Tacoma Owners

[Jigstick]

Thinking hard about picking up a 2023 Tacoma TRD Off-road. The 2024 models are only available with turbo 4cyls. I’m not really digging that.

Any Tacoma owners on here? I don’t need anything bigger at the moment. The Tacoma should handle the farms and hunting needs for me here in PA.

 

[Darayavaus]

don't feel self conscious at all. it's 2023, and lots of gay men are buying mini pickups with 4 cylinder engines. most people won't even give you a second glance.

 

[charnicus]

I owned a 17 manual sport and a 20 automatic OR. What are you wondering about them?

 

[AllenOne1]

Tacoma World

Forum for Toyota Tacoma owners and enthusiasts, 4th gen through 1st gen. Discuss and ask questions. Show off your truck in the free gallery.

www.tacomaworld.com

 

[MIDWAY]

Been rocking a 4c tacoma since 2014. Been up and down the continental devide and it hauls as much wood as I can safely fit in the bed on at least a monthly basis. Zero problems, zero complaints. 115k miles.

Absolute fan. Will buy another when I hit 200k.

 

[UNRL Ghandi]

I'm running a 2017 TRD Sport and it spends a lot of time on the trails and fields at my farm in Western MD. Never felt it lacked anything until I bought a 16' Airstream. Took it out to Ohiopyle State Park in PA and realized on a couple steep roads having something with a little more umph would have been nice. I'm probably going to upgrade at some point to something bigger with more towing capabilities but if you're using it for light farm work and hunting you'll be fine.

 

[DIBBS]

What are you getting for mileage? I had a 2003 Taco DC v6 TRD with lift and 33's, and it was in the 17 range, less in low lock trying to get high centered in the snow.

 

[Redmanss]

Thinking hard about picking up a 2023 Tacoma TRD Off-road. The 2024 models are only available with turbo 4cyls. I’m not really digging that.

Any Tacoma owners on here? I don’t need anything bigger at the moment. The Tacoma should handle the farms and hunting needs for me here in PA.

I’m picking up the very same this Saturday for the very same reason, to get the last of the V6 before they go away. Provided I don’t wreck it, I’ll keep it for 20 years like the Exploder it’s replacing.

 

[Milf Dots]

The coming new 2024 offers a key upgrade- the Taco finally gets disc brakes all around. But dropping that great V6 engine option for 2024 ruins it for me because we all know one won't get 300-350K miles out of any gasoline turbo engine.

 

[UNRL Ghandi]

What are you getting for mileage? I had a 2003 Taco DC v6 TRD with lift and 33's, and it was in the 17 range, less in low lock trying to get high centered in the snow.

About the same unless I'm hauling the Airstream, then it's 10-12. I'm in a mountainous part of the state so that doesn't help. I'm lifted too.

 

[charnicus]

If between a 23 or wait for the 24 I’d probably go for the 24. The outgoing generation I felt was really uncomfortable for drives >1hr. Perhaps will never be the use case here. The power seat option in 20 was a tad of an upgrade. The 24 cab is totally redesigned. Moreso than from Gen 2 to Gen 3. These now share a chassis with the Tundra. I would suspect the new drivetrain will have less of gear hunting issues when towing / going up grade. Significantly more power. The forced induction vs N/A debate doesn’t belong here. It’s a Toyota for one. Two these aren’t race engines. After 100k+ miles when the turbo shits you can replace it in your driveway. The outgoing engine was not the former 4.0L / 5 speed combo. Rather decent gas mileage though. I averaged 21 driving from the Bay Area to Reno. Stock suspension / tires.

 

[lariat]

Dunno about the 4cyl. I’m thinking no. But I have a 2014 6 cyl 4wd Taco with almost 470k miles on it. Hauls everything. No complaints. So maybe the 4cyl design is gtg, just seems puny.

 

[Bender]

I’m picking up the very same this Saturday for the very same reason, to get the last of the V6 before they go away. Provided I don’t wreck it, I’ll keep it for 20 years like the Exploder it’s replacing.

Ok, we are going Pdog shooting in the top secret location now for sure! I would LOVE a taco! Get a 6 speed manual if you can! perfect size for everything!

 

[mtrmn]

I'm not an owner, I'm a mechanic. That means my opinion is biased due to the fact that the only experience I have with them is on the broken ones. That said, I've worked on enough of these things to make me never want one.
People around here love them and pay big money for them used. I just can't see their side of it myself. YMMV

 

[Jigstick]

I have twin turbos on my Ford Expy. Lots of power but turbos are hard on the motor. Hard on oil, lifters, cylinders, etc. yeah swapping a new turbo onto the Tacos motor isn’t cumbersome….but what about all the other wear and tear on the engine that’s more costly to overhaul.

