Why All the Recent Blasting of the Tacoma's

There are good sales people out there, but it seems that they tend to be overshadowed by the idiots quite often. There are good mechanics out there as well, and then there are people that should not even be holding a wrench. I have a friend who is an executive at a major automotive repair company. They pay out tons of money annually, for blown engines due to a failure by the attendant/mechanic.

My recent buying experience at Toyota a month ago or so, was quite interesting. It was a 50/50. One real ahole sales guy and after ignoring him and making fun of his comment, I found a good sales guy. That's the short version of it.

 

Are you comparing both as 4wd? I could of bought a silverado as a 2wd with similar options as my my 2020 sr5 v6 4wd for a little more, but a silverado in 4wd wasn't even close costing thousands more.

 

Just want to address the above:
1. My TRD OR is the smoothest riding truck I have owned. It is near perfect. If you want to feel vibrations take a ride 2020 Nissan Frontier. Rattle trap

2. A small truck will never tow what a full size truck can tow. So yeah, if you need the larger truck it makes sense.

3. block heater issue is a dealer install issue. Not factory.

Now having answered all that, The worst trucks I have ever owned were Chevy's. Period. Unreliable junk, all of them. 1500, 2500, 2500 suburban and a Tahoe.

 

Yes. I had a 2020 custom trail boss. It was a lower model that had all the flashy 4x4 looking stuff on the outside. Still had the regular GM 6 speed auto compared to the 8 or 10 speed Silverado. that's why i chose it.

 

Exactly my point on when you spend money on something you over justify owning it. You are grasping at straws to prove your point. Many TRD owners on here have complained about ride issues. I was not comparing towing figures. I was making a point that if a truck that can pull 10k plus pounds can have a very comfortable ride, why can't a tacoma.

Slice it how ever you want but this is the first time I have heard anyone try and justify people's trucks catching on fire lol.

And Yes my Silverado was a turd.

 

just like anything if there is money involved it should be questioned. Before I even drove a tacoma I thought I was going to have a problem with "thigh support" whatever that is. Then I came to realize the only people having trouble with thigh support were those trying to help sell Seat Jackers. I will say the Tacoma has its issues but like other have said this truck is actually made to go off road. You can pull a stock Tacoma up to a F150 or Ram1500 and see the difference in ground clearance. Sure they can tow more and fit more people inside comfortably because that is what they are designed to do. I love my Tacoma. Its not as fancy on the inside as other trucks but who cares. I don't. The only thing that really bothered me about my truck was going up hills how it seemed to struggle unless I was flooring it. I got it re-geared and now its not a problem.

 

Idk about these trucks struggling to go up hils...gotta be some awful big hills. My tacoma seems to cruise every hill around here with plenty of giddy up. I'll agree toyota trucks were always behind the domestics as far as their interiors, but who cares when you have bullet proof reliability.

 

maybe I shouldn't say struggling but more of the gear hunting. Not huge hills either but enough to notice. I have a buick verano that handled them better.

 

my 2017 only gear hunts when I forget to hit the ect button. If I drive without turning on the ect, it feels slow and sluggish. With ECT it has plenty of power and I don't feel underpowered at all. And I live at 6,000 ft.

 

maybe I should have driven mine longer. I had heard that it "learns" you driving style but didn't know how accurate that was. I just know even when I test drove one for the 1st time there was steady incline of hill leaving the dealership and I noticed it not acting like a truck "should" going up a hill. I just felt like I had to mash the gas to get up hill. Just my opinion tho.

 

Maybe it does learn, IDK. What I have been doing is feeding it a steady diet of 91 as I figure with the VVT it will extend cam duration and allow more fuel into the cylinders. Who knows if this is true, but my truck feels pretty fast. In fact, it will kick the crap out of my new 4runner. Of course with ECT on. Like I said, ECT off is really bad. Even with the larger 265/75/16's, it is fast and I feel no need to change anything. When I go to 33's I will go to 4.88's.

 

I have some 33's coming this week. I knew I was upgrading and I was putting a suspension lift on so I had the gears done at the same time to save a little bit of money. Maybe I should have just tried ECT more could have saved myself a lot of money lol

 

VVT can't change cam duration it can only change the timing.

