Tacoma impressions coming from a BMW

[Saharicon]

So I have wanted a Tacoma as long as I can remember.

Many moons ago I was heavily involved in the Jeep/Rock Crawling community. Did that for about 5 years, but living on the East Coast you run out of areas to explore legally in a Jeep TJ setup for rock crawling. Combine that with the lack of space and two Siberian Huskies and the wife and I just were not feeling it anymore.

I didn't see us moving to the West like I wanted anytime soon so I gave up on the dreams of expedition for the time being.

BMWs have always been my favorite vehicle from a performance stand point, so I decided that's where I was going to jump.

First I picked up a 2006 e90 330i w/ sport package. Did some work to get the max power out of it and coming from a Modified beat to hell TJ I felt like I was driving on silk.

The e90 was the DD so I picked up a mint 99 e36 M3 to gut for the track. I've driven a lot of cars from Porsche Carrera GTs, Corvettes, and every variation of the M3. The e36 M3 is hands down the most enjoyable car I have ever drove from a raw power and drivers car standpoint.

Fast forward to August 2014. I have been in California for my job almost 2 years for the most part making trips back home in PA every so often.

My obsession for the outdoors and exploring every mountain, every valley, and every canyon was confirmed. I was in love with the west. The problem was I was doing this all in rental cars. Let me tell you, if you think the 27 miles of washboard to the racetrack in DV sucks with your expedition rig suspension. It's about the most unpleasant experience ever in a rental car. I also discovered on several occasions rental cars like to have the battery terminals pop off. Oh well, I got some good hiking in

So I make a trip back to PA in August last year and tell the wife all about my travels. We determine its time to go look at Tacomas.

I take the 330 to Toyota and test drive a 2014 DC OR. I was extremely impressed. I was worried that coming from a BMW the ride and handling would leave me disappointed. It didn't though. In fact I didn't drive the Tacoma much different through the PA mountains than I drive the BMW. I was sold!

Told the dealer I wanted black and they started the search. Went and told the wife and she came and test drove it. Keep in mind before this the wife wasn't thrilled about driving a truck. After her test drive she was sold and now about the only thing we fight over is who gets to drive the Tacoma.

Here we are today, I brought the wife to California and we have put 14k miles on the Tacoma going all over California.

I honestly haven't been happier with a vehicle. It has everything we want, drives and handles amazingly, and I don't worry about reliability. To this day I don't drive the Taco on the Tarmac any differently than I did the 330 and it takes everything I throw at it with beautiful grace.

So, I just wanted to give my thoughts on the Taco coming from some German engineering for anyone else that might be wondering... Well it not live up?

Also to note, I'm not really into tons of electronics and my 330 was pretty bare bones for a BMW. I didn't want the added weight of all the packages so I only had sport and the Bluetooth package installed. The 14 Taco is pretty in line with what my 06 330 had. My only complaint about the Taco is it didn't come with the overhead console temp/compass which I didn't notice when I picked it up and it doesn't have a MPG counter. Im looking for the temp gauge though and many options for MPG.

Guess this is somewhat of my Taco newb thread too. Hello everyone! I hope to learn lots and help where I can.


Sent from my fancy city machine.

 

[mrothwell]

Its funny, I too came from a BMW. I had a 2006 BMW 325i (e90), and I loved it. It had the sport package and adaptive xenons, it was great. I love camping though, and I was tired of creeping down dirt/gravel/washboard roads to get to the good trailheads and campsites. I just sucked it up though and drove <10 mph everywhere though since I was in love with the BMW's handling. I actually made it down a few roads that I never thought I would've just by going slow, but slow is not much fun, especially when you're worried about snapping a $400 BMW aluminum control arm. Things really changed when I bought a house last fall. Within the first month of ownership, I'd borrowed a truck way more times than I had ever wanted to and at that point, the Bimmer's fate was sealed. I went with a 2012 TRD 4x4 Access Cab, and its been pretty great so far. It doesn't ride as well or handle as well as the BMW, but its better than any other truck that I drove to compare. I'm more or less happy with it, I'm kicking myself for not getting the manual though. Perhaps I'll trade it in for a manual at some point down the road.

 

[SDDiver5]

Get a ScanGauge. That should give you MPG and many others.

Any plans to build your taco?

 

[DVexile]

Heh, I remember exploring DV years ago in a Honda Civic. I was not, however, brave enough to tackle racetrack in it! Did do about 100 miles of dirt in Utah in that poor little civic though.

Jealous of your CA relocation. My wife and I stuck in MD for almost seven years now. I just see no point in camping or exploring out here on the east coast, keep a truck stored out west for camping trips.

I'll be picking up a 2015 Tacoma soon to replace my now too small 1992 Toyota, glad to hear your experience. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Saharicon]

@Mrotheall I hear Ya man. I had, actually still have them, the OEM 359M CSL M3 wheels. I went offroad once and got 2 flats. Never tried again. Plus the bmw bushings are so stiff it was brutal. Props to you for hitting some camping spots man!

@SDDiver5 Yea big plans for the Taco. I started kind of a trip journal/build thread. I think it's on page two. "Tater the taco"

Im going to look at Jeff Wanamogs 5x10 expedition camper trailer tomorrow too.

Nothing crazy done to the taco yet, but I'm waiting to see what trailer I end up with and base suspension off that.

Next thing is C02 on board air and armor


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[Saharicon]

Heh, I remember exploring DV years ago in a Honda Civic. I was not, however, brave enough to tackle racetrack in it! Did do about 100 miles of dirt in Utah in that poor little civic though.

