Toyota Tacoma - Your Thoughts?

[CompactTractorFan]

Wouldn't it be nice if you could get a 2-door version of the Hilux D4D
turbo Diesel the rest of the world gets? 161hp 4-cyl, and 35+ mpg (photo).

Yeah, too bad the USA doesn't have all the diesel engine options that the rest of the world has...

 

[Cat_Driver]

The mobile mechanic that services my big trucks has over 800K on his Toyota pickup.
( made by Toyota ) , and he was right. I haven't spent a dime in repairs other that the usual, brakes, filters, battery, tires, blades etc.

The one truck is coming up on being 30 years old and still goes out every day.

Funny story. When I went to buy/lease the truck almost 30 years ago, I asked my "certified accountant" should I buy or lease the truck, she said lease it because who will want the truck after 4 years - it won't be worth anything. Well, the answer was, I wanted the truck after 4 years and that was nearly 30 years ago. I paid 15K to buy it from the lease company.

Check out the NY auto show today. Ne Toyota pick up has a 10K towing capacity, and Dodge just came out with a ground up redo on their pu.

 

[micdelbo]

I have to chime in here.

I do service work and drive around 30-40k miles every year.

I have owned 2 vehicles since 1995. A 1994 toyota extended cab I bought used with 18k on it with a 22re(one of the 5 best motors ever made in my opinion) and 5 speed. That truck got rear ended 5 times and never even had to have the bed repainted, just collected checks from very willing insurance companies and replaced or pulled the bumper straight. Unfortunately the last rear end caused me to hit the car in front of me and it pretty much demo'd the front of the truck. At that point the truck had 287,000 mis. and still ran great. I sold the drive train, bed and interior off for about $2k and got $1.5k from insurance company and paid $250 salvage value. I miss that truck. Not a power monster, but I bet I would have seen 500k on it.

My second truck is a 2002 Tacoma extra cab (4 door) v6 automatic that I bought used with 25k on it. It has 312k mis. on it and runs great. I have had to redo/replace the heads once at 217k due to coolant leaking into a cylinder. I replaced the water pump and timing belt at the same time. Cost was $1,200.00. I also replaced the transmission at 225k due to a whine. Cost was $2,200 for a Jasper. I just replaced the original muffler and tailpipe at 305k.

I run Mobil one extended and change oil and filter every 10k mis. I keep up with the maintenance but am not fanatical. Right now I know I need rotors and pads up front. Other than the above "major" repairs, I have only done lubes/oil changes, tire rotations, batteries, etc.

I collect an expense check every month for my business miles that averages $1,200-$1,600 so do the math. It is well worth my money to buy Toyota pickups.

My wife's cousin is a service manager at a dealership chain that sells 4 brands, Toyota being one, and he said without a doubt the Toyota trucks are the most reliable vehicles other than Mercedes diesels.

I can honestly say that I hope to see at least 400k on this truck and if and when I need another one, I will walk into whatever Toyota dealer has a nice, clean used Tacoma or maybe Tundra and buy it.

Hope this helps.

Oh yeah...about the frame issues. Both of mine were inspected and passed no problem. My wife's cousin said Toyota replaced frames on trucks that had 400k mis. on them at "no cost" to the owner's and provided loaner trucks. For the older models they would actually give you a new truck if the frame was rusted. That is customer service.

I actually do not use Toyota dealers for service. I have an absolutely great Vietnamese mechanic that knows about everything about Toyotas and Hondas and is very reasonable.

Mike

 

[micdelbo]

Forgot to mention about towing...

I have towed with the truck occasionally. I have a 2001 Suburban that I pull my 5k camper with most of the time. I have used the Tacoma 3 or 4 times...it was well over the 5k limit of the Tacoma but the Tacoma handled it. I would be lying to say it hauled it as well as the Suburban, but the Tacoma did the job.

I just picked up a 6x12 low profile dump trailer and with my 4115 and loader on the trailer, I was surprised at how well the Tacoma handled it. I will use the Suburban most of the time, but I am not afraid of using the Tacoma if and when needed.

