Why Only Toyotas For Extreme Off-Roading?

I'm considering purchasing a new Tacoma for Off-Roading and have therefore been doing my research. I've identified the Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison and the Ford Ranger FX4 as competition. Since this is a Toyota forum I thought I would let you guys convince me what a Tacoma has or what mods you can do to it that you cannot to the competition?
It would appear that the Ford Ranger and Chevrolet Colorado are almost identical to the Toyota Tacoma, why not use these instead? AEV even has an excellent build for the Chevrolet Colorado:

https://www.aev-conversions.com/vehicles/zr2-bison/.

 

Why not do your own research and decide for yourself? Don't see why anyone would need to 'convince' you.

 

Reliability, build quality, after market support. I also like Toyota's theory of evolution over revolution. The current tacoma chassis is 16 years old but received many tweaks during that time. That's a good thing in my mind. The 2GR engine family has also been around for quite a while.

If you are the type to get a new truck every 3 years, a more powerful engine, more gears, better MPG or the size of the infotainment screen may be the deciding factor for you. If you'd like to see 200k miles, I think there is only one option.

 

buy a jeep for extreme off roading

 

Like I mention in my post it's because I did do my research and identified these other two pickups which would appear to be very similar. However, when going off-road it's almost exclusively Jeeps (for obvious reasons) and Tacomas that you see. So I figured there must be a reason for this and what better way to find out than to ask someone who actually owns a Tacoma.

 

Hashtags and sheeple, just popular right now.

 

Buy a Jeep for extreme off roading.

 

I'm going to say most people on the 3rd gen forum did not buy their Tacoma for 'Extreme Offroading'.

While the Tacoma does have a strong aftermarket, I would say most people bought their Tacoma for price, brand loyalty, Toyota's reputation for quality and reliability, styling, size, utility, previous experience or ownership of a Toyota or Tacoma, etc. I would bet the average member is using their Tacoma as daily drivers during the week and weekends using them doing camping, fire roads, hunting, outdoor sports, and light to moderate off-road trails.

Social media has definitely hyped the overlanding, adventure, 'get outdoors' and take pictures phenomenon which is why the demand for Tacomas, 4runners, Land Cruisers, Jeeps, vintage Range Rovers, Land Rovers, etc has skyrocketed.

If you put 12k (cost of that AEV package) into a Tacoma it would probably perform the same as similarly optioned/modded mid size trucks from Ford/Chevy.

If you want extreme offroading buy an old wrangler or XJ and mod till you go broke.

 

i myself would buy a taco over the bison or the ranger

however i would totally take an aev prospector if someone gifted me one

 

True, but if you already have one and are looking for something different, a pickup for example?

 

Are you also asking the same question on the Chevy and Ford sites .

In my case Toyota was just the luck of the draw . It could have been any other make .

 

That's a good idea, I'll post on the other forums as well.

 

No one mentioned a manual transmission option

 

I will say when I bought my 2017 Tacoma, the ZR2 looked like a very nice option. Thing was their newness and holding firm to MSRP of near 50k!!

 

There's also the Gladiator. It'll probably have more aftermarket support than the Tacoma. Jeeps tend to get more "big business" where Tacomas are smaller shops for the most part. It was a complete shock to me when I saw the wait times for some of the Tacoma stuff. You rarely had long wait times with Wrangler stuff. I DD'd a TJ for 9yrs and loved it. I was never a big fan of the JK. I have no doubt the 4 door probably saved the Wrangler, but I just had the belief a Wrangler should be a 2 door, utilitarian vehicle. I do see the irony that I drive a 4 door Tacoma

 

Wrangler.

 

I suppose too, that everyone's idea of extreme off roading is different. I don't think any of the three options in the OPs really fit the criteria of being extreme offroad vehicles.

 

Yeah, 2016 JKU Rubicon, w/Hard Rock...2.5" lift and 35's minimal mods to get there.

 

Buy whatever you like Opie. Test drive all three and see which you prefer. The resale value is significantly better on Tacomas, but that won't mater for your "extreme" off-roading since it will beat to shit by the time you are ready to move on (because extreme, and shit happens). Better supply of aftermarket parts, reliability, proven platform all come to mind. There is a reason why those crazy terrorist groups are driving around the desert with machine guns mounted to Tacoma/Hilux models for their activities...