Road Trip from the Devil saved by a Taco

"Shift24" (the-nope) 07/19/2018 at 11:00 • Filed to: Taco, Toyota, Tacoma, Oppo review

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This past weekend we went up to BlackHawk Farms Raceway in upper Illinois with my buddies 92 Saturn SC. So coming up from Ohio and through Chicago, the Tow vehicle tapped out multiple times. Once right in the middle of Chicago traffic.... So to fix the situation and save the weekend we rented a 2018 Tacoma to finish the trip. It was a sigh of relief as we put the trailer on the Taco and limped our 98 GMC Savana up to the track.

With all that I figured to do a short review of the truck. The Tacoma was a TRD Off-road 4X4 optioned out fairly well (Barcelona Red Metallic if you care). Cloth seats but had all the bells, Radar cruise, terrain selection (mud to rock climbing), Navi, locking diff, lane keep assist, the coffee cup thing thats supposed to tell you to take a break, and wireless charging. Man was it such a huge step up from the 98 Conversion van.

Before I begin and to give you an idea where I’m coming from I DD a K1500 and I have driven and tested multiple other trucks before including a 08 Taco.

The truck was sharp from the outside and in my opinion Toyota’s best looking truck/SUV currently. (especially the Pro) Very aggressive compared to its midsize counter parts. The rims look tiny as i think they were 16's but are that size for offroading.

The Interior is were Toyota has been lacking for awhile now as it continues with the Tacoma. While it didnt feel like a Fisher-Price toy, it was closer to the first gen big Xbox controller plastic feel. Though I didnt think i would need them but the 3 1/2 cup holders were nice, especially for the key fob. Seems to be a good carry over from the previous gen Taco.

The Dash and steering wheel is well laid out and if anyone has driven a toyota truck in the past 15 years the wheel is very familiar and easy figure out. The seats though were really stiff and not supportive in the right places. I dont normally complain about the seats but after 7 hours in the truck my back was hurting. My 96 K1500 has better seats and they are 22 years old.

And while I like that infotainment wasn’t a tablet dash it was hard to change the radio as we went in and out of local city radio stations. It was a far reach and touch only, no buttons other than volume. Maybe there is a steering wheel control for it, but all I could find is preset change.

Getting to the truck stuff. The truck with out a trailer was great to tool around in. You could get 4 people comfortably in the cab. Five might be a little bit of a squeeze but not to the point where you’re on top of people. The truck was responsive and easy to pop around town as it soaked up Illinois pot holes.

The power was good but even without a trailer it felt like it needed more. And looking at the specs (278 hp at 6,000 rpm and 265 lb-ft at 4,600 rpm) it makes sense as it definitely wanted to rev out to get its power. Which to me felt weird as you normal expect trucks to have that low end grunt. With the trailer on it felt dog-ish from a stand still unless I let it rev out. Once i got it up there, it didnt have a problem. I could weave in and out of traffic as is standard in Chicago. But I had to do this every time I need to pass, were talking 5k to 6k.

Cruising at 65-70 was fine with the trailer but anything above it wanted to kick down as soon as it saw any obstacle. Small hill, kick, Wind, kick, bump up cruise control, kick. That was semi annoying but it wasn’t jolting like other trucks. I don’t expect it to be a torque or hp monster but it did get annoying. Brakes were fairly firm and grippy, definitely enough even with the trailer. And with Chicago traffic, I didn’t notice any fade in the petal.

And with all the troubles of the weekend we made it back to Ohio in one piece.

In conclusion I am impressed by the truck, it had good manners and was obedient when asked to do anything. Would I buy one? Maybe, I know I was hard in my review but this is a very good truck. And there is a reason why they are #1 in the mid size. The Colorado might be more powerful and have a nicer interior but unless its a ZR2 give me the Tacoma.

The reason I said maybe is because full size pickups. Investment wise its best to get a Taco but if you want to move furniture you’re going to need a trailer. We had 6 foot tent polls sticking at least a foot out. And while towing a trailer and a 2300 lb race car was a do able task, anything more and I would be worried.

