1st or 2nd generation Tacoma?

[TACO721]

i love my '07 DCSB. trd off road. one think is power and space in side over 1st gen. 2nd gen have storage behind and under the back seats witch is very nice. i have the auto trans but i shift it like an auto manuel all the time. ride hight on 2nd gen is a little higher along with towing compacite. one other thing i really like is the composite bed. no worrying about rust or having a bed liner put in. i have towed about 3k pounds and truck tows great even at 70mph. going up a hill.

i really don't see the D4D coming in the 3rd gen. the stupid usa (some time you love living here and some time you don't) says it's too dirty. if i could i would wait till 2014 comes out. it should be 3rd gen. but if i could not wait i'd get the '12 or '13.


edit: also the rocky mounts (i think thats the name) bolt to the rail system o the 2nd gen and can lock the bikes from the front forks. idk if 1st gen have that or not. i know they don't have the rail system.

 

[2025 deleted member]

You wanted power to get over mountains, so the 2nd gen is a better fit, more reliable than a supercharged 3.4

A plain 3.4 will do fine, but it sounds like you want the truck to drive uphill like the audi, and the 3.4 won't.

 

[agavelvr]

So I am looking for a new truck that I will use a lot in the mountains of Colorado. I wont be doing any crazy off-roading, but I will be doing a fair amount of 'back in there' jeep roads to get to where I want to mountain bike/camp.

I have an 04 doublecab tacoma that is loaded to the gills and just got back from a 5000+ mile trip, including many of the off highway mountain passes and technical trails in Colorado (writeup pending). Off highway, we have never run into a situation where I felt I needed more "power", and we do our fair share of tough trails. Fully loaded on the highway, we have to slow down to 55-65 mph on the big climbs. Not a problem for me. I feel my tacoma has more than enough power for off highway applications, but may be a little dissapointing for people who like to race on the mountain highways My mountain bikes fit in the back of the flip pac using a removeable fork mount rail.

So, if you are looking to get the most for your dollar, I'de go with the 1st gen and used the saved funds to outfit the truck and go on trips

 

[Jacket]

^ I agree. Buy whatever you can afford, accounting for maintenance and any upgrades you want to make. Both models have pros and cons, but are fully capable of doing whatever you need.

 

[Martinjmpr]

If you have the $$ I'd go for the 2nd gen.

First off, the 1st gen debuted in 1995, so what you are looking at (even with a 2004 model) is essentially a 17+ year old design that's had a few upgrades over the years. Vehicles have come a long way in the past 20 years and the 1st gen kind of shows its age when you compare it to a 2nd gen.

Second, The 4.0 is an awesome engine, and I don't know if this applies to the Taco, but I can tell you that my 4th gen 4runner with the 4.0/auto combo not only has more power than the 3.4/auto I had in my 3rd gen 4runner, it gets significantly better fuel economy, too. Not only that, my 4runner has a much bigger gas tank and combined with the better fuel economy, that gives it over 100 miles longer range. The 4.0 has another advantage over the 1st gen's 3.4: No timing belt.

BTW, here's an apples-to-apples MPG comparison: Back in June the wife and I took a trip from Denver to eastern Oregon to attend a teardrop trailer gathering. The trip was made in my 3rd gen 4runner (an equivalent to a 1st gen Taco) with a 3.4/auto combo. Pulling our 1200 lb trailer the 4runner really struggled, especially going over the mountains. Average MPG was between 13 and 15 and tended to skew towards the low end (as low as 11 or 12) when climbing a lot of mountains.

Then just a few weeks ago with my new-to-me 07 (which uses the same running gear as a 2nd gen Taco, 4.0 V6 and 5 speed auto) we took a trip down to Durango with the same teardrop trailer. Even though we went up and down 4 large passes (9500' or better), the 4runner managed to get about 18.5 mpg! And it had plenty of power - no struggling at all.

The third reason I'd go for a 2nd gen is that the prices on clean 1st gens are crazy. IMO they are way, way, waaaay too overvalued on the used market. I've seen double cab 1st gens with 150k on them go for $15k here in Colorado. IMO that's ridiculous for what you are getting, especially when you can get a nice 2nd gen for just a few thousand more if you shop around.

The only thing I don't like about the 2nd gen taco/4th gen 4runner is the push-button (actually, a little dial) transfer case. But I have to admit that I've never heard of any serious issues with it, and the truth is that electric 4wd switches have become the norm in most modern 4x4 vehicles so that's really not an issue.

 

[Clutch]

1st gen with a 4.0/6 speed manny swap...:snorkel: