Comments: 1-15, 16-21
The truck is fairly new. The only problems I have had thus far are with the cheesy OEM tires Toyota put on the vehicle. The BF Goodrich Rugged Trails are a real wanna-be tire. When I can scrounge up the money, I will be swapping them out.
The 4.0 V-6 is very quick. The difference between it and the 3.0 six in my old 4-runner is night and day. It takes mountain passes without a problem and can keep up with V-8s with less gas consumption. 23mpg on a recent trip.
The TRD suspension is pretty Stiff, but I've always been of the opinion that you either want a truck or a car. The stiff suspension excels on back roads. I live at an altitude of 4400ft. and many roads are dirt or gravel.
The truck will tow about 6500 to 6800lbs without a problem. That's all I need.
The truck seems to have the same legendary 4wd ability as my old 4-runner. The push button electric for 4wd and locking diff seems weird. I miss the handle on the floor and still reach for it sometimes!
The interior is not too glamorous, but functional. The TRD interior package is a bit tougher than stock. There is a lighter, but no ashtray. I guess a lot of new rides are like that now. Stereo is nice although I haven't used the six cd option yet.
The truck looks sharp and gets the eye.
Yeah the Tacoma is a beautiful truck. It really shows that you don't need a huge truck to haul a lot. The Tocoma V6 is comparable to that of a 5.4 liter v8 in a Dodge or Ford. I can't say anything for chevy's silverado, I've never driven one, nor do I have want or need to buy something that breaks down on a regular basis. Go ahead and attack me on that, but fact doesn't change from bickering back and fourth.
The Tacoma is all most people will ever need in a truck, since 90% of truck buyers never even use those 5.7 liter V8s for what they're built for.
The 6 liter Vortec Max owners do.........all you ever want and even better than you need. Fun Truck!
I would love to know where the one Toyota owner gets his statistics. Most of the trucks I know belong to people who make some form of living with them and make full use of them... if I want a pleasure vehicle I would rather drive a sedan than bounce around.
Well, I've always wanted to find out how many horses are actually to the rear wheels of the 06 tacoma and also if an intake an spacer make a difference,, but what I do know is that I race my cousins which all have 5.3 chevys and 5.4 fords and i'll take on the of the line a full truck and keep it like that for over, they haul some good ass for a six banger.
I read somewhere that something like 80% of pickup truck owners just use it as a commuter vehicle, not as a work truck. So that 90% is pretty accurate.
Who on Earth compares the ability of a truck (a work machine) on how fast it accelerates? Did anyone ever stop to think that maybe the reason a Toyota can accelerate other trucks is because it is lighter? It has less metal in the frame, cross-members, transmission, axles, rotors, and oh yeah - it's aluminum (car) engine. That's not an advantage for a truck.
Soft and fluffy doesn't move the load. Heavy and rough does. That's like saying, "My tractor can only pull 20,000lbs and my Tundra can pull 7,000lbs; but sense the Tundra can go faster than 20mph, it's the superior work machine.
Oh yeah, and those domestic engines may break down more because they (1) are actually used for work sometimes and (2) are made with heavier parts for work (like cast iron) - which will wear out faster, but is necessary for any real work to be done.
Diesel engines are the top of the line engines for hard work. They are always made of cast iron. However, they do have to be maintained or they will break down on you because heavy parts for heavy work will wear out faster. Does that mean that your "silky smooth" aluminum engine is the superior work engine? Silky smooth doesn't move the load, either.
All the trucks mentioned against the Tacoma, were all 5,000+lbs trucks. There's not a Tacoma on Earth that weighs 5,000 lbs. I drive an F150 with the 8ft bed (very long machine) but it only has a 4.2L V6. Tacoma's out run me all the time. Does that mean they are superior to my F150 even though it can haul a few thousand lbs in its bed and its engine, despite the over-sized load of the truck, has 255,000 miles on it and still runs 200+ mile trips everyday?
Here's a good test for you, take your Tacoma, hitch an 8,000lb load behind it and hitch the same load behind the F150 with the 5.4l triton or the Ram with the 5.7l hemi and see how fast each one is able to run from 0 to 60 with the load attached. I'm pretty sure the Tacoma won't be bringing home any golden metals. Neither would its older brother, the Tundra.
