Nettle
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Merry Christmas everyone!
I’ve been a lurker for a while and finally decided to create an account. I know that at least one person has posted about their experience with a new 2024 Tacoma before, but I would like to give my thoughts as I have a bit of a different perspective.
Let’s deal with the elephant in the room. I have never before owned a truck. I bought the 2024 Tacoma because I realized that I would need a truck and it mostly fit my needs. What are my needs? Well, first of all, I wanted a manual transmission. This point was no-negotiable which meant that my truck options were fairly limited. As far as I knew the only other current generation truck model with a manual transmission in North America was made by Jeep and I would not be buying a Jeep Gladiator because of reliability concerns and how unappealing they look (perhaps some people like them but I don’t).
Back in 2023 I test drove a 2023 Tacoma with a manual transmission. My first impression was that everything on this truck was outdated. I’ll list my thoughts not to seem pedantic, but simply to give my rationale… The styling looked like it was from 2014. The interior was something I’d expect to find in a 2006 sedan. The transmission was clunky (I know it was a truck but I expected more from a modern car). The bed was also not very deep. The cabin noise was more than it should have been. Despite these things I was actually serious about buying it, but there were two things that were deal breakers for me. The first deal breaker was the pedal position. More often than not when I used the clutch my toes would hit the underside of the dashboard. I knew that this one thing would drive me crazy in the long-term since I have driven small cars with this same characteristic and it is very irritating when it happens constantly. The other deal breaker was the seats. It came with leather seats and despite how some people love leather seats for me it is a problem since I live in a somewhat extreme environment; cold winters and warm summers. I didn’t want to feel like I was sitting on an ice cube or frying pan.
I know that a lot of people love their 3rd gen Tacos and I can appreciate the sentiment as someone who owns a smaller car that is a bit older and doesn’t have all the modern gizmos. The problem I had was that I couldn’t justify paying top dollar for what to me was a 10 year old car (outdated in almost every way). I understand that there is a reliability component to going with a new design but a lot of car manufacturers these days can put out pretty reliable new models every 4 years. To have Toyota go 5+ years without renewing the Taco and not concurrently drop the price for an old design was a bit silly. I knew the 4th gen was around the corner and I decided to wait.
Now that I have probably irritated a fair number of 3rd gen Taco lovers I’ll go ahead and give my thoughts on my 4th Gen TRD Sport. Overall I really like my truck. The pedal position on the 4th gen is significantly improved compared to the 3rd gen and not once have my toes hit the dashboard. It has keyless entry and start unlike the 3rd gen TRD Sport that I test drove. The bed is deeper which has payed dividends for transporting all sorts of things. The cabin is quieter. The control lay out is updated and I would say better overall. I love the grab handle next to the shifter. The seats are cloth and very comfortable; I’ve driven 10+ hours in one day and didn’t have any back pain. The headlights provide good illumination and don’t seem to blind other drivers. I didn’t think I would care about new features like the lane assist, but on a long trip it is actually really useful. I’m not sure if I’m the only one that feels this way but it seems to me that the new generation has less understeer than the previous; to me this is a significant improvement. The 4-wheel drive works very well in deep snow even with the stock tires. I haven’t yet tried to tow anything.
A few things that I don’t like about my truck are the fact the fuel door doesn’t lock. The push button start is inconsistent and sometimes it doesn’t start on the first try even with the clutch fully depressed. The back seat leg space is pathetic. I don’t understand why Toyota didn’t want to add an extra 2 inches to the truck to make the rear seats useable. The Bluetooth system is basically unusable for my phone (I tried another phone as well); it disconnected so often that I now just connect my phone via a cable every time I need.
One thing that I view as both good and bad is the transmission. It feels exactly the same compared to the 3rd gen; perhaps I’m wrong about this considering my limited experience with the 3rd gen. I appreciate the fact that (if it is the same as the previous generation) it is a tried and tested component but I don’t understand why Toyota wouldn’t update it to shift quicker. I get it, it’s a truck, but why not make it better? It is by far the clunkiest transmission I’ve ever used but I still manage to have some fun with it. This being said it is far better than a certain other car I’ve driven in the past (previous generation Subaru WRX) which felt like you were shifting through a bag of gravel.
Earlier this year people were making a big deal online (probably mostly click bate youtubers) about issues with the 2024 Tacoma automatic transmission. I own a manual and perhaps I’ve avoided this problem because of it, but I haven’t really had any issues with the truck apart from the small irritations I mentioned above. I have nearly 17,000km on my truck and it runs great. I did the first oil change at about 4,000km despite Toyota recommending one after 16,000km. The next oil change was at 13,000km and I plan on doing one every 10,000km moving forward. Up until the first oil change I didn’t rev the truck past 4,000rpm. I had it undercoated for the winter so hopefully it doesn’t rust.
Overall I’m happy with the truck. If the rear leg space was improved I would absolutely love this thing as I could use it for moving people around. The hate that the 2024s received before they were on sale and in the beginning of this year was a bit excessive in my opinion. I think the truck is a major step up from the 2023. People still complain about the prices but once you factor in inflation I think the price is reasonable (I got mine for MSRP).
I hope you guys appreciate my write up. I don’t mean to hate on the 3rd gen but I’m glad I didn’t buy it. I’m looking forward to modifying my truck over the next few years.