Now, like many have said here, load the trailer properly. Park your truck/trailer on level ground and place your load on the trailer and watch the tongue. Place the load forward of the axles and see how far the tongue dips, then move the load back until the tongue allows the truck to return to normal height. Then move the load forward until you see the truck dip slightly. Tow with it and if the rig stays level, doesn't dip too extremely at the hitch point,(too much tongue weight) or sway at moderate speeds (too little tongue weight) then you are probably pretty close to the correct amount of weight on the tongue. This is not exact, but it will give you an idea of the amount of tongue weight your load will place on the truck. Make a note of where the tires are on the trailer, (either mental or physically on the trailer) for future reference. This makes all the difference in towing. Of course the attachments on the unit will affect this.

As far as braking, when towing anything substantial and dual axles, I can say I have only ever towed with trailers that have brakes on each axle and can't imagine having anything less. I have had brakes fail on my camper and that is a scary thing. The Suburban brakes can stop the entire rig, but only until I could pull over and adjust the brakes on the trailer to get some braking back. Key here is understanding your brake controller and learning how to set it and adjust it for different conditions/speeds.

These are basics of towing that I follow and my Tacoma has done fine the times I have needed it to. If I was going to tow a substantial amount, i.e., more than 10 times a year or a substantial mileage, I would not use the Tacoma. Then again, I probably would not use a Suburban either but would probably buy a 3/4 ton chassis truck.

Hope this helps and sorry so long.

Mike

 

[clemsonfor]

Forgot to mention about towing...

I have towed with the truck occasionally. I have a 2001 Suburban that I pull my 5k camper with most of the time. I have used the Tacoma 3 or 4 times...it was well over the 5k limit of the Tacoma but the Tacoma handled it. I would be lying to say it hauled it as well as the Suburban, but the Tacoma did the job.

I just picked up a 6x12 low profile dump trailer and with my 4115 and loader on the trailer, I was surprised at how well the Tacoma handled it. I will use the Suburban most of the time, but I am not afraid of using the Tacoma if and when needed.

Now, like many have said here, load the trailer properly. Park your truck/trailer on level ground and place your load on the trailer and watch the tongue. Place the load forward of the axles and see how far the tongue dips, then move the load back until the tongue allows the truck to return to normal height. Then move the load forward until you see the truck dip slightly. Tow with it and if the rig stays level, doesn't dip too extremely at the hitch point,(too much tongue weight) or sway at moderate speeds (too little tongue weight) then you are probably pretty close to the correct amount of weight on the tongue. This is not exact, but it will give you an idea of the amount of tongue weight your load will place on the truck. Make a note of where the tires are on the trailer, (either mental or physically on the trailer) for future reference. This makes all the difference in towing. Of course the attachments on the unit will affect this.

As far as braking, when towing anything substantial and dual axles, I can say I have only ever towed with trailers that have brakes on each axle and can't imagine having anything less. I have had brakes fail on my camper and that is a scary thing. The Suburban brakes can stop the entire rig, but only until I could pull over and adjust the brakes on the trailer to get some braking back. Key here is understanding your brake controller and learning how to set it and adjust it for different conditions/speeds.

These are basics of towing that I follow and my Tacoma has done fine the times I have needed it to. If I was going to tow a substantial amount, i.e., more than 10 times a year or a substantial mileage, I would not use the Tacoma. Then again, I probably would not use a Suburban either but would probably buy a 3/4 ton chassis truck.

Hope this helps and sorry so long.

Mike

Just curious, how is a "5k" camper "well over the tacomas 5k limit"? Is it all the extras in the camper as the 5k is a dry weight, before chlothers chairs, food linens, toys, water etc?

 

[CompactTractorFan]

I have to chime in here.

I do service work and drive around 30-40k miles every year.

I have owned 2 vehicles since 1995. A 1994 toyota extended cab I bought used with 18k on it with a 22re(one of the 5 best motors ever made in my opinion) and 5 speed. That truck got rear ended 5 times and never even had to have the bed repainted, just collected checks from very willing insurance companies and replaced or pulled the bumper straight. Unfortunately the last rear end caused me to hit the car in front of me and it pretty much demo'd the front of the truck. At that point the truck had 287,000 mis. and still ran great. I sold the drive train, bed and interior off for about $2k and got $1.5k from insurance company and paid $250 salvage value. I miss that truck. Not a power monster, but I bet I would have seen 500k on it.

