New Tacoma vs New 4Runner?

W

WillBill

New member
Hi. In the summer I lost my 4R: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/97554-oak-tree-vs-4runner.html
What I am trying to decide is a new Tacoma, loaded w/everything, vs new 4R limited. Price is about $6-8K less for the Tacoma, and the ride is a little stiffer. Any other issues I should think about? My needs can be satisfied by each - lots of on-road driving, winter travel, a little off-roading, don't carry too much stuff ... I assume that, because the 4R is made in Japan that it should have fewer problems, true? My last 4R needed 3 calipers, 3 shocks, and a nav. system replaced, though, but all covered by the Platinum Warranty. I like factory nav. and Bluetooth, and am curious/anxious about Entune.

I'm sure you have opinions and I hope you share them with me. Thanks.
 
Register to hide this ad
You should ask the same question over at the Taco forum.
The forum with most, and best, replies wins.
Problem solved.
 
WillBill said:
Hi. In the summer I lost my 4R: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/97554-oak-tree-vs-4runner.html
What I am trying to decide is a new Tacoma, loaded w/everything, vs new 4R limited. Price is about $6-8K less for the Tacoma, and the ride is a little stiffer. Any other issues I should think about? My needs can be satisfied by each - lots of on-road driving, winter travel, a little off-roading, don't carry too much stuff ... I assume that, because the 4R is made in Japan that it should have fewer problems, true? My last 4R needed 3 calipers, 3 shocks, and a nav. system replaced, though, but all covered by the Platinum Warranty. I like factory nav. and Bluetooth, and am curious/anxious about Entune.

I'm sure you have opinions and I hope you share them with me. Thanks.
Click to expand...

For YOUR needs, i would get 4runner. You don't carry much stuff. You do winter driving...aka full-time 4wd is pretty cool for this. And like you said, you prefer Japanese made vehicles.

The new Tacoma Baja edition looks nice though. Trucks are for those who do a lot of outdoor stuff, carry lots of junk, or a daily customer of Home Depot.

If you have kids or take long trips with your family, the backseat of these midsize trucks are not very inviting. The seatback is very upright!

If you must get a truck, then you should also consider the Nissan Frontier. The Frontier has a few advantages of the Tacoma, e.g rear disc brakes, fully-boxed frame derived from Titan, better crash test scores. But, Frontier resale value is not as good, even though reliability matches that of Tacoma. And this is the last year of Frontier...Nissan will not make more.
 
Last edited:
WillBill said:
Good response, Thai, and I'll check out the Frontier, too. Didn't know about Tacoma's rear brakes being drum.
Click to expand...

To counter, though, I would say that drum brakes are fine in the Tacoma. The taco is relatively light weight and the times I've driven my dad's Tacoma, I didn't feel that the braking was insufficient in any way. Basically, I care more about disc brakes in a vehicle that would otherwise give drum brakes a serious workout. I don't think the Tacoma is a vehicle that will do that.

Here is a thread that has discussed this topic not long ago...
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/98879-4runner-trail-vs-tacoma.html
 
Thanks for the link, Quentin. The info there helped. I'm a big guy, 6'1", 260, and the Tacoma is said to be tight for people even smaller. I've sat in one, but haven't driven one for a long trip, so i should do so. Also, KC, I do drive on ice-covered roads and my 4R always came through. Decision is getting easier.
 
Quentin said:
To counter, though, I would say that drum brakes are fine in the Tacoma. The taco is relatively light weight and the times I've driven my dad's Tacoma, I didn't feel that the braking was insufficient in any way. Basically, I care more about disc brakes in a vehicle that would otherwise give drum brakes a serious workout. I don't think the Tacoma is a vehicle that will do that.

Here is a thread that has discussed this topic not long ago...
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/98879-4runner-trail-vs-tacoma.html
Click to expand...

If you load the bed of the truck with any sort of weight, or tow, then disk brakes are really much more important than you would think. It's suprising the Tacoma does not have disks standard.
 
Quentin said:
To counter, though, I would say that drum brakes are fine in the Tacoma. The taco is relatively light weight and the times I've driven my dad's Tacoma, I didn't feel that the braking was insufficient in any way. Basically, I care more about disc brakes in a vehicle that would otherwise give drum brakes a serious workout. I don't think the Tacoma is a vehicle that will do that.

