What Do You Like the Least About Your First Gen?

Crappy paint with failed clearcoat - red or green…take your pick.

 

I'm with ya' on that!!

Good looking truck though... I pestered my FIL for YEARS to sell me my '00 'cuz I liked the look so much.







The 2.5 Gen ain't no uggo.

 

When I got my 06 DC the dealer told me Toyota was making a push for the Tundra to become the number one truck in the US. There were plenty on the lot, a good dealer discount, and then a $5000 cash rebate. It was cheaper than the Tacoma's if I'm not mistaken




as at least one other said, the turn radius. I describe mine as like trying to turn a cruise ship. I was shocked when I got into a friend of mine's new four-wheel-drive tundra a few years ago and it turned on a dime


brakes could've been much improved

the only other thing I would enjoy since I've already added Apple CarPlay / android mobile is with my new car I've gotten spoiled with the corner sensors and cameras. It's more overkill on that car, but would be handy on my truck

Edit: i'm a little jelly of the new trucks with the tailgate assist and automatic unlocking & opening with their key fob

oh, and damn steps on the sides / running boards to be able to get to the truck bed. The way they are designed is hard for even aftermarket ones to have a step

 

Locking tailgate with the fob would be awesome.

 

if Toyota made my truck brand new today I would pay Tacoma price for it lol

 

I have the SR5, and I don't have an external temperature display. If I want to know the temperature I have to drive by a bank!

 

I bought that pop and lock kit, but ran into a few problems with it. Someone said to take out the spring so I've gotta go back and try. But I think my problem was it was slightly rubbing on the internals of the tailgate, which is a pretty easy fix

I had forgotten about it. I had so many other projects going on with the truck.




oh and that reminds me. I wanna put one of those little soring thingies back there like what is on the doors so I will know if the tailgate is not closed. Wasn't a big deal until I got a cover. But now you can't see the tailgate from the cab. Should be easy enough to wire in with the existing door wires

 

They have these things called cellphones where you can either ask either Siri or Bixby what the temperature is outside.

 

As already mentioned the 'School Bus Turning Radius'.
The Secondary Air Injection System pisses me off . . . more so that Toyota never corrected the parts that fail. But that's just me.
I also wish the 'fender flares' were attached with clips instead of holes in the fender . . . I'd pull them off if there wasn't square holes left on the fenders.

One thing I 'DO' like on my DC is how 'deep' the bed is top to bottom . . . with the cab high shell on, there's a lot of room back there, especially for a 6 foot bed.

 

The door switches simply complete a ground when they're depressed- there's just one wire going to them. You could tap into one of the door wires and run a wire to the tailgate. OEM switch, boom. That would be super cool.

 

Wow, not a single person has the same pet peeve as I do.
From day one there is one single thing I have hated about the FGT. I have driven them 470K miles so far and I still hate it.
The steering ratio.
The FGT is the first vehicle I've owned that had rack and pinion steering. I hate it. It's a "white knuckle experience" to drive these trucks. you turn the steering wheel one degree and you're headed for oncoming traffic or the ditch. I have to plant my left knee on the door panel and my left wrist against my knee so that if I blink or sneeze I won't get in a wreck.
The problem with rack and pinion steering is there is no way for engineers to put more reduction in the ratio, unless they put a counter gear on it and that would be one more place for slack to develop. One thing I don't understand is why they made the steering arms so short. When I was replacing the lower ball joints I was thinking about cutting, extending and re-welding the steering arms a couple inches to improve the ratio.
All the other complaints in this thread are easy for me to live with.
Whenever someone asks me how I like FGT's I tell them they're great trucks except for the go cart steering.

 

Dude, what are you doing? A buck twenty on the interstate? I’ve never had that issue but I’m not an aggressive driver, so I guess I’m not sensitive to it. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

Do you think your steering sensitivity could be related to alignment? I've always appreciated the accurate steering on our trucks, but because the isn't any slop in the steering components. I haven't experienced twitchy steering at high speed.

When I rebuilt the suspension on my other car I got the alignment pretty close just with a tape measure. But it was terrifying to drive- just like how you have described. It didn't drive well until I got a professional alignment done. You could also have an alignment shop increase your caster or decrease your toe to help the truck stay straight or reduce steering sensitivity.

 

Can’t say I’ve experienced or appreciated the same in mine. Steering is car like in mine. Simple, smooth and direct. Just enough power steering assist at lower speeds, not too much at highway speeds.

 

The steering for me is great. Weighted well, tracks straight, returns to center and the tires wear perfect. It's never had an alignment since new. I'm always afraid the goobers might screw it up if I have it done. Maybe at the next tire time.

 

i'm guessing you need more castor?

 

Our banks here haven't had that in 30 years or more

 

I have owned 3 FG Tundras and driven them 470K miles or so. Two I bought new, the other I had aligned. They all have the same exact problem, the ratio. Most of my driving is interstate at 80 MPH, but I do lots of mountain driving on winding roads too.
I sure miss real steering boxes. Before rack and pinion, we could adjust the radio and heater or even grab things off the passenger side floor and when we got our eyes back on the road, we were still in the same lane. Now it's intense, white knuckle driving, very stressful.
I suppose you have to grow up with good steering to appreciate how bad it is today. I drove vehicles with regular steering boxes for 40 years before I drove anything with rack and pinion go-cart steering.

 

Brakes. Lack of audio controls on steering wheel.

 

I actually think the MPG is great . I get about 17mpg in it. That's a lot more than my previous truck (8 - 9 mpg).

 

I know it wasn't much of a reality back in 2006, but a BluTooth ready stereo would have been nice.

 

The fancy models had steering wheel controls.

 

It was available. There was a nav option with hands free for our trucks, either 2004+ or maybe ‘05. You can buy the head units online at auction sites, but it may only be available for non-JBL? Anyway, it’s plug and play for the core unit but there are some add-ons you need to integrate phone mic etc. A few of the heads have gone up for sale in the marketplace on here. I can get the part number if you want.

EDIT: Actually, maybe it was JBL only. Not sure. But the part numbers I looked up against my truck vin are:

86120-0C170 (JBL)
86120-34020 (JBL)

 

Lack of tow capacity is the only thing making me consider selling it. I knew it going in, but a 8 or 9k tow cap would open things up to mid 20s single engine bay boats

Turning radius is like an aircraft carrier, as mentioned

Truck is otherwise amazing and I am a fanboy now.

 

Any idea if this would work in an '04 DC? My buddy who has one wants a new radio. It's probably not worth it cost-wise, but he's a big OEM guy. Figured I'd ask.

 

“Steering box” pitman arm systems wander all over the road. Rack and pinion is laser direct. I would have your alignment and steering components checked.

 

Steering boxes only wander if they are worn out. I have bought 2 brand new FGT's and they both had the same problem, so did the used one before and after alignment.

 

My rack and pinion is 25 years old and drives great. Every pitman arm vehicle I’ve ever driven has wandered and had an inch of steering wheel play at least.

 

From the factory? Rear brakes 100%.

Other than that, the lack of aftermarket.

Oh, and the front suspension design/wheel well design. Rubbing 33s with a 2" lift is garbage.

 

I hate that Toyota has in so many words said they're targeting suburban America and as family vehicles. I believe that was in their announcement of the latest redesign.

it would not be hard to at least make the design easily able to work with third-party products and mods even if they didn't want to offer it themselves