Gents, Long time lurker, first post. In the midst of a dilemma here. Long winded but stay with me. You guys love this stuff, you know you do.
I am having a real problem deciding what truck to end up with, on top of that, what particular truck in the line or trim level, once I figure out Tacoma or 4 Runner. I have owned 40 vehicles in the last 30 years. Everything from trucks, suv’s, sports cars and motorcycles. I have never put in this much research or hand wringing over a purchase. I guess I felt they were all disposable. Drive them for a few years, sell them, turn in on a lease or whatever.
Never have owned a Toyota, any Toyota. Always wanted a Land Cruiser never pulled the trigger. I can’t pull the trigger on a $85,000 rig and don’t really want to get a $50,000 used rig that is going on 6 to 8 years old. I don’t want a 10 to 15 year old rig for $15 to 20 thousand either. The Equipt postings have a little to do with this.
So, I’m down to a 4 Runner or a Tacoma. I have decided on new, around here (front range Colorado) the used ones are within striking distance of a new one. I don’t really see the point of saving 3 to 5 thousand dollars on a used one with 20 to 30 thousand miles on it vs a new one. This is also a truck that I plan to have for some time to come. I am getting close to retiring and really don’t feel like I will be trading in and out of cars, can’t afford it either. This truck does not have to be a daily driver. I have a sedan for city and highway driving with work and the family. This new rig will probably do a little skiing and what not.
My main passions and what I spend my spare time doing is fly fishing and bird hunting. Both require some significant travel on the interstate, then smaller and smaller roads, getting down to dirt and often the last mile or 100 is 4x4, dirt, lose rock, you name it, then sometimes completely off road through crop fields and farm and ranch ruts that they call roads more like trails and paths. I also launch a raft and or a drift boat off a trailer, then you have to recover it. The put ins and take outs are often very crude, if you didn’t know it was a put in, or take out you wouldn’t even notice it.
I have a jeep wrangler that does some of this duty now but it is not a highway car, very loud, very busy, and not geared properly for much of anything in my opinion. They really are almost worthless unless all you do is wheel and you don’t take much in the way of equipment. Not much room and not very comfortable in a nut shell. The Jeep is good for my missions of 30 miles from the house in the mountains of central Colorado. Much more than that and I have to wear my shooting range ear muffs. The gas mileage vs performance delivered, is a joke. Don’t hate on me jeep guys, I think Jeeps are great if all you do is wheel and that is the passion, you do a ton of work to get them to the point that you can really wheel them. Jeep Wranglers are just not for me.
What I need is a truck that is capable of handling 500 to 800 mile highway drives with equipment for fishing and hunting, fishing rods, guns, decoys, clothing, dog and dog kennel, that kind of thing. The pay load needs to be secure on some level and in addition to 10 to 16 hour highway drives, it has to be able to go that last 5 or 100 miles, be it the farmers ruts, a high Colorado mountain, unimproved pass, Arizona quail hunting grounds or New Mexico elk hunting.
I do not intend to camp out of it, I might pull a 3000 to 4000 lbs camper someday . I would like to hang a 275 lbs motor cycle off a rack in the back once in a while. I’m not looking to outfit it as some kind of doomsday prepper rig.
So, this is what I want and will do with it. I would guess your all in agreement that a Toyota 4 Runner or Tacoma is a good choice.
Now what trim level. I am of two minds here. Buy the base model of either one and then take it to a place like Slee Off Road, in Golden, Co. (less than a mile from my office) have an OME suspension and 3” lift with heaver springs etc., a bumper and winch installed and some extra lighting or buy the Off Road TRD model and just have them put on a bumper and winch and that’s about it.
Seems like a guy would almost be better off buying an SR in the Taco and having the work done by a Slee, than buying up in to a $38,000+ Off Road Model and then breathing on it a little more with some mods.
A Taco would most likely need a topper or Truck cap to keep things secure and dry.
That would leave the 4 Runner, same basic question about trim levels, does a guy get a Trail addition with KDSS and all that or go with a base level SR5 and do a build from there?
The Taco has the new motor, drum brakes, is a tuck, has a c frame, the 4 runner has the fully boxed frame, disk brakes, fully enclosed, older motor. Seems like they both have their calling cards, either one would be a good choice but if a guy was going to do this one time, what would he do?
Keep in mind that I don’t wheel for the sake of wheeling, I do need some of the advantages of having a Equipt type rig but don’t intend to sleep in it and use it as a camper (water system, refrigerator system, duel batteries, hot water, cooking platforms and propane storage, and on and on) but do like the advantages of a robust vehicle with options to haul light weight trailers up to a small camper or motor cycle, some extra lighting, and have all of this in a truck that I can hop in and drive to West Yellowstone, Montana, or Pierre, South Dakota, without feeling like I have been in a blender for 10 hours or used a metric ton of gas.
Tacoma or 4Runner, stock and build it up a bunch, or upgrade and build it up a little.