TLDR

Pros: very easy to drive, decent gas mileage with a trailer (18mpg), Absurd resale value, good to do “Truck Stuff”, Best design in class

Cons: little lowend torque, plastic instruments, seat comfort, small bed.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 11:38

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My TRD Off Road Manual in Cement is getting built in a couple weeks. =)

jasmits > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 11:49

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I have one, pretty much exactly like that but gray and manual. I agree with everything you said, the interior could def be better and the seats aren’t amazingly comfortable. Although for me at least even though they never feel super comfy I don’t find that they get ‘uncomfortable’ during a long day. Also this may just be present-day seat tech in general and not specific here as this is the newest vehicle I’ve owned by a lot, but when I was driving the older cars I had before a lot (‘91 4runner and e36 318) the 4Runner’s seats in particular felt much more comfortable to sit down in but when I would be driving a lot many days in a row I was starting to have some back pain. Not like debilitating and barely even annoying, but present. That’s vanished since I’ve had the Tacoma. And yeah, could definitely use some torque.

If you’re buying a truck to tow often and haul stuff around a full-size definitely makes more sense. I wanted a good daily with proper off-road capability and a stick shift. Once you’ve got a hardtop and 4-doors on a Wrangler it’s more expensive and way less flexible. A full-size wasn’t even on my radar, I don’t tow often and can’t see myself towing more than a smallish boat or car so it’s just unnecessary . Anyway a full- size is too wide to fit down a lot of the trails I use. A 5 foot bed is actually preferable for me , it’s for skis or bikes or camping gear. When I’ve needed to move a couch I just left the tailgate down and tied it down very securely . Also the wheelbase is already longer than I’d like:

(I blame my spotter for this. He has an FJ Cruiser and said I’d be fine on the breakover. I wasn’t fine on the breakover. Got a pull off, Tacoma wasn’t hurt)

The Ghost of Oppo > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 12:25

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Nice review. I think once the new Rangers hit the lots I am gonna do some comparison between the Taco, Colorado, and Ranger.  

Mid Engine > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 12:29

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Bou ght my 2018 in Febru ary and have used it for all sorts of things. The one thing I wish it had was blind spot detection, other than that I’m very happy with the truck. 

Shift24 > Mid Engine 07/19/2018 at 13:00

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Yea h that was one thing I noticed it didn’t have. W ith the trailer it would have been nice but overall I thought it was fairly easy to see out of.

Shift24 > The Ghost of Oppo 07/19/2018 at 13:07

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As a GM guy I was surprised how much I liked it over the C olorado. I have tested some Colorados and my biggest complaint is the nose slant (were the nose is lower than the bed) where as the Taco was pretty much level. And you have to “ get in” the Colorado (more car like) where as the Taco its truck like and hop in and out easily

I cant say for the Ranger yet but like i said the biggest draw back was low end torque. Maybe with the Ecoboosts they could do something about it but I have a feeling youre going to have to wait for the turbo to kick to do anything.

Mid Engine > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 13:15

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Also takes a lot of time to get used to parking as it’s longer than I’m used to, mind you my other ride is a Cayman. I think it would be great to have  parking sensors back/front, or maybe do the self parking thing that Ford offers.

Nothing > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 13:18

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I’m curious to see if it fit if I fiddle with the seating position a little more. My head hits the beam in the third gen that isn’t present in the second gen. I’m really tempted to test drive one, just for fun. I hear the engine/transmission combo in the third gen is quite different in behavior from mine.

The looks have grown on me, and I’d love a TRD Pro, to be honest. It’s my regret when I got my ‘15 Sport that I didn’t just suck it up and buy the Inferno Pro they had on the lot.

With only a year left on payments, it doesn’t make any sense to replace my 26k mile truck with a new one and extend payments out another couple of years. But I still might drive one, just for the sake of comparison.

Shift24 > jasmits 07/19/2018 at 13:20

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Thats possible that it might be better over time but I only had a couple days. But it would be interesting if I could drive one for a month and come back and compare. I will say the even with the plastic the interior is a big improvement over the last gen though. I had driven a 08 Pre- runner? (i think) and even then it looked like turn of the century interiors.

And I totally agree, its a great everyday truck and fits perfect for you. (Maybe not that bump though lol). I would argue unless you are towing or hauling something every weekend you dont need more than the Taco.

