I haven't seen a review of a vehicle on here lately and considering that there only seem to be a handful of us with Tacomas, I thought the time was right for me to share my experience.
Just bought this vehicle this past April. It had 117,XXX miles on it. This is a standard transmission, regular cab, 4x4 with manual hubs, 2.7 liter 4 cylinder version of the truck. It does not have the SR5 package but it was ordered with cruise control and A/C. Hallelujah!
A prior owner of the vehicle had wanted to make this vehicle into some sort of a "street machine" for lack of better terminology. Step bars, short ram intake, remnants of excessive exterior lights (including something for neon lights under the body!), seemingly miles of wiring for speakers and excessive amounts of aftermarket switches on the console. So...it hadn't seen much off-road duty but may have been revved a couple of times.
Despite any flaws from prior owners the vehicle ran excellently. Right now she is sitting at 130,XXX miles, so I've put some serious miles on it this summer. Mostly highway miles between western Washington and central Idaho. On those trips (cruise set at 70) I would routinely get 23-24 mpg. Slow it down and I could get 25 without too much effort. I am very happy with that. At the same time, going up mountain passes was great. I could zip right along at 70 and only on the very steepest passes would the vehicle start to slow down. For a 4 banger, I was very pleased. Also, I also have a hard tonneau cover on the vehicle.
I can't really speak of it's off road capabilities as the tires I had this summer were rather thin in the tread. While my truck has the TRD option, it still has an open rear differential (which is the one thing I would change about her). I never got stuck in many miles off pavement but I don't know that I encountered much mud, muck or other sticky situations. Lots and lots of rock and I can say that she did handle going slowly over rough terrain very well.
Just recently I had new tires put on it. Went with Firestone Destinations. Toyota, in all their wisdom, can't figure out that a 225 series tire would be fine for this vehicle, instead they put 265/75R15s on it. (Although, I think it is more the American market that pushes them for bigger tires.) So on with the new meats and off for Arizona I go! I did not check on it before but these tires weigh in at 40 lbs each, up considerably over my past near-baldys. Over the mountain passes I did not zip. A down-shifting I went. MPG stunk. I'm getting 20-21 mpg now.
So that is a learning lesson for me.
Overall the vehicle is pretty solid. No real rattles or suspicious noises coming from under the hood. I'm happy with my purchase but will probably go down several sizes next time I buy tires. If I lived in a more mountainous area with more passes I would upgrade to a 6 cylinder version.
Clark
Just bought this vehicle this past April. It had 117,XXX miles on it. This is a standard transmission, regular cab, 4x4 with manual hubs, 2.7 liter 4 cylinder version of the truck. It does not have the SR5 package but it was ordered with cruise control and A/C. Hallelujah!
A prior owner of the vehicle had wanted to make this vehicle into some sort of a "street machine" for lack of better terminology. Step bars, short ram intake, remnants of excessive exterior lights (including something for neon lights under the body!), seemingly miles of wiring for speakers and excessive amounts of aftermarket switches on the console. So...it hadn't seen much off-road duty but may have been revved a couple of times.
Despite any flaws from prior owners the vehicle ran excellently. Right now she is sitting at 130,XXX miles, so I've put some serious miles on it this summer. Mostly highway miles between western Washington and central Idaho. On those trips (cruise set at 70) I would routinely get 23-24 mpg. Slow it down and I could get 25 without too much effort. I am very happy with that. At the same time, going up mountain passes was great. I could zip right along at 70 and only on the very steepest passes would the vehicle start to slow down. For a 4 banger, I was very pleased. Also, I also have a hard tonneau cover on the vehicle.
I can't really speak of it's off road capabilities as the tires I had this summer were rather thin in the tread. While my truck has the TRD option, it still has an open rear differential (which is the one thing I would change about her). I never got stuck in many miles off pavement but I don't know that I encountered much mud, muck or other sticky situations. Lots and lots of rock and I can say that she did handle going slowly over rough terrain very well.
Just recently I had new tires put on it. Went with Firestone Destinations. Toyota, in all their wisdom, can't figure out that a 225 series tire would be fine for this vehicle, instead they put 265/75R15s on it. (Although, I think it is more the American market that pushes them for bigger tires.) So on with the new meats and off for Arizona I go! I did not check on it before but these tires weigh in at 40 lbs each, up considerably over my past near-baldys. Over the mountain passes I did not zip. A down-shifting I went. MPG stunk. I'm getting 20-21 mpg now.
Overall the vehicle is pretty solid. No real rattles or suspicious noises coming from under the hood. I'm happy with my purchase but will probably go down several sizes next time I buy tires. If I lived in a more mountainous area with more passes I would upgrade to a 6 cylinder version.
Clark
