phsycle
Adventurer
Me, too. Although I wish there was a simple bolt-on xfer case with lower gears. i.e. Rubicon 4:1.
How are those newer Tacos working out?
- Thread starter Rivers2run
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Me, too. Although I wish there was a simple bolt-on xfer case with lower gears. i.e. Rubicon 4:1.
Clutch
<---Pass
Sports are $34-35K here...so that is... $37-38K OTD? By the time you do tax, registration, etc...
https://www.edmarktoyota.com/new-in...ayment-panel-paymentLease&saveFacetState=true
It always comes down to, the new trucks don't really do anything all that much different than what I already have...other than buying piece of mine for being new. Probably better off just waiting until retirement...and then just get something bigger that will haul/tow a decent size camper or trailer.
phsycle
Adventurer
Yeah, you're married to your Tacoma. Till death do you part.
That Tacoma seems to be loaded. You don't need Premium or Tech packages. Predator steps or tonneau covers. Here is one next state over with minimal options. You could get it for even more off:
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/s...=false&filtersModified=true#listing=216932575
Clutch
<---Pass
Yeah, you're married to your Tacoma. Till death do you part.
That Tacoma seems to be loaded. You don't need Premium or Tech packages. Predator steps or tonneau covers. Here is one next state over with minimal options. You could get it for even more off:
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/s...=false&filtersModified=true#listing=216932575
yeah I just did a quickie google half-assed search of the dealer that I drive past darn near every day.
All Toyota needs to do is....offer a ACLB V6 manual in the SR package...speaking of how these trucks are getting too complex.
Don't see me giving up the old girl any time real soon. It still puts a smile on my face.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I've said it before, you know that's why I bought my truck. I really liked my '91 and still miss it, regret selling it as you know. It's one of a couple of vehicles that I will never forget. And why would I? It was absolutely central to my life for 15 years, good and bad.
Thing is I have actually come to like this new truck fine and I never realized how much the old truck dictated things. I mean like how much longer it took to get places and how much more tired I was getting there if it required long pulls. Then the fact that things were just wearing out, I don't think twice now about jumping in the truck to drive across country. Which is how I felt about my 1991 when I bought it.
They are just tools. If the truck does what you need, then no reason to give a second thought about continuing to use it. If it no longer meets your requirements then you have to do something with the reality that is. I thought long and hard about rebuilding the 1991. Took me a year of planning and thinking to conclude that while I enjoy wrenching that was not a realistic solution to my do-all needs.
I had to buy a newer truck to achieve the reliability and capability again. Sitting here now I realize I'm often too stubborn and thick headed to see the forest for the trees.
My reservations early on were mainly that it wasn't Imelda the Wonder Hilux, the standard I unfairly held it against. Not because of some perceived mechanical deficiency. Truth be told, this 2nd gen is twice the truck the old one was on trails and does work better when asked. Seriously, pulling a heavily loaded 6x12 UHaul 300 miles between Ft. Collins and Junction, not in a million years with the '91. I'd still be climbing Vail Pass. Once I let it go there was a moment when it became Donna the Taco doing what they're supposed to do - making new memories.
Maybe it'll be more finicky, maybe it won't last as long. I dunno, I don't care. Here and now it's doing the job I'm asking of it.
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phsycle
Adventurer
yeah I just did a quickie google half-assed search of the dealer that I drive past darn near every day.
All Toyota needs to do is....offer a ACLB V6 manual in the SR package...speaking of how these trucks are getting too complex.
Don't see me giving up the old girl any time real soon. It still puts a smile on my face.
Yup, if they had a DCSB SR in a manual, I'd have gone that route for sure. Would've saved me about $3-4k. Ah well. Some of the techy stuff is pretty nice.
I could definitely see myself in a 3/4 or 1 ton after retirement. For some reason, Ram really piques my interest. 35" - 37" tires and hit the less traveled roads up to Alaska. Too bad Ram doesn't seem to offer Access cabs anymore.
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jasmtis
Member
Can't forget this. I felt the same way about my 1991 before buying my 3rd gen but it came down to deciding that I like skiing, exploring and always getting to work on time better than wrenching.