Shift24 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/19/2018 at 13:31

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Nice, like I said overall I really like the truck. I was surprised how much you get and compared to the Colorado its a bargain . The Z71 Package on the Colorados arent much more than a shock upgrade. In the TRD it had a Locking dif and true terrain selection, not some button that says snow or whatever.

jasmits > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 13:52

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It’s not so much they get better over time besides breaking in a little, it’s more that I’ve noticed a lot of seats feel really nice to sit down in but start bothering me after like three hours in the saddle. These seats are meh at the start but continue to be the same level of meh 8 hours later

jasmits > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 14:00

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Also ya, I mean I get the argument that full-sizes don’t cost much more and aren’t much worse on gas if at all but like my truck is a bit bigger even than I’d prefer and it’s dwarfed if I park next to an F-150. They’ve just gotten gargantuan  

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/19/2018 at 14:04

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Curious if you cross-shopped anything? Was the manual a big driving factor? ZR2? Having the stick option and the good resale value are probably two of the biggest factors making the taco so popular?

Looking forward to seeing pictures and a write-up of your truck when you get it, if you please!

Shift24 > jasmits 07/19/2018 at 14:54

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Agreed, if I remember correctly the Colorado is like 1 inch narrower than my 96 K1600. The 1/2 tons dwarf even mine now. Though again if you look at it as an investment, your truck 20 years from now will still be like $ 10K vs an F150 at $ 2k

And on the seats maybe once they wear in some it will be better. The truck I had was 5000 miles. It also had the clear plastic cover cracked already. I dont know if I had ever seen that

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ZHP Sparky, the 5th 07/19/2018 at 14:55

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The manual was a big bonus and is very nice to drive , and I found that the automatic in the Tacoma pretty much sucks - it was hunting around just in the very short test drive I had in one, and pretty much all the negative reviews for the truck are related to the automatic. I did get to drive a used TRD Sport manual, and really liked that truck a lot (was listed for several thousand more than I’m getting my new truck for!) . Drove an auto TRD Off Road to make sure the suspension wasn’t significantly worse on the highway. I love the Swiss-Army-knife-ness of a small, capable 4x4 truck with 4 doors. (And I did wish I had Marty McFly’s truck in high school.)

As far as cross-shopping goes, this all started with me driving a used, manual   Frontier Pro-4X that I thought from the listing that I’d love (I didn’t). After that, I wanted to drive a manual Tacoma to see if it was as bad.   I really didn’t want a full size truck (just too big for what I need it for , and can go fewer places off-road), but I probably could’ve gotten a very nice new full-size for what I’m paying. That would be the smarter choice for many people.

I did consider the Colorado (not the ZR2-too expensive) and read and watched a lot of comparisons - consensus is that it’s better if you’ll just be driving it around town . I think I could’ve gotten a used Z71 for about what I’m giving for mine. If these had been out longer and I could’ve gotten one for $20-25k, I would’ve given it much more consideration. I had planned on driving a Colorado, but I never did. Only other thing I drove was a used, manual Xterra Pro-4X - better than the Frontier, but not as nice as the Toyota. I liked the Tacoma enough after I drove it that I pretty much knew that’s what I wanted. It’s superior off-road and I like the styling better, too.

I plan on keeping this truck for a very long time (10+ years, might get passed down to my son ), but the knowledge that the resale value is so high if I ever did decide to part with it is very nice. A Colorado’s value would definitely decline a lot more quickly.

Be aware, if you’re considering one, some of the tech in the Tacoma comes only with the auto versions (Multi-Terrain Select, Crawl Control, keyless start). If you still want the manual, they are very hard to find on lots (I tried).

Very excited to have it in my driveway in a few weeks!

The Ghost of Oppo > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 14:55

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Thanks for the advice.  Having driven foreign hatches my whole life, I don’t really have any brand loyalty, so I am definitely going to make this purchase decision with my brain and wallet and not my heart.  

Shift24 > Nothing 07/19/2018 at 15:03

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Its worth a shot and agreed the TRD Pro is amazing . I have driven a 2008 prerunner 4.0L and they are totaly different engines. The 4.0L feels like it has all the torque in the world at the beginning and then absolutely falls on its face. The 3.5L is more evenly dispersed and with its HP at the top end it doent fall on its face. It still needs more power though. I dont get why T oyota is still fine with GM making 20+ hp but its Toyota

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/19/2018 at 15:04

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Thanks for the detailed info, sounds like a great decision. Were you able to option out those things you mentioned most manual vehicles on lots don’t have, or do they not offer them at all with the manual?

