The so called chief engineer they interviewed in the Automobile Q&A sounds more like a marketing person than an engineer. "Ya bro, it's like totally [censored] and stuff...our target customers are like active bros that kayak and go to festivals and stuff, bro. Look bro, totally legit GoPro mount."
I have mixed feelings about this update. It seems a little half [censored] honestly. The stuff that is really showing this truck's age...5-speed manual for the I4, drum brakes in the rear, etc...is still the same, and nobody else is using it anymore. Even the Ranger had standard four wheel discs for its final year of production.
The body doesn't seem like it really changed as much as the marketeering bro in the Automobile Q&A implies. Looks like they tweaked some character lines, but you can tell, especially by the windows, that the basic structure is a continuation of the old truck from 10 years ago. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but this is at most a refresh along the lines of when the truck was updated for 2001...it is not all new with "maybe the seatbelt brackets shared."
The problem with the refresh is that what they did do seems to lack substance. They made the grille more obnoxious, which isn't surprising considering Toyota's current styling. It also looks like it will be more prone to expensive damage since the grille is effectively part of the bumper. Worse is what they did to the interior. The current Tacoma interior has a simple, nicely styled, functional dash that isn't over the top. Everything about it makes sense. The 2016 dash looks like they are trying to get the five people who bought FJ Cruisers to buy Tacomas next time around. Huge pointless chunks of plastic, ungainly appearance, controls all over the place with no rhyme or reason, etc.
As for the 3.5L V6...I hope it offers a nice, sizable fuel economy gain over the 4.0L. With 12 injectors it better do something for it. The 4.0L was a reliable engine and perfect for the Tacoma. And the oil filter location was the best. I bet the 3.5L has a bottom mount cartridge...engine pics confirm it is not a top mounted spin on anymore.
The upside of this refresh is that they probably didn't majorly screw anything up, as it's not an entirely new truck by any stretch of the imagination. The downside is, the changes they did make seem to be chasing marginal fuel economy gains by increasing the complexity of the engine, and making the styling more gaudy and brotruckish. It's probably enough that it buys them a couple years of not losing too much market share, and maybe that's all they are after right now, but I hope the next Tacoma update or redesign has more substance.
