One year review of my 2021 Tacoma TRD O/R

I'll try to do it like one of those old Road & Track owner's surveys with the reasons for buying, price paid, other models considered, strengths & weaknesses, and problem areas.

Model purchased
- Tacoma DCSB TRD OR 4x4
- A/T -- it was a toss up with M/T, and the tie-breaker was not being able to get keyless with M/T
- Super White, black leather
- Premium & Advanced Tech packages and OE accessories (tonneau cover, black-out package, mudguards, bed mat, all-weather floor mats with sill protectors)
- 12,700 miles

Reasons for buying
I just really liked the way it looked and needed a new vehicle. I don't pay much attention to new cars or trucks, but notice when something attractive comes along, and so it was with the 2016 Tacoma. I saw one rounding a corner at a local beach and thought, my God, there's the new Tundra, and it looks fantastic! It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day, I was in a good mood, and the vehicle turned out to be a loaded Off-Road.

As I was applauding Toyota for finally putting a decent-sized hood on the Tundra, I noticed it was too small to be a Tundra at about the same time I saw Tacoma on the tailgate. I had written off the Tacoma after the 2nd generation, which went too soft on the styling, with the slopey hood and pointy door handles. It's like they styled the 2nd gen to make a good looking (?) 4Runner, when the truck design should always come first. The non-4WD 2nd gen models looked like gardeners' trucks to me. Honestly, I thought the Frontier was the better looking mid-size back in 2005 with its standard 4WD ride height.

After that first day, the 3rd gen caught my eye wherever I went, and I longed for one. There's something so perfect about the proportions -- it's as if Toyota copied that old trick domestic manufacturers used to turn a mundane looking car into something special by adding a longer hood. Like how Ford made the Mustang and Pontiac the Grand Prix.

I did a little homework and figured out Toyota added 4 inches to the front for the 3rd gen. I do not know if purely for styling, but that was a gutsy call because the Double Cabs were already hard to park, and the additional length adds weight. Maybe there were safety reasons, too, and a bit of dumb luck. In any event, I think the current-gen is one of the best looking trucks ever made. I'm not as crazy about the proportions on the Access Cab or the DCLB, but they are damn near ideal on the DCSB.

Then there's the stance when viewed from the front or rear, especially from the back. The body is somewhat narrow, being a midsize truck, but the track is wide, and the wheels/tires bulge out from the sides in a way you don't often see on modern cars except for maybe a Ford Raptor. The air-cooled Porsche 911s from the 80s and 90s made the narrow-body + wide track famous, only to be lost when the "improved" water-cooled 911s came along in 1999.

I didn't mean to write so much about styling but didn't notice many positive comments when researching the 3rd gen on TW. I think it's the #1 reason Tacoma sales have hit a quarter-million units a year, double what they were with the 2nd gen. And that's coming from 1. a market where there are many more competitors, 2. the current-gen being in its 7th year, and 3. having the highest markups of any mid-sized truck.

To say it another way, if the discounts from MSRP were more "normal" like they were two years ago, how many 3rd gens could they be selling? 350,000? 400,000? You can't attribute all of that to Toyota's truck reputation, as the 2nd gen had that too and didn't put up those kinds of sales figures or prices.

Further proof about the top-notch design is that every new truck looks like a Tacoma — the new Frontier, the Rivian, and now Toyota's brand-new Tundra.

The second reason I got the Tacoma was to motivate me on a long-overdue project in the country.

Price paid
I ordered it from Carlsbad Toyota, paid MSRP, and waited three months. About a month before the truck came in, I thought about canceling because the new Frontier reception was good, and I expected price competition. I was OK waiting six months to save $2,000 or so.
When I told my friend this idea, he said, "You have a confirmed production date on a Tacoma and are going to cancel? What's wrong with you? Are you not aware of the chip shortages?"
I did a quick check on that, and he was right. That's a good friend.

Other models considered
I would have bought a Tesla 3 if I didn't get the Tacoma.

Expected strengths
1 -- Exterior appearance

2 -- Interior appearance. The other thing I did not like about the 2nd gen was the interior design which looks very dated today. The retro FJ Cruiser inspired the 3rd gen's interior, and that was a smart call because it looks great, and retro will never go out of style. The rotary dash vents make the whole interior. The speedo and tach remind me of a Chrono watch which will be another timeless design detail (no matter how advanced a digital display looks today, in 10 years, it will remind you of the pong arcade game).

