Thinking about buying a toyota

[OutdoorAZ]

My last truck was a 98 tacoma with the 5 speed and it was bulletproof until a heep took it out. Had 180k on it with no major work done. I bent a lbj bracket and had one tps sensor go out which didn't make it so i couldn't drive it just gave mea check engine light.

Bought another tacoma 2000 4x4 v6 with 205k on it. Same think as the other one no major problems and it feels like it rolled out of the factory yesterday because the PO took care of it impeccably well. The stock suspension is worn out but a billie/dakar lift is on the way this one is going to stay fairly close to stock until i get through college then the fun will begin.

Short story my first tacoma was awesome and i didn't hesitate to get another!

Edit: check out tacomaworld if you want to find out just about everything about these trucks. There are a few members on there with well over 300k miles on their trucks.

 

[TexasGuidedExpeditions]

Is it me, or everyone that has owned a "sheep" moving over to Toyota!? Guilty as charged for me, I won't go back to the light weight side.

My nothing worth pennies say buy a Tacoma, I love my 4runner, but I am also for DP rig.

 

[cdthiker]

I have both a 4 runner and a tacoma. The taco is a 12 reg cab 5 speed 4x4 and the runner is a 95 with the 3.slo and an auto.
The taco is a great truck and I have put 60 k on it since new no real problems a few quirks but then again it came with a payment.
The runner I dropped cash for and have had it for a year and a Half. The 3.o is a challanging motor. It eats head gaskets for lunch. mine is gettign ready to hit 190k and Needs it done again. it has a blown cv boot and the power steering is going out. It leaks oil but at the end of the day just wont die all of the way. I know that if i dropped the cash to fix the heads it would just keep working. At this point it is the in town back up winter rig and it works just fine for that.

Long story short? anything will run as long as you spend money. Any toyota motor will get high miles if it has been taken care of and people spend money on it. I know the 2.7 in my taco will see a lot of miles but it has been taken care of since day one.

My advice, unless you have time and money to spend stay away from something that is old. Sure you can make it relibial but how much is that going to cost? see my 4 runner for example.

 

[Abe Froman]

Keep the Jeep.

 

[Dwill817]

Lemme say this since we both live in the same area:

I graduated May 2013 and for graduation I decided that I would finance myself a truck with the help of my parents credit (read: I make payments, but they get the loan).. We had planned this out for some time & I started really looking for Toyota's around March.. I set myself a $10,000 budget.

I could NOT find a 1st gen Tacoma that met my standard for that price & I searched a lot further than Gadsden & B'Ham.. I went and looked at a few, but they looked like they had been run off of a cliff at some point in their life.

I also spend a great deal of time looking at & test driving Jeeps. You have a roughly $7000 Jeep.

The hard part is taking that $7000 and finding a Toyota Tacoma worth buying. I doubt you will, unless you want a single cab or something that has been abused.

NOW, you could very EASILY find a 3rd gen 4runner or 3rd gen 22re Pickup for that $7000 and have a nice Toyota with mod money left over.

But you could keep your Jeep and continue to fix it. Eventually, you'll have replaced everything and it'll be like new.

Just food for thought since I had recently been in the market for roughly the same vehicle.

You could buy an old Toyota like mine & enjoy life in the slow lane. Mine has been reliable, but requires a little preventative maintenance to keep it that way because of its age. Still the best vehicle purchase I've made.

 

[Subspd]

4runner will be in your price range Tacoma resale is out of control. I bought and sold my 06' taco and only lost 3k AFTER adding 60k miles to it! Amazing... With the 4runner you should be able to find a mall cruiser that shuttled kids around and was maintained tacos in your price range are going to be VERY used.

 

[BulletHead]

My 98 4runner, 3VZ-FE, (bought new) lasted ~170k miles, only because it was totaled in an accident. I did 3k oil changes, and only thing I ever did maintenance wise was oil changes, brake pads/rotors, starter rebuild, new e-brake line and on 2nd set of tires.
My 03 4runner, 2UZ-FE, (bought new) lasted roughly 80k miles, just regular maintenance. It was totaled in accident as well.
My 07 4runner, 2UZ-FE, (bought new) was sold after I bought a LC.

I have to stop letting family borrow my vehicles, resulted in totaled 4runners. But hey, they all walked away from it.

 

[Paddy]

Yeah get a 4 runner. I wish I had. My 2012 taco has taken lots of $ and mods to make it useable for me. The prices of them are ridiculous too.

 

[mclovinal]

So it seems that the 3rd gens in my price range have very high miles, but there are a number of local 2nd gens with lower miles in my area. Do you folks think something like a 3rd gen with 277k on the clock would be trouble? (I hope I could get him down a few hundred since it does have a metric crapton of miles on it..) It seems like y'all have had good luck with 4runners even into the higher miles... but i'm fine to work on it some, just as long as i'm not sinking hundreds of dollars into it every time I turn around and I can trust it to get me home. And also have enough space for some camping gear and more than one person. The other option seems to be an older one with less miles. This one is 26 years old, but only has 160k on it.

My question for those smarter than me, would you go with a newer truck with more miles, or an older truck with less miles?

Of course, option C is to say screw adulthood, practicality, and say "I'm 20 years old, I need to have fun before I have real responsibilities."

 

[Dwill817]

I'd buy the 97 with 277k before I'd buy the 94 with that 3.0 V6.. you don't want to go there..

I've been eye balling that cruiser for awhile.. Keep looking.. There are better ones (read: less rust) in our area for good prices..

 

[Arktikos]

If the head gasket has been done on the '94, the low miles and new tranny would have me choose it over the '97. High miles plus a lift and big tires are not good for the front end and tranny of the '97.

 

[Dwill817]

If the head gasket has been done on the '94, the low miles and new tranny would have me choose it over the '97. High miles plus a lift and big tires are not good for the front end and tranny of the '97.

I agree with that also..

My brother has the 3.0 and when it's running good, it really is a great motor IMO.. but when it goes.. it goes big..

 

[OutdoorAZ]

I bought my 2000 with 205k on the 3.4 for 6.5k it was well taken care of and never saw dirt. I would look around some more and consider traveling to pick up a good one. Check out forums as well, you can find good deals pretty regularly there and a lot of times people will list vehicles cheaper on the forum than on Craigslist

 

[silver60th]

Just a thought (and I don't know if you are set on a 4Runner) but you can get the same drive train with the 3.4 in the earlier 2000-2004 Tundras. The are roughly the same size as the newer Tacomas and don't seem to hold value as well (read: you can buy them cheaper with less miles). You may also find the very very rare 3.4/5 speed/manual transfer case model.

 

[Dwill817]

There just aren't many 1st gen Tundra's in our area.. I've been planning on buying a 4.7/4x4 for a tow rig for awhile, but have yet to find one.. I've actually only test drove one and it was crappy..