease. I'm thinking of trading in the Legacy eventually for a Tacoma. How is it in the winter in Minnesota? I know it has 4x4, but it's not on all the time, so normally the rear wheel drive version would slip around a lot. The Subaru is pretty nice in the winter. Do you think this is a good truck for me? Is it difficult to go from a car to a pick up truck? Again, never had a truck before, just love the look of it and the utility. Was thinking I'd put a topper on and sleep in back during road trips. Is it a decent truck for road trips on the highway or is it a really rough ride?

Please let me know when you can, would like the advice.

Thanks,
Stephen

 

Welcome to TW from Ferntucky, NV
yes
no
yes
yes
no
JK
just get one DC for kid room

 

As far as ride goes, go test drive one. It will reide somewhere between the Cherokee and wrangler. Also the 4x4 system in the 2gen can do highway speeds so leaving it in during bad weather shouldn't be a problem. Good luck!

 

I just traded my Subaru Legacy in for a 2013 Tacoma. I am unable to tell you the difference in snow yet as we have not had any snow since my purchase. In the rain though I have not had the tire slippage I thought I would from a truck, and it rains A LOT here so had plenty of rain test driving so far.

You will notice a considerable more amount of push from cross winds going from the Subaru to the Tacoma and the ride is more stiff but I like it, it is not an uncomfortable stiff but a "solid truck" stiff. I agree with the other poster that you should look at the DC if you have kids, the Access cab is nice for me (no family) but it lacks any real leg room for passengers.

You will drop about 9 MPG from the Subaru to the Tacoma, I was getting 27.x MFG in the Subaru and getting average of 18.x in the Tacoma BUT I have just over 1k miles on it so it might improve once fully broken in.

If you have the CVT tranny in the Subaru you will notice the shifting in the Tacoma but get used to it very quickly and it has a nice solid shift. I have found the engine makes some sort of weird "ticking" noise but appears to be "on par" with Tacoma's so the engine is quite a bitter noisier then with the Subaru.

As far as the difference between AWD and 4WD, while it is true 4WD is not always engaged you can however switch between 2WD to 4WD on-the-fly up to 62 MPH (4High). I have found the pick-up and go of the Tacoma to be better then the Subaru (I had the 2.5 in Subaru and 4.0 in Tacoma) even though it is a heavier vehicle.

I hope this helps, if you need other questions or specifics let me know.

 

This seems to sum it all up. Good response.