3 -- Off-road composure

4 -- Fit & finish. Though I wish they would have painted the black plastic on the door panels, at least on the upper trims or when ordered with leather, to help avoid the easy scratching.

5 -- Door closing sound. After researching on TW, the second step was to sit in one at the dealer. That's when I noticed the near Lexus-like door closing sound that requires just the slightest tap to close with a quiet, little thunk. No other truck doors do this.

6 -- Safety features. I especially like the blind-spot warning system.

7 -- Apple CarPlay. It would be hard to live without this, and I consider it a safety feature compared to how I was using my phone before.

Unexpected strengths
1 -- Fun to drive. This truck is loaded with personality, and I find myself driving it more and my classic cars less. A lot of that comes from the "sporty" seating position.

2 -- Steering feel. I'm not fond of electric steering, and it's not that most are over-assisted. I like light steering, even in a truck, which is another good thing about the Tacoma system -- from what I heard, it's lighter than the steering in the new Frontier. What I hate is that artificial feel.

The way Tacoma's hydraulic system weighs up feels natural to me and the steering is way more precise than I would have thought, considering the tall sidewall tires. The ratio is a bit slow around town, but that adds to the secure feel on the highway, and I'm sure it is well suited to towing a trailer.

3 -- High-speed handling and stability. Considering the Off-Road's soft suspension, I expected more floundering at speed. I'm sure the long-wheelbase helps with the well-planted feeling, but the steering helps too. There is good roll stiffness upfront from the strong frame and well-selected suspension components, and as previously mentioned, the steering itself is precise, communicative, and inspires confidence.

Maybe Toyota learned a thing or two about high-speed truck stability from their commercial trucks in Japan called Hino. If you do an assholish thing driving in Japan, truck drivers will react with an uncharacteristically aggressive move in a country known for its politeness. For example, you flash your hazards on the freeway when slowing down suddenly to warn the driver behind you, and no one makes a lane change without signaling.

Anyway, if you piss off one of these truck drivers, they will swerve behind you, inches from your bumper, as if to say, I don't tolerate jerks. In my case, being a visitor, it was always something clueless and never intentional.

On our last long trip in the Tacoma, I had to teach someone a lesson, so to speak, who was indeed an asshole, as he sped up in his Kia Sorrento at the end when I was trying to pass. I had to wind it out to redline.

When the road widened to two lanes, I let the guy go by on the left and then gave him the Hino treatment. The way my truck responded reminded me of how those Hino trucks did watching them in Japan. (This was not road rage, it was me making sure he thinks twice about pulling that move on someone else and causing an accident.)

4 -- Engine. The only other truck I've experienced in the last five years was a Frontier rental from Enterprise. That had tons of power, but the big 4.0L was rough as a cob. The 3.5 in the Tacoma is a high-revving sweetheart of an engine that produces all the power you need going up a hill, as long as you keep the RPMs up. Just bump the well-located gated shifter over to Sport, which always gets you 4th gear.

5 -- On-road ride, city, and freeway. The tall balloon tires on my TRD Off-Road help make the ride more comfortable than I expected. I rented a TRD Sport from Turo before deciding. I went with the OR because of the softer ride, and the black fender flares look better to me.

6 -- Country road ride. Much has been said about how buoyant Tacoma's feel off-road with their long suspension travel, C-channel frame, and rear-axle articulation. I'm guessing those same design features and tall tires give the truck its impressive ride on ranch roads. A unibody vehicle isn't going to have the ground clearance to go very fast, and a fully-boxed frame truck would probably need air springs in the back to ride as well on those kinds of roads. In this scene, more than any other, the current chassis shines.

7 -- Highway fuel economy. The tall gears and Atkinson's cycle coming in under light load make it sip at 65 mph. I do not think a small displacement Turbo 4 would be any better. Ford chose the turbo route, Toyota chose the Atkinson's cycle route. Toyota must have figured folks would use their Tacomas more for long trips (to go off-roading or camping) and prioritized highway MPG, but boy does it fall like a rock at 85 MPH where the truck seems to want to cruise.