The V6 is a solid core. Tested. I have buddys with 300k on their tacos. If the 2024 was available with a V6 I’d be waiting. But that isn’t the case now

 

[Jigstick]

I'm running a 2017 TRD Sport and it spends a lot of time on the trails and fields at my farm in Western MD. Never felt it lacked anything until I bought a 16' Airstream. Took it out to Ohiopyle State Park in PA and realized on a couple steep roads having something with a little more umph would have been nice. I'm probably going to upgrade at some point to something bigger with more towing capabilities but if you're using it for light farm work and hunting you'll be fine.

Funny you mention OhioPyle. I live an hour from there. And we spend a lot of time in the Laurel Highland mountains…as well as the mountains in WV.

 

[nikonNUT]

Planning on a 2024 TRD off-road sans the hybrid part (though 326/425 and 25 MPG sounds great!) and a 6MT. I’m sure I’m being delusional but 2.4L 4 cyl takes me back to the 22R of yore. I doubt it will be that tough but a bypass and a turbo timer might boost the life span. The new motor doesn’t seem that high strung by todays turbo standards.

 

[Graywolf.260]

I have a 1993 4 cyl manual 4WD Toyota PU with 220K. Still hauls logs, animals…

 

[zeroz]

I'm not an owner, I'm a mechanic. That means my opinion is biased due to the fact that the only experience I have with them is on the broken ones. That said, I've worked on enough of these things to make me never want one.
People around here love them and pay big money for them used. I just can't see their side of it myself. YMMV

Interesting to hear. The one I had went 384k with no problems before I sold it. Couple sets of brakes , plugs and shocks. One bearing. Poor thing got abused and did whatever I asked. The old lady has one with 113k and no issues yet.

What kind of problems make you not want to own one? Any years in particular?

 

[n2ishun]

Last honestly good Toyota made.
1991 1ton, V6, 5spd manual.
Runs all day long at 100mph and gets 27-30 mpg if easy on the go pedal.
Extrude honed intake and heads, custom cams, bigger valves, magnaflow exhaust, 3.92 rear, centerforce clutch.
Have pulled a 12k lb Kubota on a 16ft flatbed with it, no issues.
If I could buy 3 more right now, I would.....but when was the last time you saw a Toyota 1 ton p/up with single rear wheels ?

 

[EddieNFL]

don't feel self conscious at all. it's 2023, and lots of gay men are buying mini pickups with 4 cylinder engines. most people won't even give you a second glance.

Calls people gay...

 

[ggmanning]

I don't know anything about the newer ones. My 2003 TRD Offroad hasn't broken yet.

 

[higginsworksforme]

That direct injection motor will hit 600 torques on corn but yeah "muh tested six cylinder."

 

[Jigstick]

Is the 6ft bed worth the cost over the short bed?

 

[MtnGhost]

1GR motor is bulletproof.

 

[roostercogburn98]

Is the 6ft bed worth the cost over the short bed?

We currently have a 21 SR5 with the 6 foot bed and 3.6. The longer bed comes in handy sometimes. I preferred my 13 model with the 4.0 motor, but both are/ were solid trucks for us.

I’ve ran the piss out of a hilux with a turbo 4 cylinder and manual transmission. They are some good running trucks.

 

[lariat]

Is the 6ft bed worth the cost over the short bed?

Depends on what you want to do with it. Compared to standard pickup bed, they can be lacking, especially if you are trying to haul a bunch of square bales or anything that is large and adding a tool box causes real restrictions. If that's not your gig it may not be an issue. If you need more room and it something like kayaks you can get aftermarket setups that secure stuff above and to the side of the bed.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Is the 6ft bed worth the cost over the short bed?

Yes.

 

[gonzaga]

'11 with 267k on it. Replaced the battery, u joints, brakes, and a new clutch this Christmas. It goes everywhere and no big problems in my opinion. I wish I had bought the quad cab only so I can haul my grandkids easier....

 

[lariat]

Pretty eye opening.

 

[Jgunner]

Havnt been in a toyota newer than 2016, so i have no idea. But i do have a 286k mile v8 4runner, 270k mile t100 with long travel and a 3 link, had a 80 series on 37's that had 28xk and a 1st gen tacoma with 372k miles that i drive to save fuel. Good luck on your decision!

 

[BufordTJustice]

Is the 6ft bed worth the cost over the short bed?

Always...

 

[EddieNFL]

I bought my first Toyota Tundra in '06. Talking to a couple guys at church and one asked why I didn't get another Chevy. I said I had poor experiences with the last two. He said, "Well, I have almost 100K on mine and all I've done besides regular maintenance is injectors and front crank seal...and had the transmission overhauled.

Drove it for eight years, gave it to my son who drove another six. He traded for a GMC. Had almost 200K on the odometer. Mechanic saw a slight water pump leak when he replaced the timing belt at 100K. I had already told him to replace while there. Original starter, alternator, A/C....

