12PACK

OK, all the guys I work with who have Tacoma's have 4wd. Gary, early 50's has the 4 cyl and 5 sp in his 98 reg cab. He gets 23 on average and has ~ a 25 minute commute to work to give you an idea on his driving.

The rest of the guys have extended cabs, the model that has the jump seats.

Yvon has ~ 04 and he's 42. 1 mile commute and gets 22 on his V6/5sp.

Rob has an 00 and he's 45. Also has a 1 mile commute and gets ~20. He bought it new and only has 30K on it so it must be all short trips.

Scott, mid 30's also has a 98 with the 4 cyl and 5 sp. He gets 17 and has gotten as high as 23 if it's all highway.

My father in law has an 03 with the six and auto and I think he's around 16. I haven't asked him in a while but I remember his answer was less than the 18 I get.

I only got one "Why are you asking? Do you want to buy it?" which surprised me.

The full report will be on your desk first thing in the morning.

Respectfully submitted,
12 PACK.

DynoDynamicsNE

I've had 4 Toyota trucks in my lifetime - all 4WD. I'd have one today if they had at least a 3/4 ton truck with a diesel.

The first was an '86 that had close to 200k when I traded it for a new one in '92. I stopped by the dealership because it wasn't getting any power, and couldn't do more than 50 in the highway. While I was there, I saw a truck I really liked, and took it for a test drive. It had about 35 miles on the odometer when I drove home that day. The reason it ran poorly? Bad fuel filter - it had never been replaced. I averaged about 23 mpg, it was the 22re engine and 5 speed.

The '92 saved my life. To keep this post short: I posted about that in this thread.

I then bought another new one in '94. I had a little over 100k on the stock tires, the ones that were on it the day I bought it. Same with the brake pads and shoes. Not one problem with that truck. I needed new tires and could use new brake pads, so I went to the dealership. I again saw one that I liked and made the trade. I would average in the summer at around 20-22 mpg. The winter however, I'd be lucky to get 18.

The next one was a 2000 4Runner. I liked that one, but yet, it was cushy. And when it was time to "get back to work", I found that it didn't have the strength I wanted. So I bought the Dodge. By the way, I had gotten over 90k on the tires on the 4Runner too. This one got an overall average of 19 mpg. It loved summer time, but it didn't like winter at all. It drove through anything, but it drank gasoline when the temperature was below freezing.

So if you ask me, buy the Tacoma, it'll serve you well. Even if they don't like cold weather, they are very reliable.

vciesielski

05 prerunner(non-TRD) 247hp 4.0l v6 5sp-auto doublecab
27,700 since aug '04 city:16-19 Hyw:20-24

Fronty Owner

Toyota doesn't offer a quad cab with a 4 cyl. you have to get the V-6. now your looking at a 20 mpg truck.

rockcrawler304

Awesome replies guys...Thanks. I will not rule out the Nissan but the wife likes the Toyotas. Looks like we will be LOOKING this weekend. Won't be able to buy for a few months though, so I can do a lot of research before buying.

96_12V

I would strongly suggest picking up the recent Car & Driver issue (i'll find it agian and let you know which one it is) where they do a wrap-up report of a year-long test of a V6/4wd/AT/long bed/4dr Tacoma. It's actually a little less than impressive overall.

I personally liked the Tacoma much more as a true small truck, now that it's a Dakota-sized rig it's a lot less impressive overall. Sorry to be a bit pessimistic, it's just that my opinion of Toyota is they are getting too mainstream American for my tastes.

Joe T

I just helped my brother out on this when he bought his first new vehicle after graduating college. He bought an 07 tacoma prerunner V6/auto SR5 ext cab. He swapped at the dealer to the steal cheap wheels to save an extra $600. I think the final price was invoice plus 100 or 200 dollars plus whatever it cost for window tint, his friend's grandpa owns the dealer. I think it was $21,500-22,000 plus TT&L.

I don't know what kinda MPG it gets but it is rated for 22mpg hwy on the prerunner and I think 21 hwy for the 4x4 and I forgot the city MPG. I don't know if he has tested it yet since it is still new and not broke in.

You mentioned lift.. You can do it a few ways, the trucks sit pretty level with about .75 inch rake. The most common way is to do a spacer up front from what I looked at they come in .75 inch, 1 inch, 1.5 inch, 2, 2.5 and 3. The higher you go the worse it will ride and on 4x4's you have the problem with excessive CV joint angles when you lift it too much and the boots get extended to the limits. The suspension has 4 inches of droop in it which is very nice, but you loose some of that when you lift it. Or you can do Donnahoe coilovers which are reasonably priced, they come preset at 2 inches lift and you can crank them up to 3 inches but you'll loose ride quality. For the rear you can do blocks to set it up the way you want it to match your front lift or you can do 2 inch add-a-leafs which would work nice with a 2.5 or 3 inch front lift. Also the factory rear springs are known to get saggy if you work them a lot.

You are limited on tire size and rim selection, factory rims have a 4.5 offset. Some aftermarket wheels will hit the calipers especially on the sport models, I guess the sports have different brakes. And as a note it seems like some people have clearance problems with the front sport bumper. Most common tire sizes are 265/75/16(32X10.5) and 285/75/16(33x11.5), I've heard the 265's can fit without a lift and with the 285's you run into problems even with a small lift with them hitting the suspension or the back of the fenderwell but you can beat down a weld joint back there to help and change to aftermarket swingarms if that becomes a huge problem (not likely). Plus you might have to take off the mud flaps. FWIW, I've seen people run up to 295s with a 3 inch lift but I bet they rub.

