2024 Tacoma Review

https://youtu.be/qX6gUJrlyW4?feature=shared

 

Watching it -- best deep-dive I've seen so far on the '24.

TL;DR the '24 base model Taco isn't bad but there are some questionable choices in the durability department. I think the 4th gen is going to make the remaining good examples of 2nd gens more valuable over time.

Some issues that stick out, at least on this base model. (Some of this may be different on higher-level off-road trims?)

Engine:
Turbo 4-banger -- err, no thanks. Higher power density (HP-per-liter) = more concentrated heat & loading on parts = less likely to meet traditional high expectations for very long service life. (300K-400K miles.)

Plastic coolant-routing & connection fittings. Just seems real bad, ya know? High temperature fluid under pressure. Valve cover is also plastic. Maybe not quite as bad becuase it's not under pressure, but still subject to lots of thermal cycling & solvent attack from fuel-contaminated used motor oil.

Drivetrain:
Aluminum driveshaft will be much less resistant to denting in off-road situations. (Maybe the higher trim-level off-road configurations with 2-piece will still have steel driveshafts?)

Fuel system:
The narrow and super-long plastic gas tank looks like it would be more susceptible to off-road damage than older-gen Tacos. Maybe the off-road trims will have a different tank shape and/or a separate bash guard under it. (Side note: I bet they finally switched the fuel tank side to passenger side to help offset "Tacoma lean" caused by having driver+battery+fuel all on same side in previous gens.)

Frame/Body:
Rear bumper/tow hitch are permanently welded to the frame rails. Going to make it a lot harder to repair rear-impact damage.

Suspension:
Interesting decision to mount the front shocks to the side of the LCAs, rather than the top. Hard to say without a much closer compariosn, but intuitively a side-mounting location for the shock tabs is not going to be as strong & stiff as the older-generation top-mount.

Aluminum front knuckles + steel hub bearings will be subject to galvanic corrosion, potentially making the front bearings very hard to change in high-mileage vehicles.

Rear leaf springs, at least on the base model in this review, look obviously prone to crapping out early due to rust and/or lack of reinforcement in the spring-pack clamps.

Emergencies:
Base model does not have a full-sized spare wheel/tire.

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On the plus side there are some durability improvements:

Fully-boxed frame with greater attention to rust-prevention.

Looks like the rear bed has moved to 8 bed-mounting bolts. Not sure if the 3rd gen also had 8 bolts? The 2nd gens have only 6 bed-mounting bolts.

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Subjective opinion on looks:

Personally I think body styling is weird, Ford-like, over-macho, and kind of ugly. Lots of decorative bends, folds, indentation, overhangs, etc. My first impression, before seeing the Toyota badge on the front grill is "looks like a baby F150". Yuck.

 

Most thorough look of the mechanical bits yet!

ADD actuator appears to be still a motor, not electromagnet.

Front diff torque tube is aluminum at least on the SR5. This is a weak point on 2nd/3rd gens, and Toyota appears to have made it weaker.

The single-bolt front diff rear mount that can tear out in 2nd/3rd gens appears to be unchanged.

The SR5 gets the old tulip-style inboard CV joints like on 2nd/3rd gens. TRD models were advertised with the birfield-style inboard joints which have additional strength/angle.



The ECM mounted in the engine bay is exposed to a much harsher environment than the in-dash location in 2nd/3rd gens. However, it's small potatoes in context of upcoming hybrid models with large amount of power electronics under the hood.

 

Right off the bat there is a mistake. It is not the same engine as the Highlander. It only shares ~ 50 percent parts:

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a45954715/2024-toyota-tacoma-engine-explained/

Edit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_PEje3WxjY

@34 secs

 

The youtuber is or was a Toyota Master Diagnostic Technician (at a dealership)... Not a mechanical or electrical engineer, mind you. Guess everyone has an opinion - just like me.

 

From a mechanic's perspective it may be considered the same engine. I'm more skeptical of these "shares xx percent parts" description which come from Toyota. It's like Mike Sweers saying the only part carried over from 2nd to 3rd gen was the seatbelt brackets. Then upon closer examination you discover a lot of parts look exactly the same but may have had a revised material specification.

 

I edited in a utube clip in my post. You can change your opinion or not, of course.

 

^I've seen that video earlier. A lot of marketing fluff even from the engineers, but in the end it's splitting hairs. Toyota would've developed the engine with multiple applications in mind, and it has been reliable in the Highlander.

I'm still wondering why the trim most likely to see "commercial grade" service, the SR, has a detuned engine. Is it simply to create an artificial gap to charge more for SR5, or is there a longevity concern? The engine costs the same for Toyota to manufacture whether detuned or not.

 

OK. But, I wouldn't want this guy or anyone else putting a Highlander part in my Tacoma because it looks the same. I will take the word of the engineer that they tested it out to last 50 percent longer than some hunch otherwise.

 

You're driving a goldfish bowl on wheels, of course you'd say the new Tacoma is ugly.

 

https://giphy.com/gifs/htmboxing-boxing-hit-the-mat-pov-dX2WRSHk4PSUYc8yHw

 

Hey if you look like that, can I really insult you?

 

Honda used to get mad when people said the Ridgeline and Pilot were the same, they'd use the same % validity as an argument.

It's fundamentally the same as the highlander engine, a T24 is a T24

Same with the GR's, the tacoma 2GR was nearly identical to the FWD 2GR. And the 1GR was closely related to the 2GR as well.

Big thing now is the Tacoma and Tundra share DNA. Whereas before they had nothing to do with one another.

Boxed frame is an odd issue, they saved a ton of weight with the body composition, and lost it back with a full frame. Hopefully this one ages better.

 

We definitely need more 4th gen owners here. Maybe in six months…

 

It took owning the truck to realize that the boxed frame is probably the biggest improvement they've made, vs. the old Tacoma. It is solid, and tracks so well, there really isn't a proper way for me to describe it other than to say that it's a massive improvement in the way the truck drives.

Perhaps when Toyota's QC hold gets lifted, and trucks get delivered, people will filter over here. This place is a hilarious copium den though that I'll probably miss when it's gone.

 

I have mixed feelings about that. The "it's not a bug, but a feature" flexing frame helped in articulation off road. I got used to seeing my shell swaying asynchronously to my rear view mirror and side mirrors. Like a moving Salvadore Dali painting in real life.

 

I completely understand, but if the tradeoff is frames no longer rusting out I will personally take it.

 

Documentation to back this up please other than the above? Because it doesn't read like R&T thinks that's a negative. "Same engine as in the new Land Cruiser??

"Oh! The Humanity ! ..."

 

That is all I have. If it isn't enough for you then cool.

 

Fair enough. The article noting that it's essentially the same engine that's going into the new Land Cruiser speaks volumes.