2002 Toyota
Tacoma Xtracab 2.7L
I took receipt of an ordered 2002 Tacoma Extended Cab back in April, and
while I can’t say that it is a lemon, or that I have had all that much
trouble with it, the performance is far below that which I would have
expected from today’s technology. Let’s get one thing straight, I’m not a
power hog. I survived quite happily for twelve years with a VW diesel with
52 hp and still think that was a wonderful package, but what they have
done to this 2.7L engine is a travesty. The 2.7L, even at around 150hp, is
built more like a truck engine than it’s 3.4L V6 counterpart. It is, from
an engineering perspective, a “square” engine, meaning that it’s bore, in
diameter, equals it’s stroke, in length. “Undersquare” engines, those with
longer strokes than bores, have historically had a lot more low end
torque, and it was spread out over a wider power band. The power curve,
historically, would drop off much more gradually, whereas the “oversquare”
engines tended to produce more horsepower, but at the expense of being
confined to a usually higher and narrower RPM range. Toyota’s problem with
this combo is not the engine size at all, there just is “NO” power in the
upper half of the RPM range. It’s deplorable. All that happens under heavy
acceleration is that the engine turns faster, .... but the vehicle
literally does not accelerate any faster than it would have, had I stayed
in a lower gear. With all the technology that exists today, these people
should be hung from from the yardarms for stupidity. I had a ‘59 Impala
years ago, you know, the one with a barn sized trunk, with a 2bbl 283ci
engine on a 2 speed automatic transmission, of all things. That combo,
even back then got 19 mpg, which is what I average now with the Tacoma.
The 2.7L performs very nicely under light to moderate acceleration, but
when you need it, it just has absolutely nothing left to give you.
Frank
Long |
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