People have lots of deal breakers when it comes to purchasing a new vehicle. These can include model, make, year, price, and features. Recently, Puyallup Nissan (@puyallupnissan), a Nissan dealership in Washington State, posted a short video showing viewers a 2023 Toyota Tacoma with a potential deal breaker.
Viewed over 87,000 times, the video sparked a debate on what aspect of the Toyota Tacoma was really a deal breaker.
Why is it hard to sell a pre-owned Tacoma?
According to the car dealer, a customer had traded in a 2023 Toyota Tacoma with only 21,000 miles on it for a new Nissan. After moving the truck to the pre-owned lot, the dealership couldn’t get a buyer.
“We normally do pretty well with Tacomas,” the car dealer said. “We kept it on our pre-own lot, and we’ve shown it several times.”
He went on to explain that six potential buyers had turned down the vehicle due to the lack of jumper seats in the back. Unfortunately, he said it’s also impossible to install the missing seats.
“There’s nothing wrong with it,” the dealer said. “Just that it did not come with those back seats.”
What is the 2023 Toyota Tacoma like?
Car and Driver describes the 2023 Toyota Tacoma as a bestselling mid-size pickup truck with outdated equipment. According to the car site, the standard Tacoma comes with “a wimpy 159-hp inline-four engine and a six-speed automatic transmission.” The Tacoma also has the weakest powertrain of all the mid-size pickup trucks reviewed. Its prices range from $30,095-$49,530, which was the major change in 2023.
On top of the outdated equipment, Car and Driver reports that the interior of the truck is “of a different era” and cramped. Additionally, upgrades rely heavily on “hard plastics and minimalistic materials.” However, the Tacoma did get one upgrade—Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility—but, unlike some of its rivals, the Tacoma doesn’t offer a mobile hot spot.
@puyallupnissan #toyotarav4 #toyotatacoma #tacomasr5 ♬ original sound – Puyallup Nissan
Viewers say the deal breaker isn’t the back seats
Most viewers believed it was the price, not the lack of back seats that caused so many people to choose a different vehicle.
“Can almost promise it’s the price, not rear seats,” one said.
“It might be 31k you’re asking for. less than 3k more you can find a double cab TRD sport 4×4 with 5k less miles,” a second reasoned.
“It is always the price, most people would love not to have the jump seats in a king cab,” a third added.
Others claimed it was the model itself.
“That is under the base model tacoma, no keyless entry, sr extended cab, big woop it has 4wd… the people looking for those want a cheap truck and 4wd is just something else to break to them,” a user said.
“Yup back seat delete option! No rear speakers either. Mainly for commercial/delivery purposes,” another added.
“Market it to a company that could use it for a service truck,” a user suggested.
The Daily Dot reached out to Puyallup Nissan via TikTok Comments and contact form and to Toyota via email.
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