Car magazines will test each of the base full size trucks and the Tundra will come in last in both pulling and hauling, yet it will still be declared the winner because its ride is refined and it has a pretty interior. What a bunch for wimpy magazine editors. Heaven knows, the necessity of a pickup truck is to have a smooth ride and lots of cup holders.
The domestic trucks have been winning for years because their trucks do what trucks are supposed to do. The only thing that's changed is the idiotic standards of today that are used to determine what makes a truck-a truck. Any truck looks reliable if it's never put through any real test.
Oh yeah, and if you think Toyota's really going to have the others when the new Tundra comes out, don't hold your breath.
First of all, it will still be judged by smoothness and shiny dashes as to what makes it superior.
Secondly, if you've even seen the frame from the bottom, the frame bends outwards at the cab instead of running parallel. There are hardly any cross-members, and the ones that it does have are poorly attached. They look hinged instead of welded or riveted. (Those nice flexible, unstable frames don't handle heavy weight too well, but at least it's refined. LOL.)
Thirdly, there are still only three leaf springs on the back end - so it will still squat to the ground when it does any work. Someone needs to tell Toyota that 3/4 ton trucks have to have more than three leaf springs on them. (By the way, if your truck sits on its axles when loaded down, it wasn't made to handle the load and that is not considered handling the load well.)
Fourth, as usual there's plastic cladding all over the front end of the vehicle which shows that it is not prepared to handle any real work. Any real truck simply has a clean cut metal bumper on the front end.
Fifth, as usual the front control arms are puny and not re-enforced. I'm sure that also contributes to the refined ride. That probably explains why no Tundra has a snow plow on the front of it.
But oh well, if you want to pay more money for less metal, be my guest.
You bring lots of good points in your comment, but:
1. Aluminium engines are used to make vehicle lighter and dissipate heat faster, they are more expensive to manufacture and last longer, mercedes among other companies uses them, diesel or gas for example and used them for many, many years with great success. You can't say that cast iron engines are superior to aluminium unless you don't care about vehicles weight and gas mileage.
2. Don't compare tacoma with ford diesel 250. Tacoma are lighter duty and will not tow or cary same amount of payload as ford. I use my tacoma to tow my boat, get some building material from home depot and to go back and forth to work etc. and it is exactly what I wanted. True, ford 250 diesel will beat any of toyota's as far as towing or hauling heavy loads, but try to take double cab 4x4 ford 250 to downtown Chicago and you'll know what I mean, it is huge and hard to drive.
3. Like you said, who cares about comforts in a pick-up, well toyota engineered tacoma to have best of the two worlds, having a pick-up and nice riding vehicle with comforts of a sedan, and yes, it does ride like a sedan. It would be nice to have ford 350 diesel, probably best hd pick-up out there to do your hauling and nice sedan to take it on trips and vacations, but who has the cash to do that, not me, to some extend tacoma replaces both, it tows up to 6500 lb and rides like a car.
4. Tacoma is lighter than any of domestic trucks = better gas mileage and with today's gas prices... It does not mean that it is built cheaper than others, it pays attention to changing world's economy by trying to satisfy costumers and the thirst for fuel. My 1997 chevy was getting 12-15 mpg, my 07 tacoma gets 18-21 mpg, huge difference in a long run.
5. If I was a construction worker, I would definatly go for hd ford, but I'm not and my tacoma does everything well and I'm enjoying everything about it including my "many cup holders" in it.
I wrote the first post here, and agree with the last post all the way. If I needed a larger truck, I'd buy a larger truck. My '06 Tacoma is all the truck I need. The Tacoma is a COMPACT pickup. Constantly comparing them to full size or huge diesel pickups is like comparing apples to oranges.
I'm retired, and bought the Taco to haul or tow moderate loads. More than that, I bought it for it's off road ability. Taco's have been praised for years by 4-wheel magazines for their toughness off road. I have taken Toyota 4-wheelers on roads in central Oregon that make the moon look smooth.
