I wish the engineers at Toyota would approach hybrid systems the way the Germans do. They look at hybridization as a performance enhancement over a pure efficiency enhancement. The engineers at Toyota look at it from the opposite point of view and it really shows in the performance figures. The Japanese seem to not understand the U.S. market as well as the Germans from a performance perspective. Now, I will almost always opt for a Japanese built vehicle over German engineering from a reliability and longevity perspective, but I’m always left wanting more from the engine in most Japanese vehicles unfortunately.The thing is, as I pointed out in another thread, Toyota programs and builds their cars these days to be driven like a Prius. The Tacoma is a perfect example of "be careful what you wish for," on paper it's a redesigned V6 with an Atkinson's Style cycle for better cruising MPGs coupled with a modern 6spd transmission that should easily surpass the venerable A750. In practice? The way that thing is tuned, geared, and programmed if you drive it like a light truck it hunts for gears, has a gutless low-end thanks to the Atkinson's Style Cycle (usually reserved for Hybrids because of the poor low-end torque). That thing has had more ECM/ECT reprograms than I have seen for one Toyota in the last decade or two. It's supposed to be the "modern" Toyota Truck for fuel efficiency and emissions; in reality it is a big let down. Toyota doesn't care about performance or even driver comfort that much, they're busy turning everything into a Prius Variant.
Which is why I still hold disdain for the idea of a hybrid only 4Runner, or even a 6th gen with the Tacoma drivetrain. They just don't care anymore about anything but chasing those MPG and Emissions numbers.