Overview:
Ok folks grab your kidney belt and come along on this weeks testing of the 2003 Toyota Tacoma 2-WD pickup with crew cab – Toyota calls it a Double Cab. The kidney belt can best be used to keep your teeth from chattering. But at the end of the week, other than a bouncy ride (really from not carrying a load), it was a pretty nice little truck. The rough riders who will drive these trucks should, of course, have some purpose other than transportation.
Well, I gotta ask you, if they can put a man on the moon isn’t it fair to bitch about the fact that we can’t build highways and trucks that are compatible. Cars are more forgiving because they don’t need to carry a load and the suspension is softer. But trucks move the country and more importantly they get us back and forth from Home Depot.
On the whole, I liked the truck and give credit where credit is due. After owning pickups in past lives I definitely wouldn’t own one without at least an extended cab. This crew cab is the norm these days for most truck makers and a great improvement over trucks of yesteryear. I can’t imagine any application not better served by having rear seating of some kind.
Handling & Performance:
Just when I said the ride couldn’t be worse than a Peterbuilt dump truck I tested the GMC crew cab one-ton pickup truck and got my brains shaken up. In that light the Tacoma wasn’t so bad. Suffice it to say most heavy suspension vehicles don’t handle cement highways very well. Black top is best, but road engineers haven’t a clue how to lay down cement sections of highway. Car manufacturers have tested all makes and models and they all do the same thing. They simply can’t engineer for stupid road builders. Do you think we have lousy cement highways because some government official’s inept brother-in-law was awarded the contract or are they simply all inept? I’d be interested in your comments on this subject.
My three grandchildren 4-7 years liked the ride just find. Two adults, two 7 year olds and 4-year-old Cierra in her car seat made the trip to Disneyland in the relative comfort of this Tacoma. In fact the kids appreciated the bouncy ride and thought it was fun. On the ride home you could hear melodious and rhythmical “ah-ah-ah-ah…” as we bounced down the highway. They hummed themselves to sleep after the long busy day and damn near put me to sleep too.
Styling:
If a small truck is all you need, this is surely a nice looking ride. I had a 1955 Ford ½ ton pickup when I was 16 and still love that classic design. I delivered 420 LA Times papers to much of South Pasadena in that truck. I reminisce about those days, but mostly I remember the classic look of cars and trucks in the early days. Today, everything has a homogeneous look, especially the computer generated, wind tunnel perfect, .4 drag coefficient that means those distinctive days are gone forever.
Fit and Finish:
This truck is light years ahead of that old 1955 Ford or any car of those days in how well they are assembled. The Japanese, Toyota in particular, is especially good at attention to detail. Heck, they didn’t even sell cars or trucks in the US in the 1950’s.
Cost:
Here I go again, complaining about the high price of cars. They give us so much service, and we, as a society, can’t do without the automobile, so why complain, right? Well, look around. Everything that is technically designed and built keeps coming down in price. A personal computer purchased in 1980 for $3-6,000 is now ¼ the price for magnitudes better technology. Cars in 1980 that cost $5-10,000 have increased 4 times and haven’t changed all that much. In my view, a truck shouldn’t cost nearly $20-24,000, let alone $45,000 for that GMC I mentioned above with Quadra Steer.
Consumer Recommendation:
Trucks have come a long way and although I’m having a bad hair day and still shaking from the bouncy ride I have ranked it number two out of the competition noted here.
The Competition: * (in order of ranking)
(1) Nissan Frontier $13-27,000, (2) Toyota Tacoma $12-22,000, (3) Ford Ranger $13-25,000, (4) Dodge Dakota $16-25,000, (5) Chevrolet S-10 $14-24,000, (6) GMC Sonoma $14-24,000.
* – Ranking is based on cost, cu ft, number of features, warranty and gas mileage.
Good News:
Well built, seats 5 people and it’s a Toyota.
Bad News:
Poor mileage, bouncy ride, pricey and the competition are just as bad. Perhaps HP or IBM should get into the car business!
Standard Equipment:
3.4 liter V6 engine, 4-speed auto trans, power steering, power front disc rear drum antilock brakes, dual air bags, child restraint anchors, double wall cargo bed with hooks, tow hook, remote mirrors, cloth seats, radio with cassette, tilt wheel, intermittent wipers, carpeting, auxiliary power outlets. Now if you stop here the cost is $19,170. But if you want the following options you’ll pay $24,163: cruise control, SR5 / Chrome package that also adds a CD player and two more speakers, off road package, power windows and locks with keyless entry, bed liner and bed extender.
Gas Stats:
17 City and 20 Highway MPG.
Pricing:
MSRP $19,170-24,163.
Your comments are welcomed. My e-mail is joe@atthewheel.com
Copyright © 2002 – An Automotive Love Affair
