Tacoma exoerience

vtdog · **Joined:** Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:27 am **Posts:** 640

I have been out of my CRD and into the Tacoma for about 3 weeks and I thought I would give an update.

1. The truck drives well and handles fine. I do miss the short turning radius and agility of the Jeep, but I think that the Tacoma will be capable for my “light” off road travels. I got the “off road” package with comes with upgraded shocks and skid plates, so I think I will be fine. The truck also has a feature called A-TRAC (active traction control) which works with the locking diff to help get you out of mud and a down hill assist control which supposedly helps keep the truck steady on steep grades. I suspect that the chances of me needing the added features are small, but that’s what it came with. Unlike the CRD, the truck actually came with capable OEM tires (BFG Rugged Trail).
2. Only had 2 tanks of gas so far. Got 18.5 and 19.25 in mixed driving with about 75% on hi way. Even when you consider that diesel is about 12% higher than gas right now I am still getting LESS mpg with the truck. It is something that I knew going in, but as I have a vehicle from work that I drive and won’t put many miles on my truck per year I am ok with it.
3. The main Tacoma forum website I found (Tacoma World) is certainly not as good as this site. It is inhabited by mostly 20 somethings who are mostly concerned with lifts, body upgrades, and using their trucks to show off their manhood. Not a ton of technical issues are threaded (maybe there are not a lot to talk about?).
4. Based on what I have seen on the various Toyota owner sites, there is no issue with reliability as with the CRD. There are/were a few known problems with the truck (spring problem in beds for example), but it seems that Toyota has steps up and actually fixes the issues without any big hassle.
5. There are many threads on the Tacoma sites concerning the wish for a diesel to be sold in the US. Toyota sells a ton of diesel Tacomas (Hilux) around the world and their 2.5 liter engine is very highly rated for both reliability and mpg (about 29 mpg).
6. There are also many threads on “what is the best oil” Like here, there are shills for AMSOIL, lovers of Mobil 1, and people who say to stick to dino oil (5k changes listed in the book). I guess that a gear head is a gear head no matter what the vehicle. .

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:16 pm

Good luck with the frame rot issue common to all toy pickups and suv's.

flman · **Posted:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:33 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

Good luck with the frame rot issue common to all toy pickups and suv's.

Yup, Toyota the worlds most perfect vehicle :roll:

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:40 pm

flman wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

Good luck with the frame rot issue common to all toy pickups and suv's.

Yup, Toyota the worlds most perfect vehicle :roll:

mag03kj · **Posted:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:50 pm

shvlhead78 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:47 pm

And they just recalled 1.5 million vehicles today :banghead:

Silverdiesel · **Posted:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 11:38 pm

TJKJ2002:
You can bash those that like CRD's and Load Range E tires and how to properly snug a lug nut...
But... you got me busting laughing on the yoda joke :-)r

!!

You mean well Troy!...Good sence of humor.

Roland

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Fri Oct 22, 2010 6:47 am

shvlhead78 wrote:

And they just recalled 1.5 million vehicles today :banghead:

But it's only a brake problem :BANANA:

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 23, 2010 12:20 am

Well Good Luck with the Toyota..... I'm sure it is nice but like anything its own set of issues will appear before you in time just like the CRD. sorry to sound so glum but no vehicle is perfect. all are machines that will break in time. they are all built and designed by less than perfect humans and robots programed by those same humans.

Another 1.5 millon recalled this week. I read that and thought wow... how many did chrysler, ford, GM, Honda and Subaru recall this week, month or year? not as many as Toyota I think. Toyota used to be a respected brand but recently I think and would guess others think not quite so much as before.

I would be nice to see more diesel engines here for sure. I wanted a small SUV that could tow a camper I wanted to get and still get good MPG. I had become a loyal Subaru owner but nothing they had met my expectations. they had a boxer diesel Forester that came so close but they only sell it overseas, not in the US. The CRD was the best choice in size power and fuel ues for me. I looked at gasser Liberty's at first but never did more than sit in one. I have never drove any gas Liberty and the only gas jeeps I ever drove was my aunts old Waggy and 2.8L v6 XJ and my dad's 2002 GC.

MidnightLiberty · **Joined:** Mon Oct 08, 2007 6:42 pm **Posts:** 270

Good luck with the Toyota, sorry about your penis. :SOMBRERO:

NJCRD · **Posted:** Sat Oct 23, 2010 7:39 am

I thought about trading in my CRD for a Tacoma a few years back before I found this forum. They wouldn't give me much for my trade and wanted top $. This was also before the problems with the economy and with those accelerator pedal problems.
All and all, this board has helped and at this point in the game with the mods and good fuel mileage I get it's like a wife, just cheaper to keep her :BINGO:

Tacoma exoerience

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