Jealous of your CA relocation. My wife and I stuck in MD for almost seven years now. I just see no point in camping or exploring out here on the east coast, keep a truck stored out west for camping trips.

I'll be picking up a 2015 Tacoma soon to replace my now too small 1992 Toyota, glad to hear your experience. Thanks for sharing.

I hear you man! The wife is from Maryland. I couldn't handle it so we moved up to PA maybe 8 years ago. I agree though, camping on the East Coast is blahhhhhh.

The Tacomas first camping trip was to Bald Eagle State Forest and it was pretty boring. We have done Sheanondoah a lot too and nice little get away but nothing compares to the west.

I want to check out George Washington National Forest when we get back.

Unfortunately my gig out here ends soon and we will be back in PA. First thing we are doing is selling the house though and looking to move west full time once we can.


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[Martinjmpr]

Get a ScanGauge. That should give you MPG and many others.

+1 on this. My 4runner has an MPG gauge built in. It's worthless. I use a Scangauge II which not only shows my actual MPG and DTE (Distance to Empty), it also shows my transmission temp which is important to me since I pull a trailer.

 

[Saharicon]

+1 on this. My 4runner has an MPG gauge built in. It's worthless. I use a Scangauge II which not only shows my actual MPG and DTE (Distance to Empty), it also shows my transmission temp which is important to me since I pull a trailer.

Yup! Scan Gauge is in the top of my list as solutions. However, I am also a tech entrepreneur. Trying to get creative with an all in one solution... I don't like having 50 different displays all over the cab. Would prefer to just have an all in one iPad solution.

Thanks for the input guys.


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[SDDiver5]

That would be awesome! Is there something like that in existence? Imagine how easy it'd be to plug in your ipad to your engine and get all types of info and codes.

 

[Finlay]

That would be awesome! Is there something like that in existence? Imagine how easy it'd be to plug in your ipad to your engine and get all types of info and codes.

Get a bluetooth OBD reader and the Torque App.

Works great, though, I prefer the scanguage so I can use the tablet/phone as GPS instead.

 

[Saharicon]

That would be awesome! Is there something like that in existence? Imagine how easy it'd be to plug in your ipad to your engine and get all types of info and codes.

Yes, there are a couple apps on the Market where you plug into your OBDII port with a Bluetooth device and it will connect to your device for information. Unfortunalty, I have been very busy and haven't had time to look into the quality or options they provide. A couple guys I tracked with used them for vehicle monitoring.

I used a laptop on the BMWs with the proper software and you can get a plethora of information. Only problem was... 1. Laptops are bulky and cumbersome 2. To do any tuning yourself you had to translate the German. 3. I hate wires running everywhere.

My plan is to mount a iPad mini with the mount that goes above the climate control. With technology advancing as fast as it is I am hoping cell phone service expands exponentially and/or sat cost become much cheaper. I also have a Wilson Electronics AG Pro Quint cell phone repeater I want to test in some remote locations.

The short answer is the technology exist, the question is how advanced the off the self platforms are at this point and in an affordable price range.

With that said. The iPad can be used for so many purposes. Weather, Topo, vehicle monitoring, etc. The downside from what I have noticed is the good ole Silicon Valley bunch isn't really focused on expedition style traveling and we don't get a lot of fancy software built by U.S. or suited to our needs.

I have a lot of projects in the works this year doing a whole website rebrand, starting a podcast, and trying to move West full time. Once I get a good feel for the industry though and the full scope of what is available for us Im hoping to follow my passions and start a new venture towards some type of Expedition style app/social platform.


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[p nut]

Another vote for Scangauge. I had an old E30 years and years ago. Fun vehicle. No way I could drive my trucks like the E30. Them things sucked in those corners.

....I just see no point in camping or exploring out here on the east coast, keep a truck stored out west for camping trips...

I'm a West Coast guy, but to say there is no point in camping out east, that's going too far. There are some awesome places to explore out there. I'd like to do this one day: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/

 

[Saharicon]

Another vote for Scangauge. I had an old E30 years and years ago. Fun vehicle. No way I could drive my trucks like the E30. Them things sucked in those corners.



I'm a West Coast guy, but to say there is no point in camping out east, that's going too far. There are some awesome places to explore out there. I'd like to do this one day: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/

The East Coast def has some perks, but with the humidity, bugs, and the people none of them are worth it to me.

I've done some portions of the AT, but after several hours of trees trees trees and some trees trees trees I couldn't see myself actually doing the whole thing. Now the PCT I would love to one day be in some kind of shape for that.

P.S. I love e30s!


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[DVexile]

I'm a West Coast guy, but to say there is no point in camping out east, that's going too far. There are some awesome places to explore out there. I'd like to do this one day: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/

I just mean I'd never have a dedicated camping vehicle out here. There are certainly places to "camp" out here, but it seems you are always in view of city lights or the sound of a lawnmower. No views, no actual mountains. Some very pretty small settings nonetheless. All second growth forest tucked between farms mostly though. Just not the same as out west at all.

What we *do* like out here is that for quick hikes there are lots of nice green belts real close by. With all the trees you can pretend you are in the wilderness on a zig zagging 5 mile jaunt. So I actually find it a bit easier out here to do an afternoon walk/hike and get a feel of the outdoors and the false impression of seclusion. That is nearly impossible in the city basins out west!