Time for real talk: TFL and the war on Tacoma

Yup I agree but remember that Toyota neutered the 2020-21 crawl control . Can’t climb a curb or a brick

 

Why watch their videos if you dislike them, thier views, input, etc. They aren’t bias against the Tacoma. When the Tacoma first came out they were pretty much all about it. Not much has changed in the Tacoma in 6 years now, so of course they are gonna gravitate towards newer and better things. Tacoma’s aren’t as bad ass as everyone thinks. Tacoma owners like to think Tacoma’s are bad ass because they own one. Perhaps they still are the best overall midsized truck. But that title isn’t going to last forever. Segment is heating up and with the prices of fullsized trucks now being so high, a lot more people will be going into the midsized segment. Personally I think my 1st gen was way more capable badass truck off-road, than my 3rd gen.

 

I'm not a TFL hater, but I do recognize things like the OP said.

What drives me nuts is when they do comparisons for off-road capabilities...please, please, please put each vehicle in the same tires. We all know Toyota could do better on their factory tire choice. Just put all trucks in a KO2 or something and THEN let's do offroad comparisons. I want to see the Pro vs. the ZR2 etc. in the same rubber.

I like Raiti for new cars, but my only problem with him in the end is that I feel like I want his opinion, and his opinion overall seems that he likes everything he test drives, minus a few trademarked "zonks" here and there. Savagegeese is good also, but it's funny - he just comes across as so dull that I was initially afraid I would click past after 30 seconds, but he's surprisingly easy to engage as a listener.

 

Most buyers of the Gladiator, Pro Tacoma, and the Ranger will never go offroad. I have yet to see a TRD Pro Tacoma on the road with anything but the stock tires, most Gladiators I see are on stock tires. This tells me the owners are not even thinking about going offroad. Most 4wd truck buyers are not going offroad. Offroad capability of 4wd trucks isn't really important to the manufacturer as those vehicles will sell no matter what.

 

It's the old "I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it". It works for most people.

 

DGAF what they think. I like my Tacoma and that’s that.

 

After having watched most of that video. I think an 4x4 XL Ranger with the FX4 package, I think Ford sells that configuration. With the addition of Fox 2.0s all the way around and a set of 32 AT tires would give you the most offroadable and cheapest 4x4 pick up available in North America.

 

Not a fan of them. Their comparisons are ridiculous, biased and scripted. If they don't favor a vehicle they don't even try to give it a fair shake.

 

And where are you looking? When I go out to the desert in the weekend I see Tacoma’s and Gladiators all over the place. I take my Pro off roading on stock tires, hell I took my Grand Cherokee off roading on stock tires. I bought a Pro specifically so I could go off roading without modifying it. I like looking at all these sweet modified trucks as much as the next person but you really don’t need any of that stuff unless you’re doing crazy trails.

 

They may not be intentionally biased, but kind of hard to do a fair comparison when you activate all the goodies in the other two trucks but not in the taco. If that doesn't seem biased then let's do the comparison the other way, and see what happens.

3rd gen is way more badass than first gen by the way.

 

Make excuses all you want, Toyota has been left in the dust by the competition. I get that the Tacoma was closer to a base model with less aggressive tires compared to the others, but the Tacoma has some serious disadvantages. Combining an engine that needs 4600 rpm to achieve it's max torque with a manual transmission is an invitation to failure. Then use a transmission not geared low enough and you compound the problem.

Toyota needs to re-think both the engine and transmission in Tacoma and Tundra. Ditch the manual, or if they're going to keep it use an engine that gets torque below 3000 rpm and gear it for a truck, not a minivan. If I were buying a new mid-size truck today I'd buy the Ranger 10 times out of 10.

 

Just like a rat's exhaust port (arse) everyone has an opinion....even me.

The KEY is for YOU to NOT PRESS PLAY and give them more ammo. unlike if you are so inclined.

 

99.8% of viewers won't be influenced by these types of videos because they already made their purchase. These people are watching only because they happened to be near the car lot one day and the salesman managed to squeeze out the right high-pressure pitch of "oh I know you aren't interested, but let's just see what kind of approval you get for your budgeting purposes..." And before the mental fog clears they are driving home in a new truck.

Therefore the vast, vast majority of users watch these types of videos to justify to themselves that their poor financial self control isn't as bad as they think, and maybe if some random fuckwit says something nice on YouTube then it might lessen their severe bout of buyers remorse.

And that's why people get so rustled if the same random fuckwit tells them that their truck comes in last place. They are already upside down with their emotional investment.

 

Are you aware that 3rd gen 6MT's all have 4.30 gears from the factory?

The tire thing is getting old...toyota is wrong to sell an offroad package with the tires it does, deal with it. That's on Toyota. I don't expect a review to swap tires to make it an even comparison...that's like being butt hurt that the TRD pro comes with better shocks than something else so they should change out the suspension to make it fair. Ford stepped up, and the fact that a dated platform with some decent suspension and tires is giving the TRD a run for it's money shouldn't surprise anyone.

I like watching TFL, it's entertaining. I don't base any purchases off what someone on youtube says. I do wish they would have properly engaged the locker and used a-trac, but I guess I'll just request a refund...

 

I have commented so many times on why they don't even attempt to air down and they just make up excuses. They broke their Merc by not airing down and yeeted it up a hill. Their towing challenges are awesome, their offroad videos are a freaking joke

 

The real cheese sandwich in the end is resale value. Anything from the big three has proven time and time again to be the highest depreciating vehicles in their class. This wouldn't include the Gladiator which I have a feeling will be the same as the Wrangler and retain value.

As much as people scream at Toyota for better tires, there's other things they should be doing.

The audio systems are garbage, only Toyota can make a 2018 Tacoma sound like a 2004 Tacoma in terms of audio quality.

It needs rear disc brakes, i'm sure this will trigger the defenders of all that is Tacoma, but rear drums should have vanished after the 1st gen

The NVH needs to be revisited, for what this truck costs it should be a lot quieter inside. The carpet is nothing more than cheap boat carpet. It shows that they cut corners.

It needs an electric cooling fan or fans.

 

The truck they are using doesn’t have crawl control. It’s a manual Tacoma so it has Atrac and a locker, neither of which the fellow seems to know how to operate.

 

My only point, at all, is the test is biased when the Ranger is locked and in Trail Control, and the Jeep is locked, but they do not engage the Tacoma Locker or Atrac. That’s a stacked deck.

I watch it because it fun to watch bumbling idiots gets everything wrong, then have a fun discussion about it on TW.

 

True facts.

 

^^^^this all day! Let’s run the test again with the Tacoma locked and in Atrac, and the Ranger and Jeep unlocked with no traction aids. That would be as fair comparison as the nonsense these goofs put out in the first vid.