Thinking about buying a toyota

[PaintRock]

I love Toyotas, mine have been good to me, especially my Tundra (knock on wood). That being said, if I were in your situation, I would keep the Jeep, especially while trying to get through college. Around here, Jeep Wranglers hold their value really well and everybody wants one for a second vehicle. You wrote it hasn't been that unreliable, and you have been able to fix the minor issues that have popped up. If it were me, I'd keep it and baby it along until I graduated and had enough money to actually upgrade, instead of rolling the dice on another unknown 15 year old vehicle, even if it is a Toyota...

 

[marathonracer]

I was in a similar situation when I was in college my tj was killing me it always seemed like there was something wrong with it. I ended buying a Tacoma as soon as I graduated. It was a huge upgrade in comfort (soft top only on mine) and functionality for me (needed a bed desperately). Of course you have to pay the Toyota tax but that Tacoma was just as capable off road with 33 km2s and the elocker as my tj was with swampers. I put 130k miles (bought it wit 50k) on that truck pretty much all on logging roads and off-road (huge improvement over the tj on the higher speed haul roads) and aside from regular maintenance only broke a rear leaf and had a ujoint go... That's it. Super rugged truck. Only reason we got rid of it was space for our growing family... We ended up with a 1st gen dcab 4.7 tundra.

 

[WillBeck]

I was in your same boat.

I've had two Broncos (a 95 and a 96) and two jeeps (a 97 Cherokee and a 95 ZJ Orvis).

The Bronco's were beasts, great desert toys, and honestly not too much else. They ate gas, and were terrible on tight trails. TTB is still the greatest suspension creation of all time IMO.

The Cherokee was mint, and i regret selling it. It had a lot of miles, but was previously owned by the military at Pendleton, so it received regular maintenance whether it needed it or not. However, the interior rattled and was made of soft plastic that bent and broke if you looked at it wrong. The 4.0 was a fantastic motor. Easy to work on, and more than powerful enough for the stock tire size.

The Grand was a mistake. Bought it with long arms, 32's and Bilstein 5100's. Figured it wouldn't need any work at all. But; it had 222k on the clock (ran like it was new) and just needed some TLC. had lived a hard life as an off road toy, and after my second Jeep, i knew the solid front axle just wasn't my thing.

Enter the '00 Tacoma Reg Cab 4x4, manual trans, transfer, locks, windows, hubs, you name it, it's manual. All it has is AC, and it blows ice cold. The Tacoma has 170k, and drives likes it's brand new. Runs smoother than my 2008 Pontiac Solstice GXP with 53k. The interior doesn't rattle, doesn't squeak, no parts are missing, clean clean clean. Paid $7500 for it.

You were lucky with the TJ, but the Taco is honestly so nice because everyone makes parts for it. And they all bolt on. Rarely does anything need to be welded, bent, modified, etc. With the 2.7, it's slow, but speed is what my roadster is for.

With the nice IFS, driving is easy. I don't get exhausted on long trips sawing at the wheel, and as soon as she masters stick, even my GF would feel comfortable driving it.

If you can live without a truck bed (the most glorious thing ever after a bunch of SUV's) then i would look at 4-runners. Usually owned by soccer moms or older people, generally you can find them cheap, with low miles, and serviced almost exclusively at the dealer. Toyota just attracts that kind of person lol.

Sorry for the novel...