Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Toyota Tacoma help, please

huh?

For what its worth, my 2002 Tundra with 145k miles on it is twice the truck the 2010 Ford F150 with 40k that I have been driving at work for the last two years. The Tundra, while not a Tacoma, is very, very similar under the sheetmetal, and not much bigger.

All I can say is if you find one you like, buy it right then because it won't be there tomorrow

I am on my second one. The first was a '97 v6 5 speed extended cab 4x4. Wrecked it in 2004 with 127,000 miles on it. I then bought a new 2004 v6 auto 4 door 4x4. I am still driving it and although I wouldn't mind having a new one for the extra size, I don't know if I will ever wear this one out. I only have 81,000 miles on it so I guess it is not really broken in yet. I liked the longer bed and 5 speed of the 97 but much prefer the 4 door version for practicality. I have towed a trailer and side by side as well as a small drift boat a few times with the '04, but that is it. No problems towing but if I was going to do some serious towing, I would prefer a Tundra.

My wife and I have always been huge Toyota fans. Can't go wrong with them. Check out the link for THE tacoma towing pic. Pretty much sums up BS in one pic.

THE Taco towing pic

No a joke is buying a GM pickup , hardly taking it anywhere rough and having it fall apart like a Jalopy.

Kind thanks for the input, gents. I appreciate it.

Actually I think that was a Tundra with 380+ horsepower that did that.

Leighton,

There's an '06 Taco, Crew Cab, 4wd, V6, silver in color that has some very minor LR body damage and 88K miles on it for $14K on a lot about 12 miles from here...

Ed

The way Toyota keeps designing the Tacomas bigger and bigger, it won't be long before they can pull the shuttle, too.

Ed

Prior to 2000, you could get manual hubs. Those trucks coupled with a manual tranny and a V6 had a lot more power than the automatic hub trucks and especially the automatic hub trucks with an auto tranny. All V6 trucks came with the same 4.10 gears in the diff. Those are too tall for the automatics...If I bought one of those I would regear to 4.56.

I was in a similar situation as you and ended up just buying a new '13. Whenever I found a decent used one, by the time I called about it, it would be sold even though the asking price was nearly the same money as I paid new. I don't tow very much, but if I were doing a lot of it, I would seriously consider upgrading to a Tundra.

My 2008 4WD TRD 4 door ( V6 auto) gets 20 mpg highway but only 17 around town. It has 115,000 miles on it and I have only changed fluids,brake pads,plugs, and one battery. I tow a small trailer with a Polaris Ranger on it from time to time--mileage drops to around 14 or so when towing.

I am really happy with my Tacoma and plan to put at least 300k on it before I replace it. Hope you find a good one KG !

Mine is an 07 double cab. 127,000 trouble free miles. Other than brakes, a battery, tires, and oil changes I just drive it. It has the 4.0 V6 auto and 4X4. Is rated at 6,500 lbs towing. I don't pull that much, but I can pull a popup that weighs about 3,000 in the mountains without straining.

Mine has the TRD off road package and it is very capable off road. The suspension, limited slip rear end with rear locker keep it moving.

I get 18ish mpg with my normal driving which is a mix of 4 lane, city, and rural 2 lane driving. Strictly interstate driving is 20mpg.

When I bought mine I found it a better deal to buy new. I paid $27,000 for mine and KBB still shows it worth about $18,000-$19,000

Short answer, it is simply the best truck I've ever owned.

Didn't own a Tacoma but I owned a 1985 1 ton w/ a 22RE motor. I sold it 205000 miles on it. Truck was an absolute animal. I regularly pulled a 18' that weighed 2000 lbs with no problem.

Chevy aint even in the same league. Ford at least has a prayer.

You're right about that. I've owned four Toyota trucks and four Fords. I drive a F250 at the moment. My small Toyotas would go places (and back) that you would never dream of taking any Ford that didn't qualify for monster truck status. I don't talk about the others.You know what Momma said...

one of my girl friends has a early 2000 model, original owner v6 standard, she might be talked into selling it.

I'm good with the Ford now Rog...I'm either towing a boat, utv or car hauler with an old Toyota 4x4 wherever I go!

sorry Pat, that was for Leighton used the quick reply.

Yeah? Hmm. Well, that's within my budget, which is pretty much $20K. Got any vacation time to burn? I'll wire you the cash and pay your gas and tolls out and your plane fare back, plus feed and water you and bring you out to kill ducks. Only one hitch: you stop in Idaho and grab my TDB and bring it along as well, please? Let me know.

As I have this thing about debt (don't like to owe money to anyone so don't if at all possible), I buy with cash for my vehicles. So, while I'd dig a new Taco, have a budget I need to stick to. Gotta' behave a spell after buying the house. I almost pulled the trigger on a '06 4Runner with a V8 last week. Went back two days later and it was gone. But that's OK, I think the Taco's my best route for what I'm planning on doing.

El T: no joke about going anywhere. I've been damned impressed by what they can do when running around some pretty nasty backwoods terrain in a couple that buddies owned (these were pretty bare bones, old generation Tacos). Places I am positive a full sized American jobbie could not have gone. Not always about horses and 'bigger is better'. Most times, but not allus...

Thanks again for the input, y'all.

My 2000 Taco has over 165K and is fine. However, were I buying a rig to drive 80+ miles per day commuting, and only using it as a pickup occasionally I'd buy something else. I only use a pickup because I need it for my job... Pickups strictly for sport are a silly idea... gas mileage sucks, and the ride is not as good as a car.