Shift24 > The Ghost of Oppo 07/19/2018 at 15:17

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Ah ok yeah, and don’t get me wrong all of them are/will be good trucks but if its your wallet talking you’d be crazy not to heavily favor the Tacoma. The Colorado’s are actually pretty good (and i bet the Ranger’s will be better) but the Tacoma consistently is at the top. And I mean at the top of everything. Y ou can find 20 year old ones are still $10k with decent miles . And I know the link is KBB but still it says something about the Taco.

https://www.kbb.com/new-cars/best-resale-value-awards/best-resale-mid-size-pickup-truck/

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ZHP Sparky, the 5th 07/19/2018 at 15:45

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They’re standard on the automatic version of the TRD Off Road, but t hey’re not offered at all on the manual. The manual version has A-TRAC , a different system for dealing with loose surfaces. It doesn’t have keyless start because it has Clutch Start Cancel .

HammerheadFistpunch > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 16:27

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I think you have a different back than I do. I HATED the seats in our 97 K2500 for long hauls, but I love toyota seats.

Good review though.

Thought - did you have the truck in “d” with overdrive engaged while towing? Did you have it in ETC PWR mode?

It might be annoying with the revs but that transmission really shouldn’t be in overdrive with that load.  Who rents TRD tacoma’s that you can haul with?

HammerheadFistpunch > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 16:29

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if you look at the curves the GM and toyota engines are neck in neck right up to the 6100 rpm redline on the tacoma versus the 6800 redline on the GM.  The GM engine makes more power because it revs higher...thats all.  If you want those extra 20 ponies you have to use every bit of the tach.  I guess its the same in the Tacoma but they are really obsesive about revs as it relates to engine life in their trucks...they like em low and slow.

HammerheadFistpunch > jasmits 07/19/2018 at 16:35

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good thing about the tacoma’s is that the body panels are well above the frame rails.  If you had tried this in a colorado (or even a land cruiser) there would have been cursing.  

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > The Ghost of Oppo 07/19/2018 at 17:04

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Oh, come on... The heart’s always part of a decision with an Opponaut . =)

jasmits > HammerheadFistpunch 07/19/2018 at 17:22

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Ya, the only indication this happened to either the truck or the hill was two frame rail-shaped divots in the dirt haha. Though I did definitely question my decision making/risk assessment after especially because this was a completely unnecessary obstacle next to the trail . I think I’m now calibrated to the longer wheelbase from my 4Runner, which I’m pretty confident would’ve made it .

Although I can’t imagine there would’ve been much damage to a Colorado, I was at a crawl in low- range, my progress up there makes it look like I hit it with some speed but once just a little bit of the weight was high-centered the loose-ish dirt just kicked out from under my wheels hence the dangle.    

jasmits > Shift24 07/19/2018 at 17:23

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Haha ya, just looked at your dimensions and they are all  very close to my Tacoma

jasmits > ZHP Sparky, the 5th 07/19/2018 at 17:50

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(to piggyback off what davesaddiction said, I have a manual 3rd-gen TRD OR also) A-TRAC is Toyota’s off-road traction aid system that uses the ABS system to send power away from slipping wheels without cutting in too aggressively like most brake-vectoring systems do off road because some slippage is unavoidable and necessary . MTS and Crawl Control both use A-TRAC in conjunction with adjusting engine output, this isn’t really possible in a manual vehicle, and with good clutch and throttle management you can achieve the exact same thing.    

jasmits > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/19/2018 at 17:51

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You went for it!!! Congrats!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > jasmits 07/19/2018 at 17:52

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Thanks, man! As they say, the waiting is the hardest part...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > jasmits 07/19/2018 at 17:58

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Have you modified your Tacoma at all? Still on OEM tires? Seems like it’s quite capable out of the box!

jasmits > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/19/2018 at 18:53

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Nope, nothing at all so far besides an aftermarket tonneau. It’s more capable than I need out of the box. Still on OEM tires, they’re alright . I wouldn’t buy a set but they do a good enough job that I don’t feel a pressing need to replace them until they need it. I’ll probably try to get another 15k miles(so 35k total) out of them and then go to BFG KO2s, which I was very happy with on my 4Runner.

I do have a few mods I want to do but nothing major for now . First, and hopefully soon, is a light bar. I don’t want to be that guy whose first mod is a light bar but I usually leave on trips after work Friday so half the time I find myself just hitting public lands at dusk and end up having a hard time seeing the trail/forest road if I need to drive a few miles in on dirt before permitted dispersed camping starts so it’s a cheap thing to add that fixes a real problem. I’m also planning to add sliders and maybe some extra armor where the stock protection is lacking. Nothing extreme, just a bit for peace of mind. Sooner or later I want a bull bar/winch but that’s probably not on the immediate horizon.  

