Will the Turbo engine last (reliability / longevity)?

[Kielly]

Idk man, I've seen turbo F150s reach 300-400k easy. Body was rough but engine still running fine. If Ford can do it, surely Toyota can.

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[Tacosyeg]

It's hard to say without an apples-to-apples comparison of two engines with similar components. You can engineer a gasoline engine to be more durable by using better components in the engine. According to Toyota, they have done that with the Tacoma's engine relative to the same engine in other Toyota products. The use case of a truck, specifically towing, will put more strain on the engine. Likewise, diesel engines are typically engineered with more durable components because of the types of workloads that they are used for - large trucks, worksites, towing, etc. One also has to consider gasoline vs diesel at a fundamental level - diesel is self-lubricating because of its viscosity relative to gasoline. Gasoline is more of a solvent and an acid - a poor lubricant, which can also burn away at engine components over time. However, these effects can be mitigated by over-engineering components.

Another consideration beyond engine operating temperatures is the typical complexity between gasoline and diesel engines. Gasoline engines typically have 25-30% more components than diesel engines because of chains and belt systems. Again, these can be engineered to be more durable, but more things can go wrong in a gasoline engine. Of course, turbochargers add more components, but the same can be said for a diesel engine.

One thing to consider is that diesels typically have greater maintenance costs over a long period of ownership. Note that this doesn't mean the frequency of maintenance is higher but that the increased durability of components results in costlier repairs and an increase in required engine oil. As we have seen, Toyota can produce gasoline engines that withstand time and mileage. It all comes down to how they are designed and engineered and the components' quality.

As far as making a prediction, without data, we are just throwing darts at a wall. Toyota has done extensive testing on this engine and has internal data that seems to support its mantra of having durability. We will soon find out whether that scales up to 150-200k trucks a year.

 

[TacoTanium]

I'm a little skeptical too, we can only wait. So what's the oldest turbo 4 out there?

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