2005 Model Owners - Are You Happy With Your Trucks?

Being that 2005 was the first year of the 2nd gen, Toyota has had a chance to improve the trucks over the last 7 years.

However, the 2005's have depreciated to a point were there are some good deals to be had on them.

The question is, those of you that have an '05. Are you happy with your trucks? Have you had any issues that make you regret buying it over an '06 or '07 for example?

 

I used to own an 05 Tacoma. I had no problems with it. I've heard the 05's had weak engine mounts and cracked on several members here. The blower motor squeak was another common problem till the 2012's fixed that.

 

YES. [/thread]

 

Cool. But motor mounts can be replaced and I supposed the blower motor too. (All relatively easy).

 

I've been looking at 05's and seeing their price come into my range. As much as I love it....8 months until my lease is up on the honda!

 

The lack of all the electronic BS is worth its weight in gold.

 

Still LOVE it. Hard to believe its almost 8 years old now. I made that comment at work the other day and no one knew it was that old.

 

I just traded an '05 for my current 2012.

It was a great truck, but I guess it depends what matters to you. If you find a good deal on one in your price range, I certainly wouldn't hesitate buy based on model year alone.

 

Careful with that.

Some 2005's are equipped with VSC.

 

I've got some rust issues (southern truck), the stock suspension sucked (I've got a TRD Off-road; OME installed shortly after purchase), windshield whistled until it was pulled and properly installed, poor gas mileage, the six speed kind sucks (usual issues), squeaky clutch (fixed), noise from cabin fan, intermittent fan (hasn't done it in a while thank goodness), had to have the catalytic converter replaced (sulfur smell)- that's all I can think of at the moment. While not terrible, they definitely aren't the same quality as the older Japanese built trucks.

 

7 1/2 years and 135,000 miles later, it drives and handles like new. Perform regular maintenance. Wouldn't trade it for anything. . . Double cab Prerunner TRD Sport 4.0, Auto.

 

Not a single problem with my 05 so far. I actually picked my black 05 over a silver 07.

 

Most of these issues are not 2005 dependent, and/or are wear items.

 

It sounds like you definitely had worse luck than I!

One good point though is that if you're shopping for a 2005, the manual trans on them was known to be pretty crappy. I owned an automatic and it was a great transmission.

 

Right. glad its not on mine....

 

I had an 05 Fremont Base AC 2.7l 5spd with build date of dec 2004. I bought it certified preowned with 48k on it. I had to have just about every seal on the truck replaced under drivetrain warranty...rr axles, rr main, front main, o-rings in timing cover, 5 speed tailshaft. Had to have pwr steering rack rebuilt on my nickel from leaking seals. Had weak eng mount frame thing but since it was 4 cyl and not 4wd, never had actual issue. Took the dealership 4 times trying to seal timing cover before they found out it needed to have leaking head gasket replaced under warranty. Other than all those annoying things and all the broken cable harness clips, brackets left danglin, bolts left out, harmonic balancer bolt not tightened more than hand tight and whatnot under the hood from them working on it......no problems. except weak leafs, weak tailgate, etc etc etc. It never was considered the tank that my 82 was and it did not get flailed upon under my ownership, it was babied and garaged. Granted it was bought used but so was the 08 Fremont RC SR5 with 51k on it that I traded the 05 in on. That has been a much better truck.

 

I am happy with my truck but there are too many things I want to upgrade!

Issues that I have had: A/C needs a new expansion valve. $40 part but lots of work
Right Front wheel bearing.
77k miles and gets lots of use on rough mountain trails.

Overall the truck feels tight but I can hear some creaks and the engine sounds "older" now, like I need to check for exhaust leaks and replace the plugs.

 

05 83k miles TRD OR. Drives like brand new. Knock on wood no issues so far. Kept it well maintained and it keeps me happy. On the highway 80 mph and such a smooth ride and pretty quiet too. I love my truck ... oh and BTW compared to other cars i personally think the paint quality is great! when i wash clean and wax, it seems like i just bought it new. LOVE my TACO. P.S i do have full toyota care warranty till 150k so im not too worried.

 

Bought mine new in 05 and haven't had any issues. The newer trucks haven't changed much. I installed a back up camera and a nav headunit. Voila! Updated!

Used cars are all about condition. My '05 looks better than most newer Tacomas.

My AC needs a tune up, but thats to be expected at this point. Since we bought this truck I have bought and sold 3 other new vehicles. The Taco always makes the cut, its that good.

 

^^^ Interesting. I have bought and sold 1 new vehicle and 3 used ones. Currently I have 2 new vehicles - One is about to be sold. We'll see.

I'd buy a new Taco, but I've been busy playing around with sports cars, so that's eating up the budget.