Here is a thread that has discussed this topic not long ago...
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/98879-4runner-trail-vs-tacoma.html
Click to expand...

You're right about drum brakes on a truck...but, if one were to carry heavy loads often or have to go up and down moutain passes, then rear disc brakes are better.

In addition, if you were to take the Tacoma off-road and do water fording, then drum brakes suck because water can get into it and rust the crap out of it.

Lastly, in a $30,000+ vehicle, i find it hard to swallow that it still has drum brakes in this day and age.
 
I came from a Honda Ridgeline. Before purchasing the 4Runner, I tested the Tacoma and the Tundra. The Tacoma test lasted about an hour. It was a great truck but the back seat was too cramped and I did not fit well in the driver's seat either. I am 6'4" and 250 lb. I tested the Tundra next for all of about 5 minutes. It was just too...big, much or any other adjective for my needs. I tow a small utility trailer about 5-6 times a year. I am a Mt. Biker so I need to haul the gear and bikes. The Tacoma would have been good but the Tundra was overkill. Enter the 4Runner. Perfect for my needs and even though we get a lot of snow where I live the roads are just wet most of the time due to temperature. So, part time 4WD (SR5) is perfect with my gas milage around 21mpg after almost 20K miles. I think of the 4Runner as a nice truck with a nice topper. In the end you just have to drive them.
 
Thai said:
You're right about drum brakes on a truck...but, if one were to carry heavy loads often or have to go up and down moutain passes, then rear disc brakes are better.

In addition, if you were to take the Tacoma off-road and do water fording, then drum brakes suck because water can get into it and rust the crap out of it.

Lastly, in a $30,000+ vehicle, i find it hard to swallow that it still has drum brakes in this day and age.
Click to expand...

It depends on the quality of the disc brakes, too. Much like how every mountain bike out there these days has disc brakes, many of them are garbage. A good set of rim brakes will outperform a poor disc brake and require far less maintenance. That said, a good disc brake is simply brilliant in terms of stopping power and fade. For example, my mom's Yukon would warp rotors every 20k miles because, despite being discs, they were undersized for WV mountains and were built for bottom dollar prices. I have no idea if the Tacoma has "good drums" or if the Frontier has "garbage discs". Just throwing it out there that sometimes spec decisions are made to meet the marketing team's spec sheet versus truly being the better choice in relation to performance/cost.

I agree, though, about a $30k vehicle having drums. It feels like you should have the latest and greatest tech for that much money.
 
Last edited:
As a fun exercise...can you guys think of ANY currently mass produced car or truck that still has drum brakes for over $30k?? I honestly can't think of one, except Tacoma....
 
Last edited:
I will say that I'm very pleased with the brakes on the 4Runner. It is shocking how quickly this 4600lb SUV will come to a stop when a deer jumps in the road.
 
Thai said:
As a fun exercise...can you guys think of ANY currently mass produced car or truck that still has drum brakes for over $30k?? I honestly can't think of one, except Tacoma....
Click to expand...

Every Big-Rig you see on the road has drum brakes behind every wheel. Maybe apples/oranges comparison, but it speaks volumes about the stopping power of a drum brake. :)
 
Antman said:
Every Big-Rig you see on the road has drum brakes behind every wheel. Maybe apples/oranges comparison, but it speaks volumes about the stopping power of a drum brake. :)
Click to expand...

Good point...I was talking more about passenger cars, not commercial...but you got a point there.
 
Thai said:
As a fun exercise...can you guys think of ANY currently mass produced car or truck that still has drum brakes for over $30k?? I honestly can't think of one, except Tacoma....
Click to expand...

Nearly all Chevy half tons have rear drums. Trucks with the 6.2 motor have discs.
 
Thai said:
As a fun exercise...can you guys think of ANY currently mass produced car or truck that still has drum brakes for over $30k?? I honestly can't think of one, except Tacoma....
Click to expand...

My 2008 Silverado LTZ half ton that I traded in when I bought my 4Runner.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 614 (members: 0, guests: 614)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,083
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top