D-cab owners opinion

[DaveInDenver]

a co-worker found out the same thing you did about the DC tacos, hard to find and expensive, he finally gave up trying to find one at a decent price and bought a Camry instead. I have a 04 4x4 DC taco because we needed the extra room for three people and a dog. I traded off an extended cab Dodge Dakota for the Taco, my son outgrew the back seat of the Dakota.

This is what we have going. My truck is XtraCab and our current daily driver is a Civic. The combination allows both to be good at what each is good at and neither is a compromise. Plus my wife and any passengers don't complain about the car being hard to get into, loud, dirty, always up on jack stands or whatever. That goes a very long way towards marital bliss...

For me a 6' bed is far more important than cabin space. BTW, let's get the wording right:

7' = long bed (available 1979 thru 1992 in the US, always regular cabs)
6' = standard bed (most trucks and all XtraCabs have this length)
4.5' = short bed (Double Cab only)

I'm apparently in the minority since like the XtraCab. It's a good balance between usable bed size and decent sized cab. Depending on your outfit, that might or might not be the right choice.

I find that a XtraCab with much of the interior removed in the back of the cab provides a nice mix of useful space inside and bed storage for two people. And that's the rub, if you assume that the XtraCab is just for two people, then the build-out makes more sense. If you ever plan on using the back of the XtraCab for people, then it will seem very cramped. But if you go in with the assumption that a two-door cab, no matter the length, is only for two people, then you remove the back jump seats and maybe build a custom box to replace the storage box on the floor, you will find that you can configure your inside very effectively and still have tons of bed space. If you ever plan on carrying more than 2 people, then seriously consider the Double Cab.

 

[asteffes]

He's looking for an 01-04. Long bed wasn't an option.

I was talking about an extended cab/long bed versus a double cab/short bed. Those apply to several years of recent Tacomas.

 

[beerhiker]

Thanks for all the great opinions!
Im heading out today to go look at one, 100miles away.
04 Dcab TRD 28K miles, at a dealer, we"ll see.

 

[SLOwag]

beerhiker - Good luck in your search, I'm encounterring the same wild prices for the '00 - '04 Dcabs, I'm sure it's a testament to their demand and desireability as evidenced by the previous posts, hold out for the Dcab. As for me, I've grown impatient and will be test driving the the '06 six speed today (switching out my '00 xtra cab for the Dcab).

BTW - been lurking for a while, great forum with polite, informative banter and great exchange of ideas across the many brands of vehicles.

 

[kcowyo]

Sold my TJ 6 weeks ago and searching for 01-04 low mileage (under 50k) D-Cab Tacoma, Im having trouble finding one for under $21k, I swear some dealers are selling them for more than what they cost new

I checked with my buddy at the local Toyota dealership here. They have a stock '04 Dcab, Silver, with no TuRD package with 22K miles for $28K. He told me they probably own it for around $24K -$25K.

When I asked why it was priced so high he told me that dealers are paying over retail for any Toyota Dcabs that go through the auction in Denver and Billings. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it sounds like under 50K for under $21K isn't going to happen around here. So if you find one, you better JUMP on it! :jumping:

Apparently somebody bought one, dressed it out from Demello, Donohoe, Deaver, ARB and EZ Awn. Now everybody wants one and due to supply and demand, prices have gone through the roof!


OK, I made that last part up. Good luck with your shopping! - :beer:

 

[3 DOGS]

Just FYI. I searched AutoTrader.com and found a bunch of 03 and 04 Tacos, DC, 4wd, some TRD some not. The most expensive was $26,995 and down from there.
I'm sure you've looked there already but if not check it out.
Happy hunting.

 

[The Swiss]

As for me, I've grown impatient and will be test driving the the '06 six speed today (switching out my '00 xtra cab for the Dcab).

I love my 6 speed DC!:victory: For what the used Tacoma DC are selling for, you can (almost) get a new one and you have the peace of mind of factory warranty.

