If you're at low elevations the engine isn't that bad. With that said, mine came a quart low on transmission fluid, they've already had two TSB transmission updates to try and get it to shift properly, and it still sucks. Can't decide what gear it wants to be in, if there's any headwind it downshifts to 5th or even 4th (up high at elevation) and just stays there. Going up hills it thinks it has more power than it does and tries to go into 4th only to realize it can't do it, shifts down to 3rd, says I got this, goes back to 4th, can't do it, 3rd too easy, 4th... repeat repeat repeat. The TSB updates have helped that, but is still there. Even though it has more peak HP than before, it has less usable power. It makes 278 at 6000rpms (redline), but who really drives at redline? Makes its peak torque higher than before too. So if you want to drive it like a sports car and rev the hell out of it, it has good power. But it is a truck, I like to drive my trucks lower in RPMs, and down low it doesn't make [bleep] for power.
You can read a lot on TacomaWorld, but a better indicator is to go to the 4Runner forum (there's a link from TW) and see just how many people have ditched their 2016 and 2017 Tacomas already.
Supposedly the 3.5 is good, IF, you want to spend $800 for the tune that is talked about on TW. It improves HP, TQ, and the shifting issues the stock powertrain has. If you do buy one, have the dealership to a manual check of the transmission fluid, not with the Techstream, and make sure it has the most up to date TSB for the transmission. Supposedly there's another one coming, but that's been said by Toyota for months.
