05 taco

My local dealer has quite a few 05 tacos. Single cabs, access cabs and double cabs. Went for a test drive of a double cab. Sweet. Very sweet. The truck is damn near as big as the tundra.

Local dealer is playing hardball and demanding big bucks. Major league bad attitude. I wonder when carsdirect.com will update their site......

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type name here
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Ugh. Sorry.

The taco I drove was a prerunner. I was impressed by the tall wheels and height -- about 6 feet at the roofline. The salesman extracted the beast from a jumble of cars in the back of the dealer. He drove around front and stopped next to a tundra. From my position in the passenger seat, it looked like the rooflines of both trucks was about the same. After the saleman pointed this out - he took her down the road.

He pulled into a mall and we switched position. It seemed big, real big. The view down the road is amazing - from the height you'd swear you were in a new Ford 4x4. Really tall. Nice. I wonder what she would do in crosswinds?

The suspension was soft and she drove like a car. The illusion was maintained until we hit a low-speed speedbump in the parking lot. She displayed the normal truck suspension bounce. The V6 with auto has plently of power. Floor it and you could easily believe you're in a small V8. The truck cruised excellently on the interstate - I would not hesitate to go cross country.

Fit and finish are stock toy. Seats are comfortable and the instrumentation is good. There's a must-have TRD package with a compass and temp gauge in a center overhead console. The jury is still out on the composite bed. It can't rust but will it take the long term punishment? I like the modular way the bed is built. You can attach the Toy tool box by sliding it into the builtin rail. I wonder about a price tag on the Toy tool box.

The oil filter is easily accessable under the hood. Looks like you could remove the old filter in seconds. The current filter position is bottom end up about 30 degress from vertical. I wish the filter were angled down to prevent oil from slopping out when it's removed. I wonder if Toy is counting on an internal filter valve to keep the oil from sloshing out?

The saleman tells me the auto trans comes sealed from the factory and needs nothing for 100K miles. I'm really bothered by that. I much rather be able to check fluid -- and change fluid and screen along the way. Some things are better off NOT dumded down. The saleman said the techs could do change fluid and filter - if I broke the seal would it void the warranty?

There's a 05 taco owner just posted about a starting problem and he's really put some miles on his. Maybe he'll give us a good, detailed lowdown?

Happy now? :-)

Reply to
type name here

If you test drive, please post your findings!

Reply to
Bob H

Nice truck ain't it? I test drove one today - 4dr 4x4 longbed w/TRD Sport. I plan to get the same thing in January except TRD Off Road 'stead of Sport.

My .02 - most of which is very subjective ;). Thing is very quit in the cab, they did a nice job on noise reduction. Fit and finish were typical Toy - very nice. Suspension is perfect to me - firm without being hard and comfortable without being mushy. Turning radius seems about the same as the Mit Galant I've been driving, maybe a tad more. Steering wheel controls for the stereo. Hood seems a little high from the driver seat so view is obscured toward the front passenger bumper which could make it tricky for tight parking. Though that's probably my perception after driving a small car so long. Seats had good lumbar support and were comfortable. Armrest on door is a little low (for me anyway) for comfortable armrest while driving. Console was at good height for armrest though. Gauges were easy to read while driving. Back seat has plenty of leg room for smaller folks but if you're tall it would get cramped. Back seats also have a bit of recline so you aren't sitting straight up. I drove the auto and it shifted shifted nicely regardless of acceleration. I'm thinking of getting the manual so I've still got to drive it. Didn't have as much pep as I would like for passing between about 25-45. Does fine at higher speeds or lower, other than that I agree with the V8 comparison. Lots of nice storage compartments - under the rear seat, behind the rear seat, and in the bed.

Can't wait 'till January to get one - then I'll see how it does in the mud. Funny salesman was pushing the usual "what would it take...blah, blah, blah" trying to get me to "drive it home today". Sometimes it fun to mess with them ;). The dealership I went to is funny 'cause they have a good cop/bad cop routine. Salesman is low keyed, friendly, just seeing if you need fries with that. He'll walk off to get a pamphlet or something and someone else strolls by, all casual, and starts trying to close.

Reply to
Mac

The storage panel doors in the bed look a bit flimsy and do not lock. I can see these going "missing" in city parking lots. I sure would not store anything in them. Gas door doesn't lock either - what are the Toy engineers thinking?

The 110V outlet in the bed is a great idea but it's massively underpowered to the point of being pretty useless. My main tool is a circle saw - pulls

15 amps. Other frequently used tools include a framing screwdriver = 6.5 amps, drill = 7 amps. I guess you could run a light bulb or maybe a battery charger for cordless tools.

The dealer where I took the test drive is real big on advertising his low prices. His ads typically feature his small daughter talking about his low prices. When you look at the price decal on his cars, you see that it really consists of two stickers side-by-side. There is a factory retail sticker on the left and a matching custom sticker on the right. The dealer added custom sticker on the right proclaims an added cost of $1000 for "market adjustment". Sleeze factor is just about 9.5 on the richter scale.

That's nothing tho. Several years ago I stopped at a Toy dealer in Alabama looking at cars. These geniuses actually had bibles on their desks. Their behavior was the worst I have ever witnessed. Sleeze factor 9.9.

Seems like Toyota would be better served by *integrity* in their dealerships......

Reply to
type name here

Mac,

Have you talked to your dealer about the 4x4 Double Cab Longbed with the TRD OR option yet? This is the truck I want to buy but the TRD OR option is not available on it. On the Toyota website is is only available on Access Cabs.

Reply to
ShaneO

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