8 -- Braking overall. The only comments about brakes on TW were gripes about the drums, so I wasn't expecting much good or bad. But they feel good to me, powerful in a way that most cars don't. Also, the way the parking brake engages with the slightest effort always makes me smile. It is the best hand-operated parking brake I've ever used.

9 -- Tight turning circle. Much smaller than I expected, considering the humongous wheelbase.

10 -- Ease of entry/exit. The Taco is easier to get in and out of than a sedan, without the "I've given up on a life" statement that something like a crossover makes.

11 -- Composite bed. I looked at the previous-generation Ram 1500 when it came out. I did not like the spray-in bed liner with noticeable masking lines at the top of the bed. That kind of sloppy detail would bother me. A bare painted metal bed, even with a liner, has worse issues. The plastic bed in Tacoma was a terrific idea that I'm surprised more companies don't copy.

12 -- Sliding rear window. Another one of those features you wonder why more companies don't copy.

13 -- Sunroof size. I never used the ones in my other cars because not much of an opening. The one in Tacoma is generous.

Weaknesses
1 -- No front proximity sensors. It has them in the back, and between those and the rearview camera, it's easy to back up. But that tall and long hood makes it impossible to see how close the front bumper is to anything. I constantly have to manually turn on the forward camera (I got stuck with the Advanced Tech package, which I did not order, and asked the dealer to pay for half which he did).

2 -- Camera resolution. The camera resolution is so bad that I would have rather had a simple beep warning system for the front.

3 -- Apple CarPlay. It should be wireless.

4 -- Seat comfort. I'm not knocking the seating position; I think that's part of the charm. But the seat needs more angle on the cushion, and the cushion needs to be longer. I don't think I could have owned a Tacoma before the 6-way power driver's seat came along in 2020.

5 -- City fuel economy. I'm not sure what can be done here as I don't believe a Turbo 4 would be any better around town in this heavy vehicle. Also, I find Turbo 4s to be spastic -- they are deader off-boost than the 3.5 in the Taco, and when called upon, the power comes on too strong. More gears in the transmission would help.

The obvious solution, until we go all electric, would be a 4-cylinder turbo-diesel. Modern diesels are clean and have low fuel consumption around town, better than EPA label. Diesel's highway FE is legendary and would give Tacoma 600+ mile range, which buyers would love. Yes, the packaging under the hood is tough with all the catalysts and scrubbers required, but there is so much excess space in a truck that I don't see that as a creditable obstacle.

You can blame the jerks over at Volkswagen for why we can't have nice things like a modern CDI in our Tacomas.

6 -- Too easy to confuse the sunroof buttons for open/close and up/down. They are identical and mounted side-by-side in the headliner, which is hard to see.

7 -- Weight of the hood. Without a doubt the heaviest hood I've ever had to deal with. Struts would help, but then you wouldn't know how heavy it is. There has to be a reason. The weight saving from going aluminum would be significant, and you wonder why they didn't do it in this day and age. Too easy to dent, maybe? Ford made an aluminum body work on the F150, so I'm not sure that would be a reason.

Problem areas
None, except my A-pillar trim is a bit sticky. I haven't tried cleaning it yet.

Summary
The Tacoma is the best looking, most capable off-road truck with the sporty seating position of a Porsche, the ride quality of a Cadillac (exaggerating to make a point), and the smooth, high-revving engine of a sport sedan. It's an odd mix of attributes, to be sure, but all somehow works.

Toyota's stinginess in carrying over the old platform for so long, with the high floor, low seats, and low bedsides, turns out to be a plus. Their designers did a masterful job on the styling, something I never thought I would say about a Toyota product. They even figured out that blacking out the B-pillar would help show off the low roof -- the truck almost looks chopped.

I credit the OR's 75-series tires on small 16" rims for the ride quality. Sure, they did that for good off-road performance, but a side benefit for the 95% of us that do not often leave the pavement is a very cushy ride. Tall tires are under-appreciated if you ask me.

I think the next-generation Tacoma may be better on paper but will lack some of the idiosyncrasies that make the current model so well-loved, and criticized. I will miss that stuff even the heavy hood.

 

Welcome to the forum very nice write up!

The Desert Does It front seat jackers will make you more comfortable, they are a popular mod here to address the lack of thigh support, beautifully made and worth every penny.

https://desertdoesit.com/products/2...a-1-1-4-front-seat-spacer-lifts-front-of-seat

 

Great post!