Most of my budget for now is going towards fleshing out my recovery gear and updating my camping gear. Pretty much all my camping stuff was from my Boy Scouts days so 6-7 years at the very newest and some stuff closer to 15, it just didn’t see enough use during college to allocate any of small college budget to update and camping gear that just wasn’t fun to use was putting a bigger damper on my adventures than anything to do with the truck. I want to move to doing some bigger overland trips so starting to slowly acquire what I need. Past what I mentioned any mods will probably be more on the livability side than capability.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > jasmits 07/19/2018 at 22:34

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Thanks for the detailed response. I’m like you, I’ll mod eventually, but not in a big rush. Eventually tires, sliders, recovery gear.

What tonneau did you go with? I attempted to add the OEM one at the factory  as a stand-alone option, but I guess they won’t do that anymore.

Shift24 > HammerheadFistpunch 07/20/2018 at 13:47

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Just being hone st on the review, thank you. Mine m ight be different but my bench seat is like a couch. Many long hours on it. And I just left it D, wasn’t paying attention for a tow button or anything. I t was a looooonnggg Friday the 13th. On the way home I also left it in drive as most Chicago was stop and go. Like you said though it would have helped once we g ot out of there.

(Side note we rented an RV for the weekend and got it later that day. W e w ent to go get gas and locked our selves out at 11:30 at night ... luckily a window was open and we got in.)

And if you know Chicago we were lucky to find even that. Trucks are rare in the city because of the close quarters of the city. Y ou’ll see some but mainly from the suburbs, even then it’s mainly SUVs. It came down to the Taco as it was all anyone had as the Uhual guy wanted to charge an arm and a leg for a box truck rental. Also found out enterprise doesn ’t put tow hitches on their non-commercial vehicals. Taco was at Avis.

https://www.enterprise.com/en/help/faqs/towing-policy.html

HammerheadFistpunch > Shift24 07/20/2018 at 13:50

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so weird that Avis Chicago would have a 4x4 TRD tacoma with tow package in their fleet.  So odd.  I looked into different agencies a while ago as I was looking to rent a truck to pull above my vehicles limits not long ago.  There aren’t many agencies that let you tow at all let alone in the 7-10k range.

Shift24 > HammerheadFistpunch 07/20/2018 at 14:51

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Very weird , I expected a stripped out F150 regular cab. I even asked him if he was sure if the Taco had a hitch and he was like yep you just have to bring the tongue and ball.

And I though the Tacoma had a 6.8 k towing rating? Still though to your point 7k lbs is alot for a rental company to be worried about. Even so w e probably werent even that close as the car with driver is 24 00 and the trailer was a steel latter frame and aluminum tracks/rails for the car.

HammerheadFistpunch > Shift24 07/20/2018 at 14:56

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yeah my family foolishly bought a 7000 lb boat and no one had a car that could legally tow it up to the lake for the summer and I was looking at options.  We eventually got my brothers Yukon Denali running good (cooling issues) and he towed it.  The GX470 TECHNICALLY could do it if it was empty (no gas of gear in the boat) but I can tell you from the short trips to and from the marina it wouldn’t have been fun in the mountain passes.  

Shift24 > HammerheadFistpunch 07/21/2018 at 12:02

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Buy first, figure it out later, done that before but w hat was up with the Denali? I know over time the R adiators like to gum up.

Tho ugh speaking of which, I have been looking at used GX470s as I need more seats and still be able to tow. And I would consider a 4runner but i hate the interior. I know to get away from 03 and 04 as they were down on power due to the vvt update in 05 . But is there anything to look out for?

jasmits > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/23/2018 at 10:45

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Leer Trilogy X2t(not 100% sure I have the alphanumeric bit right). It’s pretty good, but kind of expensive I think if you buy it new . I scored mine at a decent price off of Craigslist from someone upgrading to a full canopy. Once the rails are installed it’s super easy to take all the way off or put back on which I really like.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > jasmits 07/23/2018 at 15:37

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Nice. They won’t sell the factory tonneau as a stand-alone option anymore, so I’m trying to figure out what I’ll go with. Might just start with a ~ $200 soft tri-fold and see how long that lasts me.

jasmits > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/23/2018 at 15:53

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Yeah, it’s because there’s a little bit of hardware that needs installed for it. You need to cut a little plastic from the bedliner(I think) and I guess they didn’t want people doing that? I don’t see why it couldn’t just be a dealer-installed accessory, lots of people seem to manage to DIY it