I’ve been a lurker for a while and finally decided to create an account. I know that at least one person has posted about their experience with a new 2024 Tacoma before, but I would like to give my thoughts as I have a bit of a different perspective.
Let’s deal with the elephant in the room. I have never before owned a truck. I bought the 2024 Tacoma because I realized that I would need a truck and it mostly fit my needs. What are my needs? Well, first of all, I wanted a manual transmission. This point was no-negotiable which meant that my truck options were fairly limited. As far as I knew the only other current generation truck model with a manual transmission in North America was made by Jeep and I would not be buying a Jeep Gladiator because of reliability concerns and how unappealing they look (perhaps some people like them but I don’t).
Back in 2023 I test drove a 2023 Tacoma with a manual transmission. My first impression was that everything on this truck was outdated. I’ll list my thoughts not to seem pedantic, but simply to give my rationale… The styling looked like it was from 2014. The interior was something I’d expect to find in a 2006 sedan. The transmission was clunky (I know it was a truck but I expected more from a modern car). The bed was also not very deep. The cabin noise was more than it should have been. Despite these things I was actually serious about buying it, but there were two things that were deal breakers for me. The first deal breaker was the pedal position. More often than not when I used the clutch my toes would hit the underside of the dashboard. I knew that this one thing would drive me crazy in the long-term since I have driven small cars with this same characteristic and it is very irritating when it happens constantly. The other deal breaker was the seats. It came with leather seats and despite how some people love leather seats for me it is a problem since I live in a somewhat extreme environment; cold winters and warm summers. I didn’t want to feel like I was sitting on an ice cube or frying pan.
I know that a lot of people love their 3rd gen Tacos and I can appreciate the sentiment as someone who owns a smaller car that is a bit older and doesn’t have all the modern gizmos. The problem I had was that I couldn’t justify paying top dollar for what to me was a 10 year old car (outdated in almost every way). I understand that there is a reliability component to going with a new design but a lot of car manufacturers these days can put out pretty reliable new models every 4 years. To have Toyota go 5+ years without renewing the Taco and not concurrently drop the price for an old design was a bit silly. I knew the 4th gen was around the corner and I decided to wait.
Now that I have probably irritated a fair number of 3rd gen Taco lovers I’ll go ahead and give my thoughts on my 4th Gen TRD Sport. Overall I really like my truck. The pedal position on the 4th gen is significantly improved compared to the 3rd gen and not once have my toes hit the dashboard. It has keyless entry and start unlike the 3rd gen TRD Sport that I test drove. The bed is deeper which has payed dividends for transporting all sorts of things. The cabin is quieter. The control lay out is updated and I would say better overall. I love the grab handle next to the shifter. The seats are cloth and very comfortable; I’ve driven 10+ hours in one day and didn’t have any back pain. The headlights provide good illumination and don’t seem to blind other drivers. I didn’t think I would care about new features like the lane assist, but on a long trip it is actually really useful. I’m not sure if I’m the only one that feels this way but it seems to me that the new generation has less understeer than the previous; to me this is a significant improvement. The 4-wheel drive works very well in deep snow even with the stock tires. I haven’t yet tried to tow anything.
A few things that I don’t like about my truck are the fact the fuel door doesn’t lock. The push button start is inconsistent and sometimes it doesn’t start on the first try even with the clutch fully depressed. The back seat leg space is pathetic. I don’t understand why Toyota didn’t want to add an extra 2 inches to the truck to make the rear seats useable. The Bluetooth system is basically unusable for my phone (I tried another phone as well); it disconnected so often that I now just connect my phone via a cable every time I need.
One thing that I view as both good and bad is the transmission. It feels exactly the same compared to the 3rd gen; perhaps I’m wrong about this considering my limited experience with the 3rd gen. I appreciate the fact that (if it is the same as the previous generation) it is a tried and tested component but I don’t understand why Toyota wouldn’t update it to shift quicker. I get it, it’s a truck, but why not make it better? It is by far the clunkiest transmission I’ve ever used but I still manage to have some fun with it. This being said it is far better than a certain other car I’ve driven in the past (previous generation Subaru WRX) which felt like you were shifting through a bag of gravel.
Earlier this year people were making a big deal online (probably mostly click bate youtubers) about issues with the 2024 Tacoma automatic transmission. I own a manual and perhaps I’ve avoided this problem because of it, but I haven’t really had any issues with the truck apart from the small irritations I mentioned above. I have nearly 17,000km on my truck and it runs great. I did the first oil change at about 4,000km despite Toyota recommending one after 16,000km. The next oil change was at 13,000km and I plan on doing one every 10,000km moving forward. Up until the first oil change I didn’t rev the truck past 4,000rpm. I had it undercoated for the winter so hopefully it doesn’t rust.
Overall I’m happy with the truck. If the rear leg space was improved I would absolutely love this thing as I could use it for moving people around. The hate that the 2024s received before they were on sale and in the beginning of this year was a bit excessive in my opinion. I think the truck is a major step up from the 2023. People still complain about the prices but once you factor in inflation I think the price is reasonable (I got mine for MSRP).
I hope you guys appreciate my write up. I don’t mean to hate on the 3rd gen but I’m glad I didn’t buy it. I’m looking forward to modifying my truck over the next few years.
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