Feedback on current model Tacoma? (1 Viewer)

[Hayes]

Greetings from the 100-series Cruiser forum.

I'm trying to help a friend shop for a new rig. He's on the fence between a new double cab Tacoma with the off road package and a 4Runner trail. Besides the obvious difference of a truck vs. a wagon, he's uncertain about the reliability/durability/quality in the Tacoma (he's had a run of bad luck with the current gen Tundra). I'm hoping some folks here might be able to add a few informed comments on the newest Tacoma(?)

Thanks for your time.

 

[Hayes]

Oh yeah. Use would be daily driver, light to moderate off roading (Utah), camping. Probably mod with tires and mild lift at some point.

 

[ken_79-fj40]

I'm on my third 05 Tacoma. First one I bought new and put 102k on, second one I bought in kinda rough shape with 112k on it and sold it at 143k and the current one I bought last year with 122k on it and now it's at like 142k. Overall pretty durable rigs. All 3 have needed front wheel bearings. They seem to go anywhere after 75k miles. I did both on my first two and my current one had them done right before I got it. Not a huge deal. First one had the A/C compressor and alternator fail around 85k miles. Second one had a transmission issue where the connector between the trans and wire harness for the trans corroded. PITA but it wasn't horribly expensive to fix. Current one had a blown head gasket on cylinder 5 (somewhat common up till 08 apparently) and the dealer fixed it under warranty. Alternator and serpentine drive pretty much all went south at about 130k on it too. Nothing terrible though. I plan on keeping the current one for the long haul. Some bilstein 5100's will be going on it in the fall and I'll probably do one of the 3 leaf progressive AAL's on the back to go with a slightly larger tire. I've heard this generation sometimes has issues with one of the output bearings in the front diff vibrating when you change the CV angles. But there is an aftermarket replacement to cure that. Also the rear springs kinda suck on these trucks. One of mine on the current truck snapped a week after I bought it. They wouldn't warranty it as it wasn't "drivetrain" under their 30 day warranty so I replaced them both with aftermarket stock replacements. Which were great for about 10k miles. Now it's back to barely being able to haul a few hundred pounds without bottoming out. Overall I love them but honestly after owning every generation of Toyota minitruck I think they have become less durable with each generation. But for a comfortable driver/family rig/parts hauler/light wheeler it's about right.