Tacoma or jeep?

Hello everyone. Killer site you all have made here. Going to get straight to the point here. I am in the market for a new rig. I am a big jeep fan. Mostly grand cherokees but all have been lifted and winter/trail rigs. I'm having a hard time with this decision and realize I'm on a tacoma site and it will be somewhat biased. The trails we wheel here are tight in placesand lots of rocks here and there. My grand with a 4 inch lift does well but it does get dragged through a few spots and scuffed up from trees. I am tired of working on old and rusty jeeps and have decided to build a daily driver trail rig. I'm looking at a 4 door wrangler or a 4 door tacoma off road brand new off course maybe a 16 if they are decent. Obviously a jeep is cheaper and easier to mod in some sense but I love the fact of having a bed and being able to use the truck as a truck. I like to keep my stuff as low as I can while building a functional trail rig but can that be done with a truck? Not much is going to be out for the new tacoma right away but I can deal with that. I'm just struggling with the jeep or tacoma thing. I'm leaning toward the tacoma but I'm just not sure. Not looking for a straight answer just wondering what everyone thinks about a tacoma as a trail rig/daily driver. Say 33-35 inch tire and just enough lift to run them and lots of armour.

 

I was in this same dilemma a few weeks back. ANNNDDD now I have a tacoma if that helps your decision haha. Lots of info and knowledgeable gentleman here im, sure they will chime in.

 

Yea no doubt the jeep is the more trail ready but can the tacoma be just as good when evenly upgraded? I really like both but coming from a titan pro 4x to a car I find myself missing and needing a truck from time to time but a small trailer will do the same for the wrangler albeit a bit of a hassle if you have to go home and get it. They have come.on the trail with us from time to time and do very well they sit fairly high out of the box but the rear over hang does get them in trouble sometimes as well as a lot of panels for trees to rub on instead of plastic flair that just pop back on. Ggrrrr this is going to be harder than I thought. I like them both to much. Driven them one after the other a few times and still find myself second guessing. The dealers must hate me by now lol

 

Jeeps have sas up front. Depending on what you do offroad that can make a huge difference.

At the end of the day if you want it to be a comfortable daily driver it will be hard to beat the Tacoma with a Jeep.

Keep in mind it could take several months for the 2016 to build up acceptable aftermarket support.

 

Jeep:trailer.
Tacoma:more mods needed.

 

Have had both. Unless you want to do serious rock crawling the Tacoma is the better daily driver/all around vehicle.

 

Have you thought about an FJ?

 

Jeep to crawl trails, tacoma to fly through trails...

35in tires are pushing it on a tacoma, where as a jeep only needs a simple 2" lift to clear 35s.
But the tacoma drives like a dream compared to the jeep.

 

I was literally in the same position as you just a couple weeks ago.

Jeeps are awesome and in stock form wheel great. Wranglers do at least. The new grands not so much.

I've had 5 different jeeps. 4ZJ's and 1XJ. Most of them lifted with gears, lockers, ect.

I chose to go with the Tacoma because it can tow my pop up better than the new Wrangler can. I still have 4WD, and with the TRD OR package I also have a rear locker. I was only ever at 33's on my Jeeps so the Tacoma can still rock those.

Yea Solid axles are sweet for crawling but for me at the end of the day I didn't need that extra travel for what I do so the Tacoma won.

I love driving this thing and compared to any of my jeeps its awesome.

Although my 5.2's and 5.9's had crazy torque. And since I barely have over 300 miles I haven't gotten on it enough to feel the difference.

 

It depends on what you want.

Do you want a trail crawler that can sorta be a driver? Jeep

Do you want a driver than can trail run pretty damned well too? Taco

 

Being military I don't face the same trails forever. As of right now the trails we have are fairly rocky and rutted.I'm not talking like the Rubicon or anything buy there are a lot of spots that can twist up the suspension pretty well. Now I'm not a purest of solid axles and have seen the ifs guys do just fine with a locker in the rear. They hang a tire in the air and keep going. I am a slow trail runner and try to crawl as much as I can before I start doing full throttle assaults on an obstacle so in that sense I lean toward a jeep but there is a black tacoma on youtube with lockers and 35 and a cap on the back and he wheels the kinda stuff I do and it works great. Trimming was nessecary for the 35s but it looks great and seems very functional off road. I have 2 small kids and a wife that sometimes go along which is why I drive grand cherokees usually she ends up wheeling and I do the guiding so I don't even get to wheel my rig lol I appreciate all the info you all have given and would like to heAR from some of the guys that wheel there's. Has it been expensive? Is there a weak spot in them that needs to be addressed? I really like the tacoma for its space and function and find the jeep narrow and cramped a bit but nothing I couldn't live with just the tacoma seems like a nicer place to be while just running around doing errands. Fjs where on my list for a bit but wanted something brand new and the rear door is a.bit small for big car seats to be going in and out of if we want to take that instead of her rouge.