I like wrenching too so when I found myself with some budget and a garage I bought my Rover for some old-school fun and it demonstrated this point all too well this past weekend. I was driving it around Friday night and found myself thinking about how much better I feel driving an old-school truck than I do in my Tacoma, how much better it sounds, how the experience is just more pure and yada yada yada. I even found myself thinking of selling my Tacoma, picking up something older but not too old(maybe 2000ish), fun to drive and somewhat efficient for the commute, spending some time and money getting the Rover workable for all my 4WD needs and running a two-old-car fleet again. I'm not even kidding, at this exact moment I pull up to a stoplight and simultaneously I'm hit with the smell of coolant, the low coolant level light blinks on and quite a lot of steam comes from under the hood. Just blew the upper radiator hose, but still. Not needing it at all to live my life means I can order everything to just do a full cooling system refresh on my own time instead of finding a way to bodge it together and forgetting about it till another line goes. Even with a commuter, had it happened a month from now it would've cost me at least a day of skiing and possibly happened on the way to the mountain instead of within sight of my garage.
I know old Land Rovers are a bit of a different animal from old Toyotas, but still.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Great story @jasmtis.
Not sure if it's clear, but I owned the 1991 until 12/2015 and I bought a 2001 TRD XtraCab TRD to replace it in 2013. But that truck didn't ring the bells. The V6 was OK but it wasn't really that much more powerful. But it had plenty of eventual gotchas, like OBD-II. And the truck was pretty much the same size as the old truck. IOW, it simultaneously felt old and new but not really enough of either to justify keeping it.
Couple that with the rust issue and I doubted it would really last any longer than had I just kept on with my 1991, which was minimally rusty (I owned it since 2000 and had taken good care of it). It was just wearing out and all the body work over the years to fix my mistreating on trails was catching up. That's really the main thing I know now, if you compromise with a single truck solution you have to be realistic and not expect it to be a work truck or hard 'wheeler. So my expectations for this truck are different.
The nail in the coffin was when I test drove a 2nd gen. The 1GR-FE, 6 speed, suicide doors. It was clearly different many ways over 1st gen Tacomas. It got some nanny stuff and the size of course. I didn't go in blind but I knew it would be better in some ways (seriously, the AC doors and engine are awesome). But I knew if I was able to find a 2008, which IMO is the unicorn year, I could live with it. In 2009 they put all the VSC and TRAC on standard (I still got a vacuum booster for example and plain ABS) but they'd already worked out the 2005-2006 issues with the frame motor mount reinforcements and 1GR head issues.
My measure is with FSMs. My 1991 had two and about 75% of it applied to my truck. The 2001 had 3 and still about 75% of it applied. My 2008 has 4 and only about 50% of it applies to my fairly basic truck. When I bought the truck maybe 60% of it did but I'm removing things I don't need, like the 120VAC inverter, whatever.
I was at least smart enough to realize late 2014, early 2015 that I needed to do something if I was going to. So I started looking and eventually found what I was looking for. Now the choice may have been different since it's even harder to find stick shift Tacomas at all and the trucks that would fit the bill of mileage (It had 42k on it when I bought it). I was able to get one year of factory warranty since mine was a Toyota CPO. So over 2015 and 2016 I baselined it and in 2017 I started really using it and it has honestly clicked with us.
Not sure if it's clear, but I owned the 1991 until 12/2015 and I bought a 2001 TRD XtraCab TRD to replace it in 2013. But that truck didn't ring the bells. The V6 was OK but it wasn't really that much more powerful. But it had plenty of eventual gotchas, like OBD-II. And the truck was pretty much the same size as the old truck. IOW, it simultaneously felt old and new but not really enough of either to justify keeping it.
Couple that with the rust issue and I doubted it would really last any longer than had I just kept on with my 1991, which was minimally rusty (I owned it since 2000 and had taken good care of it). It was just wearing out and all the body work over the years to fix my mistreating on trails was catching up. That's really the main thing I know now, if you compromise with a single truck solution you have to be realistic and not expect it to be a work truck or hard 'wheeler. So my expectations for this truck are different.
The nail in the coffin was when I test drove a 2nd gen. The 1GR-FE, 6 speed, suicide doors. It was clearly different many ways over 1st gen Tacomas. It got some nanny stuff and the size of course. I didn't go in blind but I knew it would be better in some ways (seriously, the AC doors and engine are awesome). But I knew if I was able to find a 2008, which IMO is the unicorn year, I could live with it. In 2009 they put all the VSC and TRAC on standard (I still got a vacuum booster for example and plain ABS) but they'd already worked out the 2005-2006 issues with the frame motor mount reinforcements and 1GR head issues.
My measure is with FSMs. My 1991 had two and about 75% of it applied to my truck. The 2001 had 3 and still about 75% of it applied. My 2008 has 4 and only about 50% of it applies to my fairly basic truck. When I bought the truck maybe 60% of it did but I'm removing things I don't need, like the 120VAC inverter, whatever.
