3rd Gen Tacoma Thoughts
 

Hello everyone,

Having owned two different high mileage 3rd gen 4runners with the most recent now pushing 240k miles i'm considering an upgrade to a 3rd gen Tacoma. The reviews I have found have been mixed at best - I want to know what the real folks who actually drive these rigs have to say, especially with regards to reliability.

Thanks for your input!
Rhett

Lots of lookers, but no feedback yet. Anything you can provide would be helpful. My research is showing that basically the 2016 had a fair amount of issues, and because of that the 2017s are lumped in the the same not reliable bucket. Obviously time will tell, but at this point it seems risky for a $35k purchase even with the insane resale value.

I'm on tacoma world and get a lot of exposure to 3rd gen complaints. I have a 3rd gen myself but I have a 4 cylinder manual which is a different beast. As far as the v6 models go, the new v6 isn't a truck engine, all the power is at the top so it likes to rev and needs to be reved out for power. In the first couple years people complained a lot about the automatic's shifting behavior. It seemed to want to gear hunt quite a bit. Within this subject you have the crowd that says it's fine, the ECU needs to learn your driving habbits, and you have a crowd that was never happy with it even after a couple thousand miles. Enough people complained that Toyota released a new transmission tune to address this. Now the thing is, within this subject you have the crowd that loved the "fix" and you have the crowd that says the tune didnt do anything to fix the issue. This is literally a subject that threads get created on regularly, on top of the several that exist with 100+ pages of posts each. I have read comments about people with 2016=2019ish trucks saying they upgraded to the 2020/2021 models and the trucks are completely different. There were also a host of problems early years had that seemed to have been addressed, these include crankshaft position sensor, 3rd brake light leaking, differentials howling, rear differential leaking, engine front cover leaking, the fuel pump recall, and im sure theres more I cant recall right now.

There is a company called OVtune that makes tunes for the v6 trucks. A lot of people swear by it. They tackled the automatic shifting issues, did some engine tuning for better responsiveness, and also offer tunes for 91 octane for extra power.

I dont know what you plan on doing with the truck, but it's worth noting that manual trucks, TRD OR, and the TRD Pro come with your standard 8" IFS front diff and the new 8.75" rear end. All other trucks come with a 8" rear end. If you have a TRD OR or Pro you get a factory rear locker, if you're a village boy like myself driving a base model with a manual transmission you get an open rear end and ARB is the only company offering lockers for the 8.75". The 8" rear end seems to have more options. Currently 4.88 and 5.29 gears are offered for the 8.75".

We just bought a new 2021 TRD Pro. Traded in a 2019 Tundra which was just too big, and a technological dinosaur. Love the handling of the Tacoma compared to the Tundra. Minimal driving time so far, but no rattles or squeaks. Tranny shifts seem fine. If you need to accelerate hard--like entering a freeway/highway--just use the ECT button. The previous poster indicated Tacoma World, which I also frequent. Lots of info on there mixed with some really acidic/stupid posts, but hey, it's the internet, right?