 

My husband and I were into offroading for about 10 years - from 1999 till 2009 or so. We started wheeling with a 96 tacoma daily driver. 2" lift, 32" tires, skid plating, rock sliders, front & rear bumpers, etc etc. It was a nice basic rig to hit the easier trails with. We were careful not to push it too hard in fear of breakage (gotta get to work on Monday right?). Granted, I've seen plenty of guys beat the piss outta their daily driver rigs and they didn't care. We're just not like that.

We ended up buying a 92 and then into a 94 Wrangler for a trail / fun rig. That's where the fun began.... Built that thing to be capable on the trails and still be street legal and do 65mph on highway. Sold the jeep 6 years ago, but I still have our build list. http://www.lieblweb.com/izzyii.html
35's, Dana 44's, ARB's front & rear, rollcage (used twice), etc.

So....it all depends on you. There's a certain 'attitude' it takes to buy a bran new vehicle, mod it up, and take it on the trails and not worry about scratching it up, beating it up, and repairing it as necessary. I will tell you..... if you offroad regularly and often, that new truck won't stay new & nice for long. And the Toyota reliability is 'tested' simply by working it hard on the trails. Bearings & things just don't last as long. Your 'new investment' won't be much of an investment when you want to sell it down the road. Just something to think about.....

You could build a tacoma to do just about anything. The solid axles on the jeeps are a benefit (although, the Dana 30 & Dana 35 suck ass - I don't know what they put in the jeeps now-a-days). The long wheelbase of the tacoma can get in the way...although, you're used to a Cherokee. The CV axles in the tacomas can grande if you're not careful (seen many of them explode).

For my husband and I.....it was just easier to buy a totally separate trail rig and beat the piss out of that...and not care. For a while, we had a Dodge Ram and trailer too. Even easier to beat the piss out of it. LOL

If it were me...take care of your $35,000 investment. Save some $ and buy a used rig for the trails.

 

We own one of each, at 08 Wrangler Sahara 2dr, and a '11 Taco AC, both six cylinder and six speed. For daily use, the Taco is much more useful, needs less maintenance, has more power, but worse gas milage. The Jeep has TERRIBLE (3.21 vs 3.73 on the taco) gearing and tires for the 18" stock wheels are limited.

As for pure off road fun? I would take the Jeep, shorter, lighter and narrower, but with the gearing and the 3.8l minivan motor (now using oil), got to keep the RPMs up. However, our neighbor has a Rubicon converted by Rubitrux (high country 4x4 in Boone, NC), with the rubicon 4.11 axles and 35" tires it does tremendously well on steep mountain trails (we call them driveways around here).

Would I buy another Jeep? I don't think so with the teething problems and TERRIBLE dealer service we had with this one. Another TACO? in a second. In almost 70k miles the only "corrective maintenance" has been a turn signal bulb. The rest is by the book, plus of course upgraded suspension, brakes, camper shell, wheels and tires...

Howard

 

I currently drive a 13 civic si so my grand cherokee at the moment is a trail rig/winter beater. While i do wheel it with little concern because its not my way to work in the morning I am getting tired of fixing things and trying to keep it road worthy. I just replaced the front axle shafts and wheel bearing and pads and rotors and upon a test drive both front calipers stuck on solid. (problem area with the grands) so back to the store for some calipers and now I have 600 bucks into the front end of an 800 dollar jeep. obviously its good to go for awhile up front now but its showing its age. I'm not saying I wouldn't kringe at the thought of damage to a brand new truck but I am buying a dual purpose rig for my life and things are gonna happen. bumpers and sliders will help as well as carful driving but it will happen at some point no doubt. What ever I choose will be a 5+ year ride so resale and whatnot arent a concern to me. Just want a nice daily driver that is capable off road and will get me back home at the end of the day. CV's I can deal with and are a fairly easy trail repair on a tacoma with the tools. Had one snap on our last trail run actually but he caught a bad bounce and stayed on the gasand when it came down that was the end of it. Was kinda funny because you heard the kringe from everyone standing around as they knew what was about to happen. he had a spare and we where off again without to much hassle. Everything will break or need replacing at some point especially with off road use so I'm not worried about that I'm just sick of putting money into something that is ethier going to end up in the junk yard or sold for next to nothing because it will need work to be road leagl again. I'd rather make a payment on something that doesnt sit in a garage for 5 months of the year while the snow fly's. It seemed like such and easy decision to buy a new wrangler and mod it but no I had to take a toyota for a drive...lol

