10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
2006 Tacoma, The Good and the Bad
Date of Review: Jul 1, 2007
The Bottom Line: The truck has its issues,I can live with them. The only small truck made with 4 doors & a long bed. Biggest draw back is the poor gas millage
I choose this truck, because I needed a small 4-door truck with a 6-foot bed, & of course, Toyota is the only company that builds such a product. I was also swayed by the promise of reliability and good mileage.
The truck is quite powerful, easily zipping up any incline, or on ramp, with muscle car ease. It is also well styled. The controls are all placed well. The upholstery material is a marvel, my kids have spilled everything you can imagine in the back seat so far, and it all just wipes right up with a wet rag. The window height takes some getting used to & the sun visor is a bit low for anyone over 5 foot 10 inches. The ride is a bit cramped, yet quiet and easy on the back. The truck will tow a pretty heavy trailer for its size, is was rather amazed by this.
There are a great many positive things I could say about this truck, I do really like it as a whole, but I will definitely be making some aftermarket changes to it to correct some of the factory failings.
The Gas mileage is no where close to the 21 MPG average that is claimed, I have never been able to get anything better than an average of 16 MPG, I it took the truck to the dealer and they said there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. So bad mileage it shall be I guess.
Doom light did not work with drivers door the day I bought the truck, fixed by service center.
4 wheel drive actuator completely failed during the first 9000 miles, I really wish they still offered a manual 4 wheel drive lever, the electronic actuator is very temperamental, it has a tendency to wait for ideal conditions before allowing the vehicle to go into 4 wheel drive. I am planning on ripping this out and installing a custom mechanical shifter, since I have already been stuck because of the actuator failure & I expect the system to fail again.
Once in four-wheel drive, the truck performs very well in the snow and off road.
The antilock brakes work very well, but are frightening until you get used to them. On snow or a gravel road for instance, when coming to a stop you will hear and feel all kinds of mechanical valves and actuators grinding, clunking and wheezing you feel a bit out of control during all of this, definitely not a positive experience.
I hardly ever use the cruise control unless I am on a flat straight hi way. The cruse control system wants to keep the truck at the set speed as fast as it can, no matter what, so it is constantly gunning the accelerator, causing the automatic trans to shift up and down, this is very annoying
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