 

Have to agree with most of what OP said. I drove and or sat in them all. The Taco just ticked all the boxes. The fact that it is the oldest New vehicle you can buy, hit me hard.

 

In practice, Tacomas hunt gears, can feel somewhat underpowered, the seating position is not ideal for most, the tech is a generation behind and the cab is small and cramped. They aren't cheap by any stretch.

All that said, there is definitely a "charm" to these trucks that is tough to put into words. I love driving it and all the quirks. I love that I feel like I can go just about anywhere with it and that it feels bulletproof. And yes, it is by far the best looking mid-size out there hands down. Nothing else out there really has my attention currently (it'll be a toss up between a 4runner and Taco next time - depending on next gen offerings).

Numbers don't lie. Other midsize trucks were built to beat the Tacoma on paper. More HP, more TQ, better towing rating, better tech, etc., but people still buy Tacomas. Toyota knows what they are offering here, they chose this strategy. I hope they keep walking that fine line with the next gen, and keep what makes the Tacoma popular while updating where needed.

 

I believe NISSAN had that distinction until this year!

 

Welcome OP.

6 months into my '21 and it's the best truck I have ever owned and I have had a lot. I have to agree about the hood! I've never experienced that weight on anything else I have owned. Get yourself some Redline Struts and be done with it. I bought the stainless steel models and they're great. The only thing I would do different with structs is buy the longer version that allows the hood to lift further. Not a big deal but having the standard ones, it would be nice to get that hood a bit further up.

 

I too have had my truck for just over a year and I agree with pretty much all of this. I do wish the power seat had a memory button. That’s probably my biggest gripe, which isn’t too bad and I realize that. But yeah, a memory button should just be standard by now for all power seats in all new vehicles. I swear it takes me at least 3 or 4 drives to get my seat just right again after the wife drives my truck (which she doesn’t very often, mainly because of this). It’s such old and cheap tech, what would it cost Toyota, a few bucks? I’d happily give them a 100%+ markup on that button and it wouldn’t even make any difference at all on the final invoice of a $40K+ truck. My wife’s 4 year older 4Runner has 2 of em… I just hit #2 for me and bam, ready to rock. Turn the engine off, hit #1 for the wifey, and it’s ready for her to rock next time she gets in. It’s just nice.

Hood struts are great, get em OP. I highly recommend Striker Engineering. They also give you up to 8” more travel with your hood (you can decide how much - I went with +7” so I wasn’t maxing them out). I have a lot more room now to get in there and do maintenance. $100 well spent.

 

Like most of the world, I forgot about the 21 Fronty. That was just too old...

I will say, the 22 Frontier is a really nice vehicle. The packaging just kind of sucks IMHO. You HAVE to buy a Pro4-X to get LED headlamps from what I saw.

 

Welcome to Tacoma World.

Great write up. You really captured a lot of the nuisances of the Tacoma quite accurately. I have a MT that I love to drive. It is a fantastic vehicle.

Now the only downside to this great write up is that picture.... all the text about the lines and design of the Tacoma and you give us a picture of it's ass end off in the distance in sparse country. The scene is spot on but the truck is framed too far out of the scene!

 

This shot captures the 3rd gen appeal pretty well -- tires and wheels too big for the body, smallish cab, too much hood. It's hard to believe the cab is pretty much carryover from the 2nd gen. Even the door skins look the same, except for a minor character line below the A-pillar. Blacking out the B-pillar did a lot to make the new truck look entirely different from the old one, when not much changed.

 

I believe dodge challengers & chargers are essentially a 90s benz e class with more power and rigidity to handle said power. I believe those are some of the oldest "new" cars you can buy.

 

Originally yes, not entirely sure about now though. If anything they are heavily modified versions of that early 2000s E-Class. Not even sure if Chrysler still calls them LH platform anymore. I stopped paying attention to them when I watched my ex-wifes 2016 Ram go to peices in the driveway shortly after vomiting all of its engine lubricants everywhere.

 

Is that your house? Love the property!

 

Naw, it was a cabin rental in Big Sur, CA over the holidays. Hwy 1 was closed, and it was a long drive back to LA, but the Tacoma was great out on the road.