What do you guys think of the Toyota Tacoma?

[pierhogunn]

well, if you want to laugh your arse off, keep in mind that Kia is producing a pickup truck for next year that is based on the borrego chassis...

The thought of a kia pickup truck just tickles me to no end. I almost swerved off the road when the salesman told me about the "plan".

Still just tickles me...

kia

pickup truck

divide by zero error

crash

reboot

[KLF]

I must first admit that I am a very biased Toyota fanatic. I have owned them exclusively since 1986, and will likely never own anything else.

My other hobby (more serious than woodworking) is building up and off-roading my '87 xcab pickup truck. 230K on it now, it's been used and abused hard, it just keeps going. The faithful 22RE engine is one of the best they ever made. Even with my 35" tires installed, I still regularly get 20-21 mpg.



I've also owned a Land Cruiser, several Corollas, a Camry, several 4Runners, lots of experience with them. I've never actually bought a Toyota brand new, I've always bought used. Never had an issue. My current fleet includes an '04 Highlander (72K) and a '98 Lexus ES300 (120K), both of which have never given me one hiccup of trouble.

Besides the overall general high reliability of this brand, the other thing that strikes me with Toyota is their loyalty to stand behind their products when there is a documented issue. Two cases in point:

* The 3.0L 3VZ-E V6 engine that they used in the '88-95 trucks developed a history of blowing head gaskets. Toyota responded by refunding the expenses to owners that had to have them replaced, and extending the warranty on trucks that hadn't. A few years ago we bought a '94 xcab pickup with this engine, and I immediately took it to the closest dealer and had them check it out. They replaced the head gaskets as preventive maintenance, at no cost. This was on a 10 year old truck with 150K on it. That truck has 230K on it now, still doing very well. Would the Big 3 provide this backup coverage? I seriously doubt it.

* Recently many '95-'00 Tacomas were found to have excessive rust in the frames, particularly near the gas tanks. Toyota responded by extending the rust-thru warranty coverage on the frames to 15 years, unlimited mileage. If the frame was found to be heavily rusted, Toyota would pay the owner a check (not a credit towards a new vehicle, a check) for 150% of the vehicle's NADA value. My son had just bought a '98 Tacoma a few weeks before this announcement, he paid $6K for it, the truck had 200K on it. Toyota bought it from him, they mailed him a check for $13,200. Plus they gave him a rental vehicle to drive around for a month until he bought a replacement. I swear I'm not making this up.

So, yeah... I guess you could say that I think the Tacoma is a good truck.

[MikeMcCoy]

* Recently many '95-'00 Tacomas were found to have excessive rust in the frames, particularly near the gas tanks. Toyota responded by extending the rust-thru warranty coverage on the frames to 15 years, unlimited mileage. If the frame was found to be heavily rusted, Toyota would pay the owner a check (not a credit towards a new vehicle, a check) for 150% of the vehicle's NADA value. My son had just bought a '98 Tacoma a few weeks before this announcement, he paid $6K for it, the truck had 200K on it. Toyota bought it from him, they mailed him a check for $13,200. Plus they gave him a rental vehicle to drive around for a month until he bought a replacement. I swear I'm not making this up.

So, yeah... I guess you could say that I think the Tacoma is a good truck.

I recently got the extended warranty notice for that rust problem but haven't seen any evidence of it yet. 2000 model Tacoma owner but it has just recently gotten broken in at 150k miles. The only problem I've had was a fuel pump that was caused by my BIL giving my some gas with salt water in it after Hurricane Ivan.

[iceman61]

I've never owned a Tacoma but I have driven several Silverados since 1982. I generally put 120k on them before I sell them & purchase a new one. My current Silverado actually has 145k miles on it. The only mechanical problems I've had with any of them (a total of 7 trucks) is one truck I had to replace a windshield wiper motor, and a tailgate handle & fuel pump on my current truck. Have I just been luck & gotten 7 good trucks? I doubt it. Before several of my new truck purchases I did consider an import but the gas mileage ratings were not that much different than my full size purchases. 3-4 mpg difference.

[nothing]

My Silverado has 193,000 on it and I expect to have it for at least another 50k. I like Toyota's reliability but.... With today's economy being the way it is I think right now is the time more than ever to buy AMERICAN. Pat

The Silverado is being made in Canada this year and the Tacoma is made in California.

