Thoughts on the 2024 Tacoma after 17,000km

[Airborne]

Wow, that was a good video, thanks for sharing

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[TexasBlueCrush]

I have to agree 100 percent with your assessment. That is of course after I Googled what the hell 17,000 kilometers is, LOL. For us residents in the lower half of North America, that's just over 10,000 miles. I owned a 2021 (3rd Gen) TRD Sport before purchasing the Gen 4 TRD Sport in October and have just over 5,000 miles (8,0000 kilometers for you Canucks). I can't speak to the transmission, both of mine are 4WD AMT, other than to say mine has been flawless so far. I loved the exterior look of my 2021, but you are right, the interior look was very dated and the seat position flat out sucked. I put in seat jackers and that helped a bit. Other things I was disappointed with were a manual passenger seat, leaf spring rear suspension, and rear drum brakes. All outdated concepts. The truck was very dependable, never a problem, and when the Gen 4 came out and addressed these concerns, perhaps causing the higher price point, I decided to upgrade. I too am disappointed with the rear seat leg room, but accept the tradeoff to keep the truck as short as possible since for me I rarely have rear seat passengers. I also have an issue with my iPhone 14 Pro disconnecting from wireless Carplay and Bluetooth. It only happens about 10 percent of the time and seems to know when I am on an important call or really need my GPS. Hoping for a firmware upgrade!!!

I don't mean to insult our Jeep friends, I have had several over the years, even a Jeep Camanche in the late 80's that I plowed snow with (many of you will need to Google Jeep Camanche) and it was a tank in the snow for a small truck in it's day. I really wanted a Gladiator when they came out until I rented one for a week on vacation. Fun truck, but for me the Taco was the way to go, and probably the only midsized truck with worse gas milage than a Tacoma. Hey, opinions are like butts, we all have one and they all stink.

I run between homes in PA and FL about four times per year each way. An 18 hour trip that I make over two days. Heading out on Dec 27, this will be the first one with the Gen 4 let's see how it goes.

Spot on EasternTaco. I too hardly have rear seat passengers and if the day ever comes when my Taco doesn't fit in my garage I will buy a new pickup truck from one of Toyotas competitors. People's vehicles get broken into all the time here in the Dallas area. My Taco sleeps well at night inside his stable.

 

[TexasBlueCrush]

Spot on EasternTaco. I too hardly have rear seat passengers and if the day ever comes when my Taco doesn't fit in my garage I will buy a new pickup truck from one of Toyotas competitors. People's vehicles get broken into all the time here in the Dallas area. My Taco sleeps well at night inside his stable.

And yes, there's 24 inches of space to spare behind the talegate to allow room to carry the grocery bags into the house. The hot water heater is in the other corner of the garage that takes up 36 inches of space so the wife parks her car on that side and i combat park on this side.

 

[saerandy]

I run between homes in PA and FL about four times per year each way. An 18 hour trip that I make over two days. Heading out on Dec 27, this will be the first one with the Gen 4 let's see how it goes.

How did it do on that long trip? Comfort, gas mileage, etc?

 

[Nettle]

How did it do on that long trip? Comfort, gas mileage, etc?

Comfort was great! Gas mileage from what I recall was about 11.5L/100km

 

[saerandy]

Comfort was great! Gas mileage from what I recall was about 11.5L/100km

Curious about how @EastonTaco ‘s trip to FL went as well since it was a long haul trip.

 

[Tacohunter2024]

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 agree, I'll go a little further and say the tech overall is poor in this truck. The transmission is just as sloppy as the 3rd generation. The highway passing ability is the same as well, it's a dog.

The frustrating thing with the rear seat is that they won't give you a TRD 4x4 option to just say forget the pointless seats in the back and give me storage (Prerunner setup). Trying to transport people and their presents around during the Christmas season was an act of futility, lol. It's the tightest of all mid-sized trucks; they're all tight but this goes crosses the line to unmanageable imo.

 

[Sagebrush]

The transmission is just as sloppy as the 3rd generation. The highway passing ability is the same as well, it's a dog.

Good grief. I traded in m 2016 Tacoma. This powertrain is heads above the old V6 with the six-speed tranny.

265 pounds of torque vs. 317. Not to mention, no more gear hunting. The torque at the wheels is just below the old NA V8 in the Tundra.

 

[EastonTaco]

Curious about how @EastonTaco ‘s trip to FL went as well since it was a long haul trip.

Trip went great the truck was much more comfortable than my 2021 Sport. I was worried about how I would like the Turbo 4cy, but I thought the truck ran better than my 2021 and I loved the adaptive cruise control. I set it at 80 MPH when I could and driving 1200 miles I got just over 22 MPG.
Had one issue right at the start. I was using Carplay to listen to a book on tape and got a phone call and a text at the same time. It locked up Carplay completely. I tried resetting the system and restarting my iPhone with no luck. It did not clear until I shut the truck off at a gas stop. Otherwise Carplay worked fine.

 

[Nettle]

I agree, I'll go a little further and say the tech overall is poor in this truck. The transmission is just as sloppy as the 3rd generation. The highway passing ability is the same as well, it's a dog.

The frustrating thing with the rear seat is that they won't give you a TRD 4x4 option to just say forget the pointless seats in the back and give me storage (Prerunner setup). Trying to transport people and their presents around during the Christmas season was an act of futility, lol. It's the tightest of all mid-sized trucks; they're all tight but this goes crosses the line to unmanageable imo.

I like your description of the transmission. "Sloppy." This transmission has essentially the same feel as an early 90s VW.

 

[timetoeatpotatoes]

This transmission has essentially the same feel as an early 90s VW.

Where can i get some of what you are smoking? The psychoactive effects are incredible.

 

[AndyK]

I like that the hood and box sides are aluminum, although the hood is a little floppy. Metal engine oil & tranny pan/w metal drain plug (unlike my brother's Ford with his cheap plastic drain plug). The heated seats are the best (fastest/hottest) I've ever experienced. I like that the block heater is not thermostatically controlled (unlike a GM truck that only comes on at -17C), but I don't like packing around the special cord, a standard plug would have been better. Easy to work on, decent fuel mileage, direct and port injection, air to air intercooler. Simple valve train compared to a GM 2.7 (although they don't seem to have many issues). Keyless entry and push button start and locking tailgate, electro-chromatic mirrors all on the base trim truck. No belt driven oil pump in this Toyota!

My grips: seat belt chime (fixable), can't back up with the door open, small gas tank and terrible looking fuel & temp gauge in the SR5. Not many short box options in Canada (this truck is nearly as long as a Ram 3500 CCSB). Lots of safety features but the most important safety feature is missing on my low trim truck, the trailer brake controller. I've also noticed the truck downshifting quite a bit when rolling down hills, it's a little annoying for sure. The PCS safety feature is too overbearing and turning radius is not great.

But overall it's a really good little truck.

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