My clutch went out at 4,373 miles, dealership replaced the broken pressure plate, now the clutch is jerking. In two weeks, the will replace the entire clutch again. It's all covered by the warranty, just the hassle + they managed to scratch my driver door which they have to repaint now.

I hope it was just a bad clutch I got. I have not heard of a lot of people complaining about clutch problems so I'm hopefull. Still, I would maybe consider an automatic...

 

[Trainwreck]

Ya, ---I looked for a few months before I found mine.-----many times one sold right out from under me, in a day!-----ended up getting an 01 4x4 for a little over 19k before tax and stuff.------65K-----not bad for the wait.

Love the truck-----------did a deckplate mod now its got jump!

 

[beerhiker]

well the one I looked at on Saturday is just to much $$$$ . The search continues.

 

[T-roy]

bit the bullet

I just purchased a 04 tacoma double cab 4wd TRD(sticker). Not cheap, but I love the 04 tacoma! Sticker price was 28k and bought for 24K, ouch! I like the low 29k miles and the extended warantee. It only took 8 hour and if I could have stayed 2 more hours I might have gotten it a couple grand cheaper, but I was getting hungry. Next time I'll bring a lunch.

 

[beerhiker]

T-roy, damn I figured I could get these dealers to drop a couple thou, but the one I looked ar Sat they wanted $25.9K, they dropped to $25.4K, a whopping $500! So I called today thinking they may drop the price since i am interested, nope, no deal.
Found a 03 going to check out tomorrow, just in on trade this weekend.

 

[T-roy]

Well, I know they can only have the used vehicles on the lot for a certain amount of time and then they get auctioned off to another dealer. The truck I bought had a small dent in the bumper and some mug under the truck so you could tell it had been wheeling in the past. I'm going to change the bumper and the truck has an extended powertrain warantee so I didn't mind the wear and tear. I'm assuming the truck had been on the lot for awhile because of those reasons so they were eager to sell it. Plus, it was way over priced in the beginning. Oh, and no rear locker, but it did come with 32" BFG M/T's and the factory TRD spacer lift which will be replaced very soon. I didn't get a great deal, but these 4wd DC tacomas are hard to find. Maybe that means I made a good vehicle choice.

 

[david despain]

I was in the same boat over the last 6 months or so. looked around for 3 or 4 months on autotrader and the used lots etc. for a 4x4 DC and the dealers just would not lower the prices. i ran into that same "we'll give a deal on it and knock off 500$" i found a couple with reasonable miles and they were all around 23-24 thousand $. that was just too much monies for me to spend on a 3 or 4 year old compact truck. it was the case all around this area of CO,UT,AZ...so i looked at nissan. I had liked the looks and features i had seen on the comercials and ads and after i saw what mark (articulate) had done with his in the first few weeks he had it i knew it was the best option for me. i had wanted to buy used to save money but ended up leasing a new double cab nismo frontier and i feel i made a good choice for me. as far as double cab vs. extended; i had a 95 f150 ext cab and i love my D-cab. there wasnt a good way to get to the back section and it was akward to try to get stuff in and out. now i just open the door and BAM its right there. down side to this is there isnt nearly as much aftermarket bolt on options for stuff for my truck like there is for the toy. good luck

 

[Scott Brady]

Wow, I guess resale is doing ok... I paid 23k for my SR5 TRD when brand new.

 

[beerhiker]

$23k brand new!!!! oh that kills me.
Hows this...03 D-cab TRD 58k miles, price $26K!!!!! its a joke

David D; yes Ive actually looked at the 06 Frontier Nismo, when they have their "sales events", they can be had for $22-23K. I drove the X-terra this past winter and I loved the way the engine pulled on that thing, much power and super smooth. The thing that stops me is the aftermarket for Frontier seems non existant compared to Toy, and body clearance doesnt appear to be as good as the Toyota. Tell me if Im wrong.
When I look at these I try to think which can do moderate trails in Colo and Utah with the least modifications.