[jackellis]

the Tacoma is made in California.the Tacoma is made in California.

Thread creep I know but a lot of good the NUMMI labels made when we bought at a dealer in Reno and registered in California. And because the DMV clerk who inspected our car had just come back from a year's leave, she forgot to note the sticker that says the vehicle meets state and federal safety standards.

If you get a Tacoma, read up on the TSBs and look for info on the hose clamp fix for the truck's removable tailgate. The tailgates are really easy to remove and apparently thieves know it. $1100 for a new one!!

[cgallery]

Well, I'm glad your Tacomas work well for you. My experience w/ my Corolla and Camry wasn't so great. Replacement muffler (Toyota OEM) came w/ lifetime warranty. Had to replace the thing every 2-3 years. Constant electrical problems w/ door locks and windows. Problems w/ A/C. And parts were ungodly expensive compared to domestics.

Switched to Dodge and haven't looked back. Now I hate styling of newer Dodges, though.

[RAFlorida]

Had a '98 Tacoma and was very happy with it.

The only problems I had were not Toyota's fault. Hit a wild hog, 1700 dollars; rear-ended, 2800; wife got rear-ended, totalled the vehicle. But in the six years of ownership, it was a great work horse of a truck for what I needed, (electrician). And the Dodge is also a great work horse.

[Pappy]

The Silverado is being made in Canada this year and the Tacoma is made in California.

A lot of the American branded vehicles are being built in Cananda or Mexico and I know many of the Japanese vehicles are built in the US, including Honda motorcycles. Another way to look at it is that most of the profits to the Japanese manufacturers goes into the economy of Japan and the American car sales help our economy more.

That out of the way, I personally like the idea that my Ram has me surrounded by almost 3 tons of steel!

[MilDoc]

Friend of mine has a 2001 Tacoma, 171,000 miles, only maintainence costs so far.

One of our LVNs husband has a 2003, she says 90,000 miles, only maintainence costs.

[JeffG78]

I have had great luck with all of my Toyota pickups. I currently drive an '89 4x4 with 248,000 miles. If not for the Michigan rust, I would keep it going forever. Unfortunately, the salt is getting to it and I will have to replace it one of these days. Another Toyota will be in my future.

[dbhost]

I've owned a Toyota pickup in the past. I can't say about their newer vehicles because I have been very unimpressed with the ride quality, and capacities, I moved up to a Ford F150 a few years ago. Not an 8 foot bed either. 6.5 foot (standard bed) because I needed interior volume as well. I drop the tailgate, and cargo strap in sheet goods nice and tight. I have plenty of room, power, comfort, and towing capacity.

If I were to buy a Toyota truck, I wouldn't look at anything but the Tacoma. The current generation Tundra has some nice power, and some really nice features. But it is proving to be a very unreliable POS for a lot of my neighbors....

If you don't want a full size pickup, you might consider a Dodge with the lifetime powertrain warranty. That covers all the biggest issues... The guys I know with Dakotas really like them...

[burrellski]

My dad just bought a new Silverado, assembled in Mexico.

I just bought a new Ridgeline about a month ago (assembled in Canada). So far I love it. I had my mind set on a Tacoma for a long time, but then I test drove the Ridgeline. And, a sheet of plywood lays flat in the bed, no wheel wells.

[mpc]

I've never owned any of the following trucks myself... but I subscribe to several car mags. And my folks have owned/operated several pickups.

Chevy/GM trucks: if you actually USE them as trucks (towing or hauling any reasonable amount of weight) the "consumer grade" trucks often blow automatic transmissions at 75,000 miles. Dad's Silverado did this when my folks were moving cross-country, towing a camping trailer (well within the tow ratings of the truck). It was like that AAMCO add leaving bits of tranny... dad left a smoking red trail of ATF. The tow-truck operator asked "got about 75 thou on this thing?" "Uh, yeah..." "Thought so. I see this all the time." The dealer told dad that on the "small block" engines (350 cubic inches and below) the tranny is designed for a 50,000 mile lifetime with a factor of safety of 1.5... so it goes at 75K if it's ever stressed to near design loads. The dealer that swapped the trannies confirmed the tow truck driver's story. Otherwise though dad's truck has been fairly reliable. It's needed an alternator replacement and could stand a valve job now; it's really down on power and the compression numbers are kinda pathetic. It leaks fluids all over the place too... though the worst is the power steering pump. The interior stuff is showing its age: dash is multi-colored now from sun damage, many buttons (especially on the radio) work one time out of 5 pushes/operations, the little motor that moves the heater blend valve died (junkyard replacement was dirt simple to install; it's a common bug on that generation GM trucks). The dealer that did the tranny swap did mention the "big block" engine + tranny combinations (the ones intended for serious towing/hauling and the commercial guys) are MUCH beefier inside and are designed for well beyond 50K miles.