Also with the 33's you'll notice the change with the stock gearing, it'll get a little sluggish plus it seems like some people loose some fuel economy.

My brother will probably do a .75 inch spacer to level it and some type of TRD wheels wrapped in 265's, we'll have to investigate further to make sure it won't rub like that. Then after those tires wear out and it's out of warrantee he'll go to a taller lift and 285's... Donnahoes and add-a-leafs would be a nice set up.

They are neat little trucks, but the reality is for what it is they don't get great fuel economy. He would have bought a chevy 1500 with a 5.3 but they just came out then and they were asking full price. The full size chevy gets the same MPG and is a better truck hands down for only a few grand more. Knowing my brother he'll keep the truck till the wheels fall off.

Joe T

oh and it seems that most people get their stuff from toy tec.

rockcrawler304

Joe T..... Good info. Thanks

Joe T

yeah, sometimes I get to typing and realize I put a page down... Anyway, I said you WILL run into problems with the 285s, but I meant to say you CAN run into problems with them rubbing if not set up right. Those are the 33 inch tires... Anything above that really requires a lift kit and the costs start going up, but FWIW I've never seen a "jacked up" new style Taco that looked good, IMO 33's are perfect and 32's are a good look as well.

It would also be nice if they offered the factory locker without jumping through a dozen loopholes or opting up a lot of $$'s on the truck.. and a better selection of gear ratios instead of just one for each combo.

Look at the SR5's they come pretty much loaded, but you have to opt up the towing package or TRD to get the locker IIRC and it adds quite a bit to that base SR5 cost .

Fronty Owner

I too do not like the new mid size that everyone updated to. I would really like to have a single cab, 4x4, swb with a big I4 engine (or I5 like the colorado uses) but in a classic "mini" truck.
I parked next to a guy today that drove his 93 S-10. That truck looked smaller than my 00 frontier.

Joe T

I don't know man... That Tacoma looks big but when you get inside it it isn't. When we test drove tht day we drove an F150, Tacoma and new style 07 C1500.... all ext cabs. And my reg cab dodge I guess too. We also use to have a 98 S10. To me the Tacoma was pretty cramped inside IMO compared to the fullsize trucks and was only a tad bigger than our old S10 inside. We are both 6' tall around 190lbs and we both couldn't really lean on the console without rubbing arms pretty good, pretty ghey :lol: . And FWIW I wouldn't volunteer to ride in the back seat. The fullsize trucks had oceans of room compared to the Taco, but he didn't care about that. All 3 trucks were well appointed and the ergonomics are ok. But it wasn't like my dodge where you have to conciously reach across the dash to change the radio station :lol: .

Anyway, I'd like to know what it weighs because I think they just make it look big. And for it's size it really doesn't get that great of MPG.

Like I said he would have bought a new chevy but they just came out and to top it off they hadn't shipped any ext cabs yet at that time, they had a few loaded out crew cabs on the lot and a couple strippers.

I'd seriously look at new GM trucks.. They are so **** nice. And this might be Taboo saying this but toyota has been having a lot of recalls lately and from what I understand their quality is starting to go main stream... look at all the recalls they've had in the last few years... while from what I understand GM is passing them up pretty nicely in that area. Plus if you opt up to a 5.3 V8 (from the 4.8) you're gonna get the same MPG as a V6 taco in a nicer full size truck for only a couple-few grand more. The middle motor in the chevy actually had the best MPG rating even up from the small 4.8 V8.

But I certainly wouldn't call the Taco a dedicated midsize, that would be more like the 06 Tundra or Dakota. And FWIW, we didn't drive the "new" Tundra, they hadn't came out yet.

Fronty Owner

I can only speak for my 00 frontier. It tips the scales at just a hair over 3400#.
Its a KC Desert Runner (same as the Pre-runner toyota package)
Toyota publishes curb weight at 3800 #. Not bad give a 5300# GVWR.

On the subject of GM's new trucks, I talked to a guy that has a 1500 with the new variable displacement 6.0 in it. He hadn't had it long enough to burn a tank of fuel, but he said there is a bit of lag off a stop, but other than that, its a peppy truck.

Joe T

Yeah, you get a big drop in MPG with the 6.0 from the 5.3... You can get it 2 ways, either option it by itself or option the tow max package(or whatever it's called).

Anyway, I got a chance to test out a new Tundra saturday and I'd have to say it's closely tied to the new GM truck depending on what you want. GM is still going to beat it in fuel economy but the toyota has a lot of extra power for the mpg it gets.. which is still pretty good.

I'm about to buy a new truck too which is why I know all this stuff. Only 2 halftons I'd look at would be the GM trucks and the Tundra.

Fronty Owner

Personally, I would either go with the new gm 1/2 ton or the Titan.
Despite the braking problems and lack of differential fluid on the early titans, they have those problems solved.
I have a buddy with an 05 titan, he gets an honest 18 on the highway with it but its 2wd.
Even with all the joke electronics on the GM, I would probably still go with it over the Nissan.