2000 Tacoma

When I was 17 I bought my first car, a 1990 Toyota Pickup SR5, xtracab 4x4, V6, Manual, recently repainted fire engine red and absolutely flawless - 90,000 miles on the odo. I sold it when I went away to college at 19 years old. That's a decision I lived to regret for a long time. A couple times a month I would actually have dreams that I was back in my truck and happy as hell about it. Well I hired two new employees recently and was short a truck, so I started scouring the internet for a good work Tacoma. Saturday night I was looking online when this truck popped up. It immediately caught my eye, so I got up early on Sunday and went to look at it. First things I noticed were a couple small door dings, a medium sized dent next to the left taillight, the driver side sunvisor was not in the best shape, and the two front tires were different from the two rears. Also the seal around the driver door was a little shredded at the bottom, and the plastic guard on the drivers seat was no longer attached. At first sight I thought, oh great, another high mileage used Tacoma that probably got beaten for 15 years by multiple people and they washed the hell out of it to make it look good enough to sell. But I dug a little deeper, popped the hood, and talked to a salesman for a bit. After climbing under the truck and seeing very little evidence of offroading (no scratches on transfer case, all skid plates intact and mostly unscathed), I asked for the records. Turns out it was a truck sold brand new to a local San Diegan (San Diegoite?), driven for 15 years, then sold back to the same dealership with 174,000 miles. I took a look at the carfax and all the service records, drilled the sales guy for all the info I could get and took it for a spin. Turns out they had just replaced the clutch, the left taillight, two of the tires, timing belt, all accessory belts, all fluids, and gave it a good wash. An hour later I put 2k down from my business and then financed the rest. I've been driving the truck for a week now and I am infatuated with it in the way I was with my first truck. The interior is quite similar to my 1990 pickup, and I love the exterior chrome accents. Really the only difference between this one and my old one in my mind is that this one I won't be selling in two years. BTW it's a 2000 Tacoma, 4x4, 5 spd. manual, 2.7 I4, Silver xtracab with blueish interior. Fires right up and drives like a dream!

 

Keep this as the bosses truck.

 

Only myself or my partner will be driving this truck.

 

Nice! I also recently bought a 2000 Tacoma. 95k miles, private seller, all repair records, completely unscratched NorCal truck... driven by a little old lady on the weekends.

 

I am the first/original owner of my '00 Tacoma...

15 years later...
bought a Corolla for my daily driver...

But I will never trade my '00 in at a dealership... ever.
Probably won't sell it neither.

I had a 1984 Toyota 4X
and a 1990 Toyota 4X
both of which I purchased new, back in their day.

and I felt both were better built then my '00 Tacoma.
Likely because the weren't built in the US.

My '00 Tacoma is inferior to those earlier Japan assembled trucks
in that the local sourcing of materials for the Tacoma in the US
is substandard to what the Japanese assembly line uses.

Plus US assembly line workers are likely fighting hang-overs
probably every day of the week... 'cept maybe Wednesday !? Lol

It's how Toyota USA managed to keep purchase costs lower
here in the US. (low buck out sourcing)

Regardless... it's still a dependable truck...
and has gotten me thru most everything I've attempted.

Thing I hated about my 1990...
was the torsion bar front suspension.
And the weak sauce... oil leaking v6.
Besides those complaints...
It was better built then my current '00
Especially the interior.

That said... I still like my '00
But if I had a choice... and more money
I would dump the ifs for a solid axle.

Toyota's reputation is really based on their earlier trucks...
not their current crop of crap.

I will never purchase another new Toyota truck...
unless they down size it... and put a solid axle up front.

 

Wow that sounds like a beaut. I love these trucks. Don't get me wrong, the new Tacoma's are amazing, but I feel like 2000 was the last year of the old school Tacoma, and 10 years from now they're gonna be hard to find. I told my wife this trucks found its second and last owner. She asked me if I would give up my future fun time car to keep it and I said yes. Any pics? I'll get some up in a bit.

