2004 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner from North America - Comments

Several noises are starting to come from the cab area. Also, tires for the PreRunner are not a usual stock brand. I had to wait 8 days before they came in.

Though the drive train I have not problems with, the interior is lack of bells and whistles. It barely has a kazoo. The seats are very uncomfortable, fuel economy if a lie on the V6 model, the bed is too shallow to do anything with, the fold down rear seats don't form a platform to be useful, interior storage space is a big problem, the clock on the dash board is hidden behind the wheel.

It is no wonder why it is not built for tall people, it is a mini-truck. I am six feet three inches and as long as it is not the regular cab it is fine for me. my advise test drive before buying!

I don't even own a Toyota, so I'm not biased. But you should've test drove and did your research BEFORE buying. If it didn't meet your expectations, why did you buy the truck??? The only real problem you have is with gas mileage not meeting your expectations. Case closed.

Just another over rated Toyota. People should stop buying based on myths.

I owned a new Ford Ranger prior to buying my current Tacoma. I didn't have any major problems with the Ranger, but just enough minor things in the time I owned it that really gave me an insecure feeling about the overall quality of the Ranger. When you have a truck with 15k miles on it that was not abused and well maintained, and the doors don't close right any more, the tailgate is a hassle to open, the brake rotors warp, a lining falls off one of the brake shoes, the serpentine belt squeals, the ABS engages mysteriously, and the clear coating peels off the wheels, it really made me feel I was driving something very flimsy that was falling apart around me every day. I was very disappointed in the Ranger as I have always bought domestic name cars.

I decided to trade in on a new comparably equipped Toyota Tacoma. It now has 15k miles and I have had no issues with it whatsoever. It was priced about $1200 more than a new Ranger equipped with the same options, but I have no doubt the Tacoma is worth at least $1200 more. Even if I did have a doubt the Tacoma would be worth at least $1200 more in resale, but the quality feel to the Tacoma and the feeling that it gives me with every ride left me with no doubt that Toyota quality is not just some sort of myth. Some might think they are over-rated, but the fact is the ratings are from actual owners, and Toyota did not get to be tops in quality and owner satisfaction by mistake, and I think many new Toyota owners "came over" from the same situation I encountered.

I used to drive a truck and delivered to auto assembly plants around the country. There is no comparing a Toyota or Honda plant to GM or Ford. You go into a Toyota plant and you just say to yourself I want my next car to come from here. You go into a typical Ford or GM plant and you say I really don't even want to be inside this place, nonetheless want anything made here. I also never encountered the lackadaisical worker attitudes prevalent at Ford and GM plants when I was at a Toyota or Honda plant. I want my car to be built by someone truly given the incentives to produce quality; not by someone who is only interested in how much pension they can take out of a company until it is run into the ground. One just has to look at the number of new plants the import manufacturers have built in the USA over the past two decades compared to the Big Three to see who is really investing in the future, and an auto manufacturer does that by building quality automobiles as their first priority.

I just traded in my 2003 Chevrolet S10 ZR2 on a 2004 Tacoma Prerunner; there is no comparison in quality, the Toyota outperforms the ZR2 and it doesn't have all the noise and rattles that the Chevy has. Hands down the Prerunner is the better truck...