I was at least smart enough to realize late 2014, early 2015 that I needed to do something if I was going to. So I started looking and eventually found what I was looking for. Now the choice may have been different since it's even harder to find stick shift Tacomas at all and the trucks that would fit the bill of mileage (It had 42k on it when I bought it). I was able to get one year of factory warranty since mine was a Toyota CPO. So over 2015 and 2016 I baselined it and in 2017 I started really using it and it has honestly clicked with us.
Clutch
<---Pass
My truck does everything I ask it to do, and effortlessly for how slow I drive.
3rd Gen won't do anything all that much different. Other than draining my bank account (and then some). Maybe buy some piece of mind...then my worry would be about filling the bank account back up. I worry enough about money as it is. It only doesn't work, when I start wanting to be more comfortable while camping. Which it is looking like I'll have about 30 days this year...and of those maybe 3-4 were miserable. Is it really worth spending at the very least $40-45K on different setup for those 3-4 miserable nights. ehhh...not really. And that is fairly bare bones. Like an insulated FWC shell with a heater on a new truck. $45K if I am lucky for basic...
My neighbor across the street has 19' TT, which looking at the website was $25K...I have seen it leave the driveway twice this year. He also sold his Taco DCSB, and bought a brand new Tundra TRD to pull it. Why pay the money if it is going to sit mostly? At least that is my reasoning.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
No, it's not worth it probably @Clutch. If you like your truck and it meets your needs stick with it. You've driven newer trucks, you've done your research and thinking. If after a test drive you don't find yourself considering it then there's no reason to spend the money. Either way stop beating yourself up over it. It's just not important in the bigger picture. I know you just like complaining about it but as entertaining as it is to the rest of us we really don't care either way.
Clutch
<---Pass
Love the newness of the new trucks. But newness wears off...
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Newness is relative and constantly being, well, renewed. My 1991 was once a low mileage, clean truck and I got 15 mostly issue free years where I just used it. I might only get 5 or I might get another 15 from this Tacoma, I dunno. But it's just like 2000 again just going places. I've put 43k on it in 3 years and 95% of that is for fun. I really honestly am happy about moving on. I also really like having new Carhartts without frayed cuffs and holes, but if they stay new that means I'm not getting remodeling done, which I like doing more. Like @jasmtis said, I like turning wrenches and working on my truck. I like using to go camping, skiing & biking more.
Clutch
<---Pass
I am really liking this guy's setup.
https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/new-alaskan-side-entry-flatbed-8-5-build.198730/
But I won't use enough to justify the cost. I would have to cash in some (more likely most!...all!) of my assets to buy it, not quite ready to do that. That would be my cash everything in and live on the road retirement vehicle.
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Clutch
<---Pass
I have a back up vehicle for when the Tacoma is down...take it in anymore. I'll do the coil-overs myself this weekend. But something like the steering rack. I'll have someone else do it. I did the last one, it was a pain in the ass. I have no problem paying someone else to do it. the rack was $800 from Toyota, labor was only a couple hundred bucks. Think I am still under that $2000 yearly repair cost so far this year.
Had a diff shop do the 3rd member and driveshaft last year (or was it the year before?) memory is getting foggy.
So when it does break, not really not too much of an issue. If I didn't have the other vehicle and didn't live so close to her work it would be.
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DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Like I say, every situation is different. If the repair bills and situation are tolerable then no reason I can see to change. Having two trucks was never a long term option and relying on borrowing her car wasn't something I could do. So my criteria dictated my choice. I was already familiar with trying to keep an aging vehicle on the road as a daily driver, though, with that FJ40.
So I was also at least subconsciously aware that there were trips I wasn't taking because I couldn't full trust it (is that new leak or noise the big one?) or a weekend here or there I had to spend repairing rather than playing. It adds up even if you aren't keenly aware of it. I'm going 'wheeling and camping this weekend on a last minute decision primarily because I don't have to think twice about it being ready and available. In fact I've been using it so much this year that I haven't been able to sneak in a weekend to build my gantry and get the 'Nest on it. It's a problem I don't mind.
So I was also at least subconsciously aware that there were trips I wasn't taking because I couldn't full trust it (is that new leak or noise the big one?) or a weekend here or there I had to spend repairing rather than playing. It adds up even if you aren't keenly aware of it. I'm going 'wheeling and camping this weekend on a last minute decision primarily because I don't have to think twice about it being ready and available. In fact I've been using it so much this year that I haven't been able to sneak in a weekend to build my gantry and get the 'Nest on it. It's a problem I don't mind.