 

[kentuckyMarksman]

I bought my first Toyota Tundra in '06. Talking to a couple guys at church and one asked why I didn't get another Chevy. I said I had poor experiences with the last two. He said, "Well, I have almost 100K on mine and all I've done besides regular maintenance is injectors and front crank seal...and had the transmission overhauled.

Drove it for eight years, gave it to my son who drove another six. He traded for a GMC. Had almost 200K on the odometer. Mechanic saw a slight water pump leak when he replaced the timing belt at 100K. I had already told him to replace while there. Original starter, alternator, A/C....

I currently own an '06 Tundra with the 4.7L V8. Loving it so far!

 

[psharon78]

I had a 2017 Toyota Tacoma. It was a good truck, didn't have issues. My complaints with it were the transmission. Once on the highway, it was constantly hunting for gears.

 

[Bantam1]

As a former Toyota master tech I will say the older 90's 3.0 V6 was garbage. Some lasted, most did not. Constant head gasket issues, terrible exhaust manifold design...lots of issues and totally underpowered. I replaced a lot of cylinder heads that were cracked. Hundreds and hundreds of head gaskets before the recall. By the time the recall happened they had revised the head gasket design 7 times. #1 and #6 pistons had to be replaced a lot when the head would go. We had an on the block boring machine to slightly overbore those cylinders during the recall. Way to go Toyota.

First gen Tacoma's had their issues including weak frames at the coil buckets (2WD). We replaced the frames on a couple of trucks and I don't know how many reinforcement plates we welded in for the recall. The 3.4 was a good engine, but they had a head gasket issue early on, but that was resolved pretty quickly. The later 3.5 seemed to be somewhat based on that engine but I don't know for sure. I was out of the auto repair side of things when the later models came out. They seemed to be pretty reliable with some slight improvements made after 2017. The 4 cylinder was legit and came from the Previa vans which seemed to last forever being mounted turned 90 degrees. The only issue was if you ran shit gas carbon would build on the top of the piston and cause the engine to knock like it had a bad bearing. It was carbon actually contacting the chamber in the head. A little GM topside engine cleaner solved that problem.

From my experience with Toyota never buy the first year of a new model. There will always be issues and Toyota is good about making corrections and running changes later. I would say wait a year or two before getting the new generation. That allows Toyota time to make needed changes. I will give them credit. When there is a known issue they work quickly to improve the part or design causing the failure.

Also get rid of the pink coolant they come with when new. Flush the system out and go to normal old school green coolant. Myself as well as all of the other techs at the dealers I worked with were convinced the pink coolant caused more harm than good. We sure seemed to see more coolant leaks and head gasket problems with that stuff than the regular green coolant. A lot of deposits, the scaly looking stuff would build up in places you don't want it. One of my friends that was a tech did that on a new truck. Ditched the stock manifolds on the 3.0 V6 and went to a short header to get rid of the cross over pipe behind the heads. He never had a head gasket issue. The last time I talked to him he was at 235k and no failure yet. We never had seen one go more than 80-100k without failure.

 

[deltawiskey]

I have a 2012 TRD off road, purchased new and have had zero problems!
DW

 

[EddieNFL]

From my experience with Toyota never buy the first year of a new model.

That's a truism of life with any manufacturer.

 

[GreenGO Juan]

From my experience with Toyota never buy the first year of a new model. There will always be issues and Toyota is good about making corrections and running changes later. I would say wait a year or two before getting the new generation. That allows Toyota time to make needed changes. I will give them credit. When there is a known issue they work quickly to improve the part or design causing the failure.

This is any manufacture. NEVER buy a first or last year anything. Unless you are looking at it from a collector stand point.

Solid advise. 1st year they are still in R&D, Last year they are scrambling to use whats left while more focused on getting the next thing out.

 

[Redmanss]

Ok, we are going Pdog shooting in the top secret location now for sure! I would LOVE a taco! Get a 6 speed manual if you can! perfect size for everything!

I was going manual, always owned a manual for the last 30 years, but this one won’t be. The wife can drive them but hates them, anxiety thing, and I couldn’t be that selfish.

Most modern stock auto “gear hunts” in the hills and far more so with something on the hitch, it’s the nature of modern fuel efficiency goalposts that .gov keeps moving for manufacturers to chase and the shift point programming to keep it in the highest gear possible. There are solutions for that. Reprogramming is relatively inexpensive.

I’ll likely be regearing it to 4.88 anyhow in the next year or so, going to slowly gather parts to turn it into a little climbing mule while trying to keep it fairly light.

