Why Does the Tacoma Dominate the Off-Road Pickup Segment?

[AzScorpion]

Does toyota remove features from the Tacoma every year? Asking for a friend.

Who cares? With the Tacomas POS drivetrain they'd better be adding stuff to entice buyers! I mean the things that Ford took away are basically cosmetic and can be replaced if YOU want them. They didn't change the motor or transmission or any major functioning parts. I don't think a couple of tie downs, rear tilting headrests and an engine cover are going to ruin you life?

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[VAMike]

Who cares? With the Tacomas POS drivetrain they'd better be adding stuff to entice buyers! I mean the things that Ford took away are basically cosmetic and can be replaced if YOU want them. They didn't change the motor or transmission or any major functioning parts. I don't think a couple of tie downs, rear tilting headrests and an engine cover are going to ruin you life?

Ruin my life? No. Make me more skeptical of Ford as a brand? Yup. The basic question of why Toyota has so much market share comes down to customer loyalty being worth more than objective facts. Is the savings on a couple of tie downs, rear tilting headrests, and an engine cover worth lower customer loyalty and less market share? Will Ford's spending on marketing to regain customer loyalty be more or less than the nickles and dimes that they saved on stupid little things? I dunno. Is it likely that the Ranger will take the Tacoma's top spot if Ford's customers feel like Ford will do anything to save a nickle, customer utility be damned? Unlikely.

Do I think that the ranger is a better truck than the Tacoma overall? Yeah. Do I feel that Ford shows respect for its customers? Not really. If a Tacoma owner does feel that Toyota cares about them (whether it's true or not) is it worth it to them to get a slightly better product if their experience as a customer is worse? IMO, Ford for a long time has been too worried about dollars and not enough about customers.

 

[AzScorpion]

Ruin my life? No. Make me more skeptical of Ford as a brand? Yup. The basic question of why Toyota has so much market share comes down to customer loyalty being worth more than objective facts. Is the savings on a couple of tie downs, rear tilting headrests, and an engine cover worth lower customer loyalty and less market share? Will Ford's spending on marketing to regain customer loyalty be more or less than the nickles and dimes that they saved on stupid little things? I dunno. Is it likely that the Ranger will take the Tacoma's top spot if Ford's customers feel like Ford will do anything to save a nickle, customer utility be damned? Unlikely.

Do I think that the ranger is a better truck than the Tacoma overall? Yeah. Do I feel that Ford shows respect for its customers? Not really. If a Tacoma owner does feel that Toyota cares about them (whether it's true or not) is it worth it to them to get a slightly better product if their experience as a customer is worse? IMO, Ford for a long time has been too worried about dollars and not enough about customers.

Outside this forum I'd bet no one knows these things are missing. Skeptical of Ford for cutting some costs...lol Ok, I see you've never run any type of business and have had to make adjustments without cutting your labor? These are MINUTE things which can easily be replaced but you make it sound like they redesigned the engine and gave you less hp. If you think other manufacturers are better because they don't cut out little items just buy their product instead, it's a free world.

 

[FoD]

There's a reason for Caveat Emptor and Toyota is no different from any other commercial entity. They picked up a following maybe because their stuff ran when "fix or repair daily" and "shove it or lay" couldn't get their stuff together in a market dynamic run by political fiat.

Make no mistake, Toyota is no different than Coors, Bud or anything else that has a brand following. People stick because it worked for them before and why make an effort when "it's good enough" or "everybody else is..."

Being informed requires individual effort, not a "Bake Easy Pizza Warmer" for an engine compartment

 

[VAMike]

Outside this forum I'd bet no one knows these things are missing. Skeptical of Ford for cutting some costs...lol Ok, I see you've never run any type of business and have had to make adjustments without cutting your labor? These are MINUTE things which can easily be replaced but you make it sound like they redesigned the engine and gave you less hp.

Redesigning the engine would cost more. Again, how much does ford spend on marketing? Bloated management structure? Fielding calls about missing tie downs? It's not like the only thing in the world Ford could do to save the company was cut a couple of bucks worth of tie downs out of rangers built after mid 2019. They decided what things were a priority and which weren't, and saved a relatively tiny amount of money by cutting the tie downs instead of, say, free hats for reviewers. They still spend a ton of money on all sorts of things, arguably wasting a good bit or spending it on things that don't improve the customer experience at all. I mean sure, you can just brush it off as unimportant, but people make decisions based on small indicators all the time, and it just seems stupid for a business that depends on repeat customers to give off little indicators that they don't give a shit about their customers. It's not like the ranger started off as a product brimming with unnecessary features and then they just knocked off little bits that wasn't used much--they quite obviously started from a position of "what's the least we can spend on this release" and managed to cut from there (while still raising the price).

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Could have been a supply issue instead of cost cutting

IOW, Ford told they are only going to get x number of tie downs.

Ship some trucks with 6 and some with none, or divvy them up among the trucks to be produced.

Just a possibility. Though more likely that someone got a multi-thousand bonus for figuring out a way to save $1.12 per truck while only mildly screwing the consumer.

 

[VAMike]

Could have been a supply issue instead of cost cutting

IOW, Ford told they are only going to get x number of tie downs.

Ship some trucks with 6 and some with none, or divvy them up among the trucks to be produced.

Just a possibility. Though more likely that someone got a multi-thousand bonus for figuring out a way to save $1.12 per truck while only mildly screwing the consumer.

That was my initial thought. Then they kept cutting more and more, including stuff that literally required a redesign and some degree of retooling. What are the odds they can get suppliers to change the way they make headrests, but couldn't find anyone who could deliver a piece of metal bent a couple of times?