This Chevy replaced a Dodge D100 with the 5.2liter/318 engine... it was many years old when dad sold it. Dead reliable too... but that was 30 years ago - back in the days of carburetors and few emission controls. The modern electronics and emissions systems are often the trouble spots of today's vehicles. I learned to drive on this truck - it survived a teenager just fine.

Nissan's big truck will soon be replaced... with a rebranded Dodge. At least according to two auto mags. What warrantee will it have?... Will Nissan continue to use their own V8 engine or will they use the Dodge powertrain? I don't know.

Mitsubishi's pickup IS a rebranded Dodge... but I'd never buy anything from Mitsu again. Their customer service totally sucks - I do have a Mitsu sports car (the Starion, their "flagship car" when they first started selling stuff under their own name/brand in the US) that I love driving but it has required a LOT more maintenance, repairs, etc. than my 78 Corolla that currently has over 250K on it... the Starion is in the 75K neighborhood. Mitsu is lousy at stocking spare parts too - and often sends the wrong part... dealers just shrug and say "that's what Japan sends us..." No wonder they're going out of business.

My friends and co-workers know I'm a car nut... so I'm always getting asked "what should I buy?" I pretty much answer "any Honda or Toyota." So far nobody's been mad at me. I really hoped the Honda Ridgeline would be more than it ended up... a "truck" version of the Odyssey minivan... I liked the idea of a unibody pickup since I need cargo volume (plywood) but NOT mega-towing strength, off-road strength, or even mega-pounds cargo capacity. So I don't need a pickup with a heavy steel full-frame... a 1000 lb lighter unibody sounded SO GOOD to me. But the dinky bed turned me off... I want cargo space, not interior seat space (no family to haul around). I've been looking at the Tacomas... the new Tundras are just too big/heavy/fuel thirsty for my needs. The previous generation "three-quarter scale" Tundra would be about right. So far though my Corolla hatchback has been "big enough" - it WILL carry several sheets of plywood with the rear seatbacks folded down. They plywood does sit on the rear wheel arches and sticks out the hatchback about 10 inches but that's no worse than many mini-pickups. The BT3000 box fit inside... with the hatch closed. So did two brand-new 19 inch computer monitors in boxes years ago. I've even hauled a clothes dryer in it...

Like KLF's stories of Toyota stepping up to the plate to make things right with long-term problems on some vehicles, I've seen Honda do the same thing. A guy I grew up with drove a CRX for many years. He had to replace the windshield wiper motor at 70K miles; the car was 7 or 8 years old at the time. No big deal. About 3 years later he got a recall from Honda about the wiper motor - they were failing "at a rate higher than Honda believes is acceptable" and replaced any that hadn't been replaced... and reimbursed folks that had paid for a new one - plus interest. A woman I used to carpool with LOVED the used Accord she bought to replace her problematic Chrysler Laser (the K-car version, not the Laser that was a clone of the Eclipse). After a couple years it developed a noise in the front half-shaft/CV joints. Typical CV failure. We took it to the dealer and Honda replaced it for free - explaining that Honda had a "lifetime warrantee" on these parts too because the initial in-service failure rate was higher than they liked to see. So even though her car was well outside the warrantee - and well within what I think of as the usual lifetime of FWD half-shaft/CVs - it was free. She became a lifetime customer thanks to that car & dealer. Her daughter too.

mpc

[knotley]

If you get a Tacoma, read up on the TSBs and look for info on the hose clamp fix for the truck's removable tailgate. The tailgates are really easy to remove and apparently thieves know it. $1100 for a new one!!

All 2009s and I mean all, come with a tailgate camera. Regular cab and 4 cylinder base Access cab don't have the viewscreen mirror though, but the wiring is there should you want to install one.

Tailgate camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4tAZHVMfl0

Hose clamp and this:
http://www.jimmijammer.com/Product,%20GK.htm