Bed length, I went 5’ simply for my purpose of wanting the shorter WB for off-roading and cost had zero play in the decision. I see pickups in two forms, a short little guy for adventure and a long bed one-ton for work, with everything in between a compromise in one form or another. If I have to bring a trailer to load Sheetrock anyhow, might as well have the off road advantage of the shorter WB. If I already have the shitty ride and fuel economy of a HD pickup, might as well have the higher GVWR and bed space to go with it. Half tons fill a minor gap, if I had more people to move in it than just me and the wife, maybe, but we don’t. That’s why we have a car as well, and the rear seat will not be staying in the Taco when I get done with it as it’s near pointless for us to have it.

My philosophy certainly won’t apply to everyone.

 

[DIBBS]

While we're on the subject of Tacos, has the driver seat comfort been improved? I'm 6'3 and my back hurt on longer trips in my 2003 DC or bouncing around in the hills

 

[Jefe's Dope]

I had a 2014 Sport Quad Cab Long Bed. I immediately added the TRD Supercharger due to lack of power. That helped immensely and made it a joy to drive. I sold it last Spring w/ 120,000 ($25,000 to the first real buyer) miles and no non maintenance related work. A couple of batteries, a belt, spark plugs, and the front brakes at 88,000 miles. My only gripe was needing the high octane gas for the SC and gas mileage was unimpressive. But I drove it with a heavy foot.

I'd wait for the 2024 and get the hybrid for the power alone. Anything less than 300HP and it's just a dog. At least at high altitude. But that's just me.

 

[Sandhog308]

Thinking hard about picking up a 2023 Tacoma TRD Off-road. The 2024 models are only available with turbo 4cyls. I’m not really digging that.

Any Tacoma owners on here? I don’t need anything bigger at the moment. The Tacoma should handle the farms and hunting needs for me here in PA.

I have two Tacos. A 98 that I put a TRD Supercharger , Headers, Cat Back Exhaust.
Auto Trans upgraded to handle the SC. 300K plus miles.

2014 TSS series , totally stock. Only miles were on trips. Wouldn’t trade or sell either. The 14 cost 31K , been offered the same. Nope
ONLY wish , want a 6 ft long bed vrs a 4 ft.
The 98 was a good year for Tacoma’s. I see quite a few still kickin.

 

[Maggot]

I have a 1993 4 cyl manual 4WD Toyota PU with 220K. Still hauls logs, animals…

I had an 87 with the 22R engine. Drove it 375,000 and it started everytime I turned the key. Drove it to Costa Rica and back. Got 30+ mpg. Only sold it because it had no Ac.

 

[Bantam1]

You could have added A/C to it for not much money. We used to do it all the time at the dealer where I worked. When I started we still had the older trucks and the Tacoma came in mid 95 if my memory is correct. They sold a lot of trucks back then that were no A/C. They used to sell it as an option. Took about an hour or so to install everything.

22RE was great. The only thing that wore out was the timing chain guides. They would still run and eventually the chain would wear through the timing cover and coolant would flow directly into the oil pan. The old school trick was to swap the head from the 20R onto the 22R. Increases the compression ratio and bump the base timing a little.

 

[GreenGO Juan]

I got my hand on a 22re engine after 2 other mechanics couldn't get it to run. Head was off and asked me to put it back together as they though it was out of time after 2x putting it back together. I put it back together it wouldn't start.

Sprayed some fuel in the intake, popped off... Ended up being a Fuel pump relay... they did all that because of a $15 relay.

Worked in our favor, I got paid my brother got a truck, then he destroyed it. He destroys every thing... sad, it was a clean little truck.

 

[Bantam1]

I would love to find one in 4WD with the 22RE. Slow, but reliable. The manual trans are super easy to rebuild should they need it. Use the factory heavy duty clutch in them and they last forever. The only thing I would add is a locker for the rear, maybe the front too.

 

[Sandhog308]

While we're on the subject of Tacos, has the driver seat comfort been improved? I'm 6'3 and my back hurt on longer trips in my 2003 DC or bouncing around in the hills

No , in my opinion both seats suck , on both Tacomas. I’m 6’1 and the 2014 is brutal on long trips. I sat in a 2023 , more comfy sitting , have 0 clue about going on road trip.

 

[calling4life]

While we're on the subject of Tacos, has the driver seat comfort been improved? I'm 6'3 and my back hurt on longer trips in my 2003 DC or bouncing around in the hills

I put a Corbeau heated suspension seat in my FJ Cruiser, it's not rocket surgery at all.

Buy a new seat if you want, you can spend $500 or you can spend several thousand depending upon your desires. Mine was certainly close to that $500 area, though this was 8 or so years ago.

 

[Ronws]

I have the 2023 Tacoma SR-5 with the V6. It will do anything I want to do. I pull a trailer (5'x10' ramp gate) with limbs and crap to the dump, no problem.
I could also pull a boat or camper without a problem.

I get in and out of sketchy dirt roads on public hunting land.

I have not had a problem. And the service manager where I get the work done has a Tacoma from the 90s that simply will not quit and he is holding on to it.