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > jasmits 07/23/2018 at 16:01

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They’re building mine on the 2nd - won’t even let me have it from the factory (without the premium package) !

jasmits > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/23/2018 at 16:18

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That makes no sense at all, it’s literally just a slightly different bed liner and a few little hooks that screw on. I hate how you can’t ever spec cars exactly how you want if you’re ordering from the factory. I just bought mine off the lot, they had exactly what I wanted but in Magnetic instead of Cement. I got it for a few grand off MSRP so it just wouldn’t have been worth a few grand and six weeks for a different shade of grey.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > jasmits 07/23/2018 at 16:37

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Yeah, pretty stupid. Oh well... I’m getting 2 grand off MSRP plus whatever incentives they’ve got available at delivery. Manuals are in very short supply, I wanted no other options  and I didn’t mind waiting.

B_dol > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/23/2018 at 20:00

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I want one of those bad to act as a DD/hauler/outdoor car.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > B_dol 07/23/2018 at 22:28

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Can’t wait to have it! Should pair nicely with my M3 (and opens me up for a small, impractical 2nd car if/when I ever have to replace the BMW ). =)

B_dol > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/23/2018 at 22:39

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Indeed! Towable option too...

House hunting right now but it looks like I’ll be leaving sunny CA and the wife’s Miata will be replaced by something snow friendlier. Excited  to be car hunting again 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > B_dol 07/23/2018 at 23:46

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Hope the transition goes well - what’s at the top of her list so far?

B_dol > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/24/2018 at 10:40

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So far the leaders are an MT Golf R or Focus RS, with brief mention of a Volvo or BMW wagon if we remove the MT requirement. Goal is to make sure her replacement car is fun year round or the summer Miata will have died in vain...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > B_dol 07/24/2018 at 10:45

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Nice! I wish my wife was as interested in having a fun car (not that her MDX — with SUPER- HANDLING AWD! — is any slouch, actually sounds pretty wicked when you get on it, and does great in the mountains ). Maybe once she doesn’t have to shuttle kiddos anymore...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Shift24 07/24/2018 at 11:09

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Hey, forgot to ask - how many miles were on the Tacoma you drove? The “hunting” auto transmission was a big reason I’m getting the manual, but I’ve read in a few places that it’s supposed to learn the driver’s behavior and eventually get better (less obnoxious).

Shift24 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/24/2018 at 12:50

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With it being a rental, I am sure that thing is all sorts of confused as no one drives the same. But it had 5000 miles at the time we picked it up. HammerheadFistpunch   did mention that there was an “ETC PWR” mode? and that I should have taken it out of Overdrive which would have helped cut down on the shifting.

And it was weird how the cluster glass was cracked. Was like that when we got it.

Edit: if the pic isnt working its here https://oppositelock.kinja.com/1827726060

B_dol > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 08/09/2018 at 12:56

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How’s the taco looking? My wife is suddenly very interested in one as her outdoor activities grow - any luck on test driving one with an MT?

I was leaning more towards a gently used GolfR but a little practicality wouldn’t hurt.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > B_dol 08/09/2018 at 13:59

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Arrived at the dealer today! Taking delivery tomorrow. =)

I was luckily able to test drive one a few months back - one popped up on the local dealer’s used lot and I managed to get by and get a test drive before it sold. Much smooth er transmission than the one in a Frontier Pro-4X, and I preferred it greatly to the automatic in the Tacoma (hunting for gears during a short test drive). It is still a truck, so it’s a much different transmission than the small/sporty cars I’m used to , but I think I’m really going to enjoy living with it.

B_dol > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 08/09/2018 at 14:22

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!! Awesome - will be following your ownership experience closely. Is the towing capacity still ~5500lbs with the MT? As it turns out, aging and sports seats make s huttling anything more than 3 hours to a track no bueno.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > B_dol 08/09/2018 at 14:42

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6400 lbs, actually.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have!

B_dol > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 08/09/2018 at 15:16

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I’m sure I will have many in the future. As it stands we have the Z4M, Miata RF and Mazda3 Hatch. The nominal plan is to keep all through the end of 2018 and the bimmer long term. Trying to find the right balance of fun and usability/practicality in the other two. Driving the AT Mazda3 is already soul sucking but it does a great job at soaking up boring miles.