 

I've owned several Wranglers over the years, have one currently in addition to my 4X4 Tacoma. The Wranglers are expensive toys. Tacoma's are much more practical. It is about wheelbase off road. For rock crawling and fitting into tight places the Wrangler wins. But in mud, snow or in many other settings the Tacoma is better off road. Overall I'd rate them the same off road if equipped similarly. Toyota doesn't have a factory equivalent to the Rubicon, but I'd put my TRD off road package up against any other stock Wrangler off road. Once you start modifying either the sky is the limit.

Most Wranglers are rated to tow 2000 lbs, some of the 4 door versions if properly equipped 3,500. Not much, my Tacoma is rated at 6,500 and is the much better option for pulling anything. When it comes to build quality and how much you'll spend on repairs to own one over time it isn't close. Toyota wins hands down.

The only real advantage Wrangler has is the ability to remove the top and doors.

 

I currently own both as well and have several Wranglers in the past as well as a couple Tacomas. It's apples to oranges here, like most people have said. Just depends on what you plan on doing. I love my Tacoma as a daily driver and it will cost a lot less to build up rather than a Jeep. It seems like with a Wrangler you're never done. But don't be fooled. If done right a Wrangler can ride just as smooth on the pavement as a Tacoma. Just takes a little more. The Tacoma will be a slightly better towing vehicle but if it's just a small trailer for utility use that you need then you can't go wrong with either.

I've loved both vehicle in their own way. Find someone with a lifted Jeep(done right) and see if they will let you drive it around a little. I wouldn't recommend a dealer modified one. If you're buying used then go with 2012 or newer due to the motor and transmission change. Night and day difference from the minivan motor they had. But mainly buy what will make you happy.

 

Like most of the others above, I'm a recovering "Jeep-aholic". I had an 06 unlimited rubicon that I modified the hell out of to make it into the perfect hunting rig. It was great off road and I loved it. Unfortunately time and life starts getting in the way and it became impossible to put 2 or 3 people in the jeep with all their hunting gear without taking the top off and freezing to death. It was also impossible to go camping with 4 people and a dog. I added a trailer, but frankly it became a pain in the ass dragging that thing around. Sold the jeep 6 months ago and bought a 14 TX Baja and I LOVE the Tacoma. My advise, buy a jeep, have fun with it for a few years as it seems like we all did, but expect to be purchasing a 2019 or 2020 Tacoma. By then the 3rd gen aftermarket stuff will be easy to get. Good luck.

 

Wheeled the Tacoma for years and loved every moment. also wheeled with a lot of 4 door wranglers, and have had a blast leading and following them. Not going to recommend one over the other, because while I have experience with the wranglers, it's not enough to really help you out.

My comment is regarding you want to keep the tacoma low, but still trail capable. That, I do have experience with....

I'm currently at roughly 1'' of lift in the front, and stock height in the back. I'm on 35'' MTs. very low, stable COG. it makes for a more comfortable ride than a 3'' lift (good for daily driving). and because you aren't using higher spring rates or preloading coils to achieve more lift, you can effortlessly use every bit of suspension travel you have, whereas, you'll be lifting tires more frequently with the stiffer suspensions.

here's what minimal lift with 35s looks like at regular ride height


decent flex with primarily bolt-on, off the shelf parts


good on the rocks


and you can still crank high speed, off camber turns and not flip it over.



Moral of the story, be it a jeep or a Tacoma, I'm all for the low suspension, big tires game. good luck with your decision!

 

Ever have that one comment or picture that tends to sway you one way or another? colinb17 you just did that lol I was leaning toward the toyota but I think I have made my mind up. now do I get a 16 or 15...poopy. lol

 

Sounds like somebody just earned a commission check from Mr Toyota.