Originally Posted By: 1999nick
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
2005 Toyota Tacoma
Double Cab SR5
4.0L V6 4WD
Bought brand new and drove it for approx 9200 miles in the 7.5 Months I owned it. That thing was the BIGGEST POS I EVER OWNED!!!!!!!! The majority of the issues started to crop up within a few hundred miles of purchase all though some were there from day 1 or close to it. Just goes to show a test drive really doesn't mean a lot.
1 - MAJOR paint issues. Had literally in excess of 100 paint chips/peeling spots in total, with at least a few on every body panel except the tailgate, when I sold it. 2 days after buying it I found the 1st section of peeling paint( bottom passengers front door ). Dealership made me buy touch up paint btw!
I actually had to pay a body shop to touch them all up and wet sand them so it looked presentable for sale. Was a problem that Toyota was well aware of but would do nothing. I tried 6 times from Nov-March when I sold it just to get the area rep to call me, as the dealer can't warranty paint issues without rep approval( ridiculous ), and schedule and appt to come look to see if they would do anything and I am still waiting for a call back 3 years later.
2 - Composite bed cracked( along bottom of drivers wheel well where it met the flat bed - that seam/curved area split about 3' long and grew to almost 4' before I sold it )going over a bump.
Dealer blamed me saying I overloaded the bed. I was like HUH? Heaviest thing I ever carried was a small snow blower I could lift in and out. 150lbs +/-? Had it on a heavy rubber bed mat as well. Not a single scratch or ding to the bed but they knew I did it. Ok whatever.
3 - Surging. You would come to a stop at a stop sign or lights and you had to put a death lock on your brake pedal( see #4 which made this even worse )because the engine would all of a sudden jump 500-600 RPM's for no reason. Happened every 2nd to 3rd time you stopped or so. Never could tell what would make it do it or when? Dealer tech saw it happen( I was with them when it did it multiple times )but they had no clue and just told me it was normal to hold the brake hard at stops.
4 - Brakes - worst OE brakes I have ever seen hands down. Not sure how/why this didn't jump right out at me during the test drive?
Barely stopped the truck unloaded never mind towing anything. Truck hauled my 1800lbs( everything = boat/motor/trailer/gear/etc... ) duck hunting/fishing boat no problem but you had to start stopping 1/4 mile away as it couldn't do it otherwise. Can't count the times I ended up in an intersection almost getting killed because I couldn't stop it before I got used to having to start stopping one town over from where I actually wanted to stop. I would have needed electric brakes added if I kept the truck which is a joke that such a small load would require that. My 88 Ram 50( small truck - Mitsubishi )hauled heavier loads with no issue braking wise. My Brother-In-Law's Colorado hauls my boat with no trouble stopping on the OE brakes. The brakes squealed all he time as well, like a dying pig being tortured, whenever you touched the brakes. I complained at the dealership about the poor brakes and they just said it was normal.
5 - Clunk, rattle, shake, and shimmy. Truck was a plastic POS Tonka toy. Had more rattles and clunks than every vehicle combined I have owned including old muscle cars. TSB's on cab mounts, springs, and on and on. Most of the time they didn't work for those who had them done. The spring TSB fixed mine for about 2 weeks then it did it again. The worst one was the cab mount clunk over every little tiny bump in the road. I was not letting the morons at the local dealers remove my cab from the frame though. They probably would have put it back on upside down or backward. In extremely cold or hot temps everything in the interior squeaked, creaked, and groaned. Truck was nothing but cheap plastic front to back and inside and out.
6 - Engine noise. Had an exhaust leak sound( sounded like a blown gasket = tick tick tick tick )that turned out to be something to do with the design of the manifold echoing the exhaust or some foolishness like that. I still don't buy it as there was no noise like that intitially. It arrived after a few hundred miles. I always wondered if the manifold bolts loosened and needed to be retorqued? By the time they came out with the new manifold I was selling the truck. DROVE ME NUTS though. The engine also rapped like mad under any load. Upper end starved for oil was what it sounded like. Full synthetic and a high flow M1 oil filter helped to get rid of most of it but a poor oiling system IMO.
7 - OE Tires. I know OE tires are generally poor but the Dunlop Grandtrek AT20's are some of the worst. Almost impossible to balance. My truck( I use that term very loosely btw )would shake the fillings out of your teeth at 60 MPH( NOTE - I never hit the highway on the test drive ). I actually turned around the day I bought it on the trip home and went back as I hit the highway and saw how bad it was. This was right off the lot heading home with it day 1. 2 attempts to rebalance, a 2nd set of tires, all to no avail so I said forget it and bought some real tires. Dealer and Toyota rep refused to help me towards a different brand of tire when I asked before going elsewhere. All they would do was keep trying to balance th ones I had or replace with more of the same tire. No thanks.
8 - Wind whistle. Something was screwed up with the weather-stripping somewhere. At highway speeds it always sounded like a window was cracked open slightly. Dealer couldn't fix it and even was so stupid as to try and squirt black RTV into the window channels - what a MESS!
I could go on but I think you get the point. Hands down the worst vehicle, the worst dealership base, and the worst auto mfg I have ever had the sorry misfortune to be involved with. NEVER again! I even wrote Toyota about the myriad of issues I had( I was very civil and polite )explaining all the mechanical issues, poor dealership service, and the rep not returning any of my calls( or the dealers ). Never even got a form letter in response. I just laugh out loud when people talk about how great Toyota is.
Does NH not have a lemon law? This truck would seem like a perfect candidate 3 times over if all the conditions are as you state.
It does and this truck would have qualified although it would have been a fight for me, requiring a lawyer ad a lot of time and hassle, as they always blammed me or called it normal so no required multiple problems recognized other than my claims. It is hard to win a LL case when a dealer says nothing is wrong. At that point YOU have to go elsewhere to get a 2nd opinion and you need a lawayer to show they knew it was a problem and tried to get out of fixing it and so on.
I only had the truck 7 months though and was battling to get the dealer to fix things 1st as that is always required in any Lemon Law proceedings. In the end I gave up and it was just easier to sell it and move on than go through the LL hassle.