As far as it's aluminum engine, I believe the aviation industry has been using high strength aluminum alloy engines for decades. More domestics are using aluminum heads all the time, and I believe you will see more and more all aluminum engines in the future. My Tacoma 4.0L six generates 236 hp while a Ford 4.0 bangs 210 hp and Chevy's 4.3 V-6 bangs only about 195hp, and a Dodge3.7 puts out around 215. Now, you notice boys and girls that I am comparing similar engines. I am not comparing my V-6 with Goliath diesels or V-10's or 8,s that I know have more horsepower. If you are still working for a living and need a big truck, buy the brand of your choice. If you just need a compact to haul wood or tow a small boat, gets good mileage, rides decent on the highway, and kicks butt off road, the Tacoma is a good choice.
While you talk horsepower, you may want to put in the torque numbers too just for the hell of it. Horsepower isn't everything in trucks. Note that you are also comparing a DOHC engine (I think) to a bunch of OHV. Also note that motors can be tuned differently, and any one of those engines can be made to push as much horsepower as your 4.0. Now if they were all DOHC and 4.0 and in trucks and toyota had signifcantly higher numbers than maybe I'd be dissappointed in the american trucks.
It is true it's DOHC 4.0L V6 in tacoma's and that's why toyota always is trying to stay one step ahead of the competition. They designed that engine to be a little more powerful than others. You have mentioned that all others engines can be tuned to have the same hp as tacoma. Why don't they? I'm pretty sure all "big three" companies tuned those engines to the max they could before putting them on the market. Of course if you add turbo or supercharger they might be able to get 236 hp. I've seen 4 cyl. 2L engines having 700hp, anything is possible.
The reason I was comparing the Tacoma to the full sized trucks (with the 8000lb load pulling contest) was because people in the earlier comments were making the comparison. They were bragging that the Tacoma could run with the big V-8's when the V-8's are each having to move a heavier chassis. That's why I also compared it to my work F-150. The F-150 has a 4.2L engine while the Tacoma has a 4.0L engine. They are almost the same size, but the F-150 weighs an extra 1000lbs+. This is nothing to brag about. To me, a truck's highlights is its pulling and hauling numbers. Not its horsepower numbers. That's not the purpose of really any truck. Also, one of the previous comments is right on when mentioning torque numbers instead of horsepower numbers. A V-8 gas can put out over 300hp, but some turbo diesels can only put out 200+hp. But the diesels put out 500+ lb feet of torque while the V-8's may only get 300 to 400 lb feet of torque. Either ways, the diesels will pull way more than the gas due to the torque and the long stroke of the crankshaft. Horsepower is more of a performance measurement while pound-feet of torque is more of a work measurement. To me, the work measurement is more significant in a truck or SUV. The 4.3L Chevy engine only puts out 190 to 220 horsepower, but it will put out over 300 lb feet of torque. They are strong engines. To be exact, they are a 350 V-8 minus two pistons. They have the same sized pistons.
Don't forget that Toyota (and Honda) use a less-than-ethical method for figuring their advertised horsepower ratings. The advertised horsepower of these engines is actually about 20% less than the advertised horsepower if you use the same method domestic manufacturers use to calculate theirs. The 4.0 Ford engines actually put out slightly more real horsepower than the 4.0 Toyotas do. The Tacoma's real horsepower is more like 185-190. The advertised 240 horsepower Accords have more like 190-200.
The 4.0 Tacoma puts out 266 ft lbs of torque at 4000 rpm.
If you compare that to similar domestics, it is in the ballpark. Also of note is Chevy's big bad diesel is (sorry folks) engineered by the Japanese.
Horsepower and torque ratings I believe are same for all manufactures, japanese or not. To say that japaniese hp #'s are higher because they use different method is crazy and untrue. Just admit that tacoma beats all the competition in it's class and that's all.
How about some verification on your info about the oh so terrible, omg, the chevy deisel (there are tons of deisels...) is made by japan?
And the reason not all engines are tuned to their full potential is the longevity potential of the engine and fuel economy. Sure I could put hot cams, straight exhaust, big fuel injectors, performance chip, and richen the fuel mixture in my 2.0 jetta, but that'd make it run hotter, run worse in normal driving conditions, put me on premium fuel, give me much worse mileage... etc etc while getting the most horsepower out of it while staying NA. That's why not all engines are tuned for maximum performance.