 

I think you still need 4.88's with 33"s

My understanding from what I have read is that duration does change, but maybe there is a version that does not. if so, I would love to see what it is

From a toyota site:
"How VVT Works
To understand how VVT-i works, we first need to look at its underlying technology. In a nutshell, VVT alters the timing of valve lifting to improve performance and economy in specific driving situations, usually dictated by RPM ranges. The idea behind VVT has been around for nearly two centuries, being first introduced in crude form in steam engines and later becoming common in aircraft and then automotive.

In automotive, several methods of varying the valves' lift and timing have been employed. Toyota's VVT is a cam phasing system, which is one of the most common in use. It uses a variator, which is hydraulically-controlled, to change the size of the inlet and exhaust valve openings, which also affects the duration of those openings as well. In dual overhead camshaft engines, this allows the timing of each opening (inlet and exhaust) to be controlled through simple manipulation of the size of the cam lobe being used against the valve lifters.

The cam lobe size in Toyota's system is in pairs, with the shorter one being immediately next to a taller lobe. A dual system of lifter arms is used with one for each lobe. When he shorter lobe is in use, the larger lobe's lifter is "free" (unlocked) thus creating no lift as the lobe passes under it. When activated, this second lifter is hydraulically locked and the larger lobe becomes the dictation for cam lift. Hydraulics are controlled through engine rotation speed, with higher speeds activating the higher lift.

This basic technology is combined with what Toyota calls "intelligence" to improve its performance further.

How VVT-i Works
Adding the "intelligent" part to VVT, VVT-i improves the timing control further by not only varying the intake valve opening and closing height and duration through the camshaft and lifters, but by further controlling the duration through change in the camshaft's rotation itself. On a duel overhead camshaft system (DOHC), this allows control of the overlap time between intake and exhaust valve closing and opening.

The system works by using a variable-speed head for the camshaft. This head, or camshaft gear, is where the timing system (belt, scissor-gear, or chain) give the rotational force to the camshaft itself. The gear head is a hollow structure in which oil pressure can be raised or lowered to allow a two-piece floating system to speed up or slow down the head's rotation in relation to the actuator.

Visualize this as a hollow, enclosed gear inside which two star-shaped gears are placed one inside the other. The outer gear is the camshaft gear's connection to the belt or chain that drives it. The inner gear connects to the camshaft itself. Normally, the two are meshed together, cog against cog, and turn at the same rate. When oil pressure is introduced, however, the gears can be separated, changing their speeds relative to one another momentarily. This increases or decreases the speed of the camshaft in relation to the engine's drive timing. That, in turn, changes the duration of the valve lifting to control intake and exhaust.

The system has been very well received by engineers and mechanics and has shown marked improvement in engine performance output under varied driving conditions and has improved fuel economy in many of Toyota's vehicles by double digit percentages."

 

From the extensive conversation I had with the owner of the shop and some other research that was my conclusion as well. He didn't even try to talk me into 5.29s. He was like unless you are going up to 35's (which I doubt I will) you don't need 5.29s. His thoughts were as a Tacoma owner that every tacoma needs to be re-geared. Don't know if he meant in general or if you planned on doing any off roading. Either way I like how it drive now.

 

All except for the manual tacomas, who got better gearing to start with. not sure why.

 

but 3rg gens don't have "bullet proof reliability" There you go letting your lighter pockets do the thinking for you.

 

That's a terribly written generic article. This PDF covers it pretty good but VVT-IW stands for variable valve timing - intelligent wide. As the name says it can only vary the timing, not lift or duration. The wide is how they achieve the simulated Atkinson Cycle. Page 82 and 148 explain the system in detail with pics. With the exception of the wide range its pretty standard on cars today.

This engine has the Dual Variable Valve Timing-intelligent Wide (Dual VVT-iW) system which controls
the intake and exhaust camshafts to provide optimal valve timing in accordance with driving conditions.
With this, lower fuel consumption, higher engine performance, and fewer exhaust emissions have been
achieved.

 

Well, at least the internet isn't full of videos of them snapping in half and falling off car lifts like 2nd Gens. There you go letting your lighter loafers do the thinking for you.

 

What...

No clue what "internet videos" you are talking about? I guess you are trying to bash 2nd gen frames for some reason? 3rd gen and 2nd gen tacomas have the same frame. Not sure why you are even bringing that up.

Link us to a video of this 2nd gen snapping and falling of the lift.