 

A few snapshots

 

If you know, would you mind clarifying the assembly plant location for the 1990 pickup (4x4, v6, sr5, xtracab, 5spd) and the 2000 tacoma (4x4, I4, sr5, xtracab, 5spd)? For the life of me I can't seem to find it on google. I blame the IPAs I've been sipping on since 7:00. Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin is delicious.

 

Im almost positive the 00 were produced at nummi (spelling?) in Fremont, CA. I know my 04 was. It makes for a great argument when some jerk starts talking shit about it being a jap truck. Specially if he is standing in front of his Canadian/Mexican "American" vehicle... I do believe your vin should tell you that info also. Call a dealership and give em the vin number and ask them..

Edit:after more research cause i was curious about my truck, here is a link..
http://m.autoevolution.com/how-to-read-your-toyota-vin-code-80056.html

 

Wow what a great resource. You should make a sticky thread for that very link if it doesn't exist. Here's what mine looks like:

4 USA
T TOYOTA
A TRUCK
W 2DR EXTENDED CAB 4WD
M 3RZ-FE
Z SERIES BASED ON CHASSIS
2 MANUAL BELTS AND DRIVER SIDE AIRBAG
N TACOMA
3 CHECK NUMBER FOR AUTHENTICITY
Y 2000
Z FREMONT, CA

 

Small update, just took the Tacoma to my Japanese car specialist in San Marcos, Lu's Automotive, for a full inspection to make sure the truck is sound because I'm still within the 30 day warranty for repairs from the dealership. Lu does a great job and can fix any Japanese car out there for cheaper than anyone I've found. After full inspection he found moisture on the outside of the oil pan-he wasn't concerned as it's not leaking, but said if it ever does he can redo the gasket. Also he found that all four shocks are beginning to leak a little bit and should be replaced. The power steering fluid was a bit dirty and should be changed sooner than later, and the spark plugs should be replaced. Everything else that he checked looked great, including the front brakes, rear shoes, ball joints, axles, rear diff fluid, brake lines, 3 x belts, air filter, brake fluid, charging system, cooling system, ignition system, compression, AC system and check engine di co. He did tell me I paid a little too much for the truck, but said it is a good truck that should run for a long time as long as I pay attention to it and service it periodically. Good peace of mind!

 

FYI-still miss my 91!!!!!!!!!!! The old trucks were TOUGH AS NAILS!
Newer models are good-don't get me wrong--but if a person never owned an old one--they do not know how great they were.
CONGRATS!

 

I can attest to that. First time i ever drove was a 78 toyota pickup. Rock solid!

 

^Thanks! Stoked on this truck. I'm debating whether to get the dent fixed next to the taillight, or to leave it and just ignore it. It's sizeable, and it did break the paint, but it's about $1000.00 to get it hammered out and repainted...and why would I sink that kind of money into a truck like this when I will undoubtedly get more dents? I guess I'll just look at it like a battle scar.

 

Those days are long gone my friend. Toyota's standards have really fallen in the past 15 years. I don't even think they offer a solid front axle 4x4 anymore. They are quickly turning into General Motors Jr. like it or not. I wanted that old truck feeling too so I went out and found myself a '79 4x4 Pickup to fix up!

 

I've owned both a first and second gen Tacoma and the build quality of the first gens even is lightyears ahead of the second gens. That much went downhill in just one year! The second gens are good trucks, don't get me wrong, but they aren't a first gen, and a first gen isn't an early solid axle Pickup.

 

I sold a 2000 last June when I bought my 2014 DCSB. I had it for 12 years never had a problem with it. Just bought the new one so I will have a low mileage truck when I retire.

 

I have 3 gen 2 tacomas in my fleet, an 08, an 05, an 06. Also have an 01 double cab auto v6. All are amazing work trucks but the gen 2 interior I find a less desirable place to be than the gen 1. All of them are better than my '12 Nissan frontier-great 4.0 v6 motor and comfortable, but chintzy and ugly interior feels cheap.