![]() Stuart, who fitted 34-inch tires to his Tacoma without regearing, reports that he was averaging around 12 mpg on the highway as a result. In other words, it destroys fuel economy and makes for a frustrating driving experience. That may not provide enough performance to maintain top gear while cruising at a constant speed on a level road, and it will force the use of lower gears everywhere, asking the engine to work harder for any given speed. Upgrade your Tacoma from its stock 30.5-inch tires to 34 inches and you’ll now be spinning that 1,500 rpm at 70 mph. Since the Tacoma’s gearing is already tall, this creates real problems. But larger tires also reduce a vehicle’s effective gear ratio. So fitting larger tires is probably the most common modification made to any truck. Large tires roll more easily over larger obstacles off-road. Look at the fuel economy reported by the 2,287 third-gen Taco owners who share their own results on Fuelly, and you’ll see that Tacomas can be expected to average about 18 mpg.īut what Tacoma owners frequently do wrong isn’t driving in the fast lane it’s fitting larger tires without the accompanying modifications necessary to support them. The Tacoma’s very tall gear ratios are good for official fuel-economy numbers, but in the real world, drivers will find that the transmission must downshift so frequently that matching those numbers becomes unrealistic. This remains true whether you’re using the automatic gearbox or manual transmission. Put your foot down at that speed to pass or to climb a hill, and the transmission will need to shift down two or three gears to deliver the performance you’re asking for. Where maximum horsepower is achieved at 5,374 rpm, and max torque at 3,037 rpm, the engine is making somewhere south of 50 horsepower and 100 pound-feet at 60 mph in top gear. In the Tacoma, that 3.5-liter V-6 makes for a healthy 278 horsepower and 265 pound-feet of torque however, it only delivers that performance at high engine speeds. That’s great for returning excellent fuel economy in the EPA’s highway-test cycle- in which the top speed is 60 mph-but does involve some compromises in real-world drivability. At 60 miles per hour, in sixth gear, the V-6 is turning over at 1,500 revolutions per minute. ![]() To deliver a truck that can return strong fuel-economy numbers in the Environmental Protection Agency’s standardized test cycle (up to 19 miles per gallon in the city and 24 miles per gallon on the highway), Toyota has chosen to fit the vehicle with relatively tall gear ratios. Ten years from now, that parts commonality will make it exponentially easier and more affordable to keep a Tacoma running. That’s because the Taco shares its 3.5-liter Atkinson-cycle V-6 with extremely high-sales-volume vehicles, ranging from the Camry, Highlander, and Sienna to no less than five different models from Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus. Go shopping for a part for a Tacoma engine, and it’s going to be in stock at almost every retailer in the country. Go shopping for an engine part for a more exotic vehicle and you may need to special-order it and then wait weeks for it to arrive. Doing so doesn’t just create the kind of volume that reduces the prices of those components for you, the end user, but it also ensures virtually universal supply for those parts. One of the ways that Toyota is able to create vehicles with such strong reputations for reliability is by reusing major components across multiple vehicles. Fuel Economy, Performance, Gearing, and You I’m going to use Stuart’s story as a cautionary tale of what not to do. And everyone said the Tacoma was damn near perfect.” “I thought a full-size pickup would be too big and too inefficient. At one time, a Tacoma seemed like the obvious choice for Stuart. “I bought a Tacoma because the internet said it was a rad truck,” he says. That’s his former truck pictured atop this article. One person who ruined his Tacoma is my friend Stuart Palley. Consider this an intervention on the part of a grumpy longtime car journalist. Many of its drivers fail to appreciate what makes Toyota’s smallest truck so special and set about ruining it with inappropriate or misjudged modifications. Unfortunately, the Tacoma has one big problem: you. Not only is the Taco the bestselling midsize pickup in the U.S., but it’s also the go-to adventuremobile for many of our readers. That it enjoys a strong reputation for reliability, and subsequently high-resale value, seals the deal. The third-generation Toyota Tacoma-on sale since 2016-is a good-looking, capable truck that’s just the right size for drivers who don’t have significant towing or hauling needs.
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