My second truck is a 2002 Tacoma extra cab (4 door) v6 automatic that I bought used with 25k on it. It has 312k mis. on it and runs great. I have had to redo/replace the heads once at 217k due to coolant leaking into a cylinder. I replaced the water pump and timing belt at the same time. Cost was $1,200.00. I also replaced the transmission at 225k due to a whine. Cost was $2,200 for a Jasper. I just replaced the original muffler and tailpipe at 305k.

I run Mobil one extended and change oil and filter every 10k mis. I keep up with the maintenance but am not fanatical. Right now I know I need rotors and pads up front. Other than the above "major" repairs, I have only done lubes/oil changes, tire rotations, batteries, etc.

I collect an expense check every month for my business miles that averages $1,200-$1,600 so do the math. It is well worth my money to buy Toyota pickups.

My wife's cousin is a service manager at a dealership chain that sells 4 brands, Toyota being one, and he said without a doubt the Toyota trucks are the most reliable vehicles other than Mercedes diesels.

I can honestly say that I hope to see at least 400k on this truck and if and when I need another one, I will walk into whatever Toyota dealer has a nice, clean used Tacoma or maybe Tundra and buy it.

Hope this helps.

Oh yeah...about the frame issues. Both of mine were inspected and passed no problem. My wife's cousin said Toyota replaced frames on trucks that had 400k mis. on them at "no cost" to the owner's and provided loaner trucks. For the older models they would actually give you a new truck if the frame was rusted. That is customer service.

I actually do not use Toyota dealers for service. I have an absolutely great Vietnamese mechanic that knows about everything about Toyotas and Hondas and is very reasonable.

Mike

Wow, those are some MILES!!! :confused2:

 

[crazyal]

Yesterday I help load a 95 Chevy 1500 onto a trailer. It had been sitting for 4 years because it wouldn't pass inspection. The plan was to just roll it up the ramps and onto the trailer. The truck had other ideas. It split in half the moment we tried to pull on it. I ended up using my BH to lift each half onto the trailer. Around here, everything rusts.

People love to say that a good dealer is worth paying extra for. Well so is a good company. Any company that steps up like Toyota did is a company I'll buy from again. Think about how a company will treat you 5 or 10 years from now, not just until the warranty runs out.

 

[timswi]

Yesterday I help load a 95 Chevy 1500 onto a trailer. It had been sitting for 4 years because it wouldn't pass inspection. The plan was to just roll it up the ramps and onto the trailer. The truck had other ideas. It split in half the moment we tried to pull on it. I ended up using my BH to lift each half onto the trailer. Around here, everything rusts.

People love to say that a good dealer is worth paying extra for. Well so is a good company. Any company that steps up like Toyota did is a company I'll buy from again. Think about how a company will treat you 5 or 10 years from now, not just until the warranty runs out.

The Chevy was sitting for 4 years in what?...I've never seen that happen around here to any Chevy that wasn't sitting in 3 foot high weeds for years....If someone did that to a Toyota, they wouldn't have covered it, nor should they.

 

[crazyal]

The Chevy was sitting for 4 years in what?...I've never seen that happen around here to any Chevy that wasn't sitting in 3 foot high weeds for years....If someone did that to a Toyota, they wouldn't have covered it, nor should they.

The frame was rusted too badly to get inspected so it was parked. My neighbor's plan was to patch it well enough to use it as a plow truck for his camp(very common around here). When he tried to weld it the rust was too bad so it just sat for 4 years on sandy ground. Last fall he got tired of having it parked in front of his hunting cabin and a relative took it for parts.

As for Toyota, if it was registered to you and road worthy (other than the frame) then they would cover the frame, no questions asked. Basically you could by a wrecked truck in the junkyard or buy up a bunch of trucks and try to get them all fixed.

 

[micdelbo]

Just curious, how is a "5k" camper "well over the tacomas 5k limit"? Is it all the extras in the camper as the 5k is a dry weight, before chlothers chairs, food linens, toys, water etc?

Yes, the weight of the trailer is 5K not including all the extras, water being the heaviest as the trailer has a 35 gallon tank, plus bikes and what not.