Thank you, Mark
I am having a real problem deciding what truck to end up with, on top of that, what particular truck in the line or trim level, once I figure out Tacoma or 4 Runner. I have owned 40 vehicles in the last 30 years. Everything from trucks, suv’s, sports cars and motorcycles. I have never put in this much research or hand wringing over a purchase. I guess I felt they were all disposable. Drive them for a few years, sell them, turn in on a lease or whatever.
Never have owned a Toyota, any Toyota. Always wanted a Land Cruiser never pulled the trigger. I can’t pull the trigger on a $85,000 rig and don’t really want to get a $50,000 used rig that is going on 6 to 8 years old. I don’t want a 10 to 15 year old rig for $15 to 20 thousand either. The Equipt postings have a little to do with this.
So, I’m down to a 4 Runner or a Tacoma. I have decided on new, around here (front range Colorado) the used ones are within striking distance of a new one. I don’t really see the point of saving 3 to 5 thousand dollars on a used one with 20 to 30 thousand miles on it vs a new one. This is also a truck that I plan to have for some time to come. I am getting close to retiring and really don’t feel like I will be trading in and out of cars, can’t afford it either. This truck does not have to be a daily driver. I have a sedan for city and highway driving with work and the family. This new rig will probably do a little skiing and what not.
My main passions and what I spend my spare time doing is fly fishing and bird hunting. Both require some significant travel on the interstate, then smaller and smaller roads, getting down to dirt and often the last mile or 100 is 4x4, dirt, lose rock, you name it, then sometimes completely off road through crop fields and farm and ranch ruts that they call roads more like trails and paths. I also launch a raft and or a drift boat off a trailer, then you have to recover it. The put ins and take outs are often very crude, if you didn’t know it was a put in, or take out you wouldn’t even notice it.
I have a jeep wrangler that does some of this duty now but it is not a highway car, very loud, very busy, and not geared properly for much of anything in my opinion. They really are almost worthless unless all you do is wheel and you don’t take much in the way of equipment. Not much room and not very comfortable in a nut shell. The Jeep is good for my missions of 30 miles from the house in the mountains of central Colorado. Much more than that and I have to wear my shooting range ear muffs. The gas mileage vs performance delivered, is a joke. Don’t hate on me jeep guys, I think Jeeps are great if all you do is wheel and that is the passion, you do a ton of work to get them to the point that you can really wheel them. Jeep Wranglers are just not for me.
What I need is a truck that is capable of handling 500 to 800 mile highway drives with equipment for fishing and hunting, fishing rods, guns, decoys, clothing, dog and dog kennel, that kind of thing. The pay load needs to be secure on some level and in addition to 10 to 16 hour highway drives, it has to be able to go that last 5 or 100 miles, be it the farmers ruts, a high Colorado mountain, unimproved pass, Arizona quail hunting grounds or New Mexico elk hunting.
I do not intend to camp out of it, I might pull a 3000 to 4000 lbs camper someday . I would like to hang a 275 lbs motor cycle off a rack in the back once in a while. I’m not looking to outfit it as some kind of doomsday prepper rig.
So, this is what I want and will do with it. I would guess your all in agreement that a Toyota 4 Runner or Tacoma is a good choice.
Now what trim level. I am of two minds here. Buy the base model of either one and then take it to a place like Slee Off Road, in Golden, Co. (less than a mile from my office) have an OME suspension and 3” lift with heaver springs etc., a bumper and winch installed and some extra lighting or buy the Off Road TRD model and just have them put on a bumper and winch and that’s about it.
Seems like a guy would almost be better off buying an SR in the Taco and having the work done by a Slee, than buying up in to a $38,000+ Off Road Model and then breathing on it a little more with some mods.
A Taco would most likely need a topper or Truck cap to keep things secure and dry.
That would leave the 4 Runner, same basic question about trim levels, does a guy get a Trail addition with KDSS and all that or go with a base level SR5 and do a build from there?
The Taco has the new motor, drum brakes, is a tuck, has a c frame, the 4 runner has the fully boxed frame, disk brakes, fully enclosed, older motor. Seems like they both have their calling cards, either one would be a good choice but if a guy was going to do this one time, what would he do?
Keep in mind that I don’t wheel for the sake of wheeling, I do need some of the advantages of having a Equipt type rig but don’t intend to sleep in it and use it as a camper (water system, refrigerator system, duel batteries, hot water, cooking platforms and propane storage, and on and on) but do like the advantages of a robust vehicle with options to haul light weight trailers up to a small camper or motor cycle, some extra lighting, and have all of this in a truck that I can hop in and drive to West Yellowstone, Montana, or Pierre, South Dakota, without feeling like I have been in a blender for 10 hours or used a metric ton of gas.
Tacoma or 4Runner, stock and build it up a bunch, or upgrade and build it up a little.
Thank you, Mark