 

[GitRDone]

All good points, and it does makes you wonder when a useful component or feature goes missing from its model, even a tie-down or folding headrest when offered previously.
Whatever the reason, perceptions do matter and it would have been better to not offer the item in the first place than to give and then take away.
Case in point: drivers side grab handle. A handy feature that Ford chose not to include on the new Ranger, which saved them a few bucks. Fine with me, but if earliy build Rangers had them it might provoke a new thread or two.

 

[Stevo]

I've been looking at small pickups for off-roading and I see that other than the new Jeep Gladiator all of the other ones are Toyota Tacomas. I'm wondering if there is a particular reason for this? It appears that the Ford Ranger and Chevrolet Colorado are almost identical to the Toyota Tacoma, why not use these instead? AEV even has an excellent build for the Chevrolet Colorado:
https://www.aev-conversions.com/vehicles/zr2-bison/.
I'm sure there are also some nice builds similar to this for the Ranger?

I owned a Taco for 10 years.. I totally loved that rig.. I had it set up with Biltstein 5100 adjustable shocks in the front and back. Also had a firestone airbag system. The only thing lacking in the old Taco was power. I had a 4 cyl version which didn't have a lot of power and a manual transmission. This was okay for the most part, but travelling in the mountains pulling a 17' trailer on highways was just not okay, and going through intersections with a steep uphill left the clutch starting to smoke.. The only way to tackle steep starts was in 4 low, this was inconvenient entering a highway as I had to pull on, pull over and switch to 2 high before I could go on the main road.

We finally upgraded to a new Taco in August 2020. I looked forward to the 6 cyl engine and the automatic transmission. I bought the thing and and took it camping with the trailer almost right away.. Well, we didn't get far before there was a strong burning smell from somewhere, I thought it was just the newness of the exaust was being burned off and it may well have been that. However, I had better towing power at low speeds with the 4 banger. The truck was awful on the rough steep logging roads loaded with ruts. In seemed to have no power on the hills unless you were revving high. It was not good.

We also went on an excursion without the trailer. There is a lake which I have had friends tell me about that I had never been too. It involved turning off the road to a major ski hill and going down a steep hill on an old logging road. Well, as soon as I turned off the pavement I looked down the road and could not see a single bit of the road until the bottom of the first hill that was a 1/2 mile below. There was no way, I was going to attempt driving blind down terrain like that. Reason? They raised the front of the hood for appearance and also extended it. I guess they did this to appeal to some kind of macho aesthetic. It was in my opinion a really stupid idea.

So there you go, I traded the 2020 Taco in and bought a 2020 Ranger.. So far so good. I have my fingers crossed but I have good visibility going down hill now and theoretically the power curve should be perfect for what I need for a trailer tug.

The power on the Taco was 278 HP at 6000 RPM (Taco) vs 270 at 4500 (Ranger)
and 290? lbs torque (Taco) at 5000 RPM vs 310 at 3000 RPM.(Ranger)

I think the Ford is way better than the Taco for off roading. Good visibility and good power curve.

I am still nervous that it may not hold up as well as the Taco for the long haul, but I could not wait to get rid of that stupid rig. Shame on you Toyota for making a mess of a perfect rig.

 

[VAMike]

We also went on an excursion without the trailer. There is a lake which I have had friends tell me about that I had never been too. It involved turning off the road to a major ski hill and going down a steep hill on an old logging road. Well, as soon as I turned off the pavement I looked down the road and could not see a single bit of the road until the bottom of the first hill that was a 1/2 mile below. There was no way, I was going to attempt driving blind down terrain like that. Reason? They raised the front of the hood for appearance and also extended it. I guess they did this to appeal to some kind of macho aesthetic. It was in my opinion a really stupid idea.

So there you go, I traded the 2020 Taco in and bought a 2020 Ranger.. So far so good. I have my fingers crossed but I have good visibility going down hill now and theoretically the power curve should be perfect for what I need for a trailer tug

...

I think the Ford is way better than the Taco for off roading. Good visibility

Good thing you got this generation--it looks like the next ranger is going to have the same issues with a high front for looks and to get the 2.7 engine into it.

 

[AdamHarris]

Thus is probably the nicest review from another auto maker you will ever see! ?

 

[Trigganometry]

That’s funny, now that I’ve been driving this Ranger a little while it’s all the taco owners are rubbernecking my truck and not the other way around. It’s even better when one tries to blow you off and what they end up seeing is my LED taillights dimming as the gap widens!

 

[Arly]

I'd like to remind everyone, just because a company or product, dominates a certain market, doesn't necessarily mean its a better product.

 

[Pinepig]

That’s funny, now that I’ve been driving this Ranger a little while it’s all the taco owners are rubbernecking my truck and not the other way around. It’s even better when one tries to blow you off and what they end up seeing is my LED taillights dimming as the gap widens!

Around here if you see a pickup screwing up traffic by going slow uphill in the left lane you could make good money betting it's a taco. You would think the owners would learn to put their foot down a little more when you come to a hill.......then I realized they have it FLOORED.

 

[GitRDone]

The 2nd gen Taco with the 4.0 never had that problem, but relative to the new Ranger it was pretty thirsty.. 17 mpg unburdened was about as good as it got. What I most hated on road trips was the poorly controlled cruise control. On a grade it would let the speed drop 4-5 mph and then, finally sensing the difference, floor the gas pedal in response. Super annoying and not helpful for economy, I usually just switched it off. In sharp contrast, the Ranger holds cruise setting perfectly, even pulling a trailer. I really like the sequential shifting in Trailer mode also.

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