Three Reasons to Buy - 2016 Toyota Tacoma Long-Term Road Test
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Three Reasons to Buy - 2016 Toyota Tacoma Long-Term Road Test
There are three reasons to buy a 2016 Toyota Tacoma. Our man in Fresno tells you what they are.
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Again I want to point out that the full size and mid size Cab, Engine, and Box configurations create a large overlap in ability and price, and testing should acknowledge and show this overlap for our real world paper comparison pleasure;)
I know that for about the same money, I probably could have had an F150, which are always on Super Duper Sale Act Now!!! If you don't get $10K of sticker, you're doing it wrong. At 17 mpg average, I'm probably not saving anything on fuel. And a handful of times, I've wished for more towing capacity. (I did not expect to tow at all, but now I have the opportunity about six times a year, though I usually let one of the other Troop dads with an F250 handle it.)
98% of the time, I love the Taco's easy size, and parking in my garage at night, which just wouldn't be possible with a full size (I measured). My teenage boys have wished for a bigger back seat, but it's immeasurably better than the jump seats in my high school buddy's old Ranger I used to ride around in (this was before four-door trucks were even a thing), so they can just get over it. It's the perfect daily commuter (short commute, don't care about fuel prices) and super convenient for camping trips with the boys.
The fact is, I'm actually the target demo for a Pilot. Except dayumn they're ugly, and they hadn't come out yet when I was shopping last year anyway. And that long term test y'all did years ago where it blew out all four shocks on a mild fire road really turned me off. I won't be getting too far off road with my 2WD PreRunner, but I like knowing it won't fall apart when I'm bouncing down a dirt road to a campsite.
With an SUV or any vehicle equipped to tow, you could easily rent a trailer for the day you bring home the new fridge and T-Rex. Or if you can do such tasks in 75 minutes round-trip, then rent the Home Depot ($19) flatbed maybe.
Regardless, the Taco isn't nearly ideal if you're 6'4"tall and think the rear drum brakes are even dumber than that obsolete 'Securipad' thing that Ford still puts on the driver's door handle of their trucks and other vehicles. (But if I still wore Levi Silver Tab 550 denims and rocked .38 Special on my Blaupunkt aftermarket cassette deck, that keypad would be in the same tier on Maslow's hierarchy...)
As I put bales of hay in my truck bed yesterday, and each week when I load up the bed with stuff too bulky to fit in any SUV, I think "this is why I have a truck". But we live on a farm now, not in the suburbs.
Lastly, I think AHT meant to cite the Ridgeline, not the Pilot. And the new Ridgeline isn't nearly as homely as the original.
So why do you have a truck?
Oh, and there's nothing wrong with rear drums. They work fine and rarely need to be worked on. With the money you save on repairs, you can get a second Calder. I'd go for one of his tapestries though.
Funny, we passed up a Sienna for a Quest back in '99 because the Toyota was a bit too plush. The Quest rarely had rear brake issues over 200k. The current Grand Caravan with rear disks stops fine, but we live on the gravel and the anti-rattle springs on the rears just won't stay on.
And yeah, not the rig for ground clearance, towing or snow.
Old friend of ours stopped by a couple of weeks ago in her new Tacoma, in that pretty blue color. She special ordered it to get the 6' bed. Too bad she lives 6 hours away or I'd find some excuses to borrow it.