Was this when you decided to buy a tacoma?

my dad had nothin but toyotas growing up bought his first the day before i was born, an 87 4runner then ( i think the right order) an 89 4runner, 87 pickup, 90 4runner, 92 celica, 87 4runner, 90 pickup, 96 lexus es300, 89 4runner, 98 tacoma, 91 4runner, 06 tacoma prerunner


you can say i have toyota in my blood haha

 

Awesome! You'll get no arguments from me about an American Tacoma being just fraction of the truck the old pickups were. But i like that even though we may put up with the stealerships, the plastic bullshit, and inevitably shorter lifespans, there's something about the Toyotas that makes us want to pass them down or work on them every weekend and always take care of them!

 

While the Top Gear segment was cool it had no bearing on my purchase. No fancy story here. Wanted a mid size truck and thought most of the competitors were garbage.

 

My love of Toyota 4x4s started in 1980 when I would see Toyota 4WD trucks jacked to the sky, going through mud holes in the Everglades that were swallowing F150s. The solid axle toyotas were my dream truck. Sadly by the time I could afford a 4x4, no one made solid axle trucks anymore and the toyotas were not being lifted as high and were not as mud worthy. But my love for the brand remained and today I love my Taco.

 

1983 was when I first started really paying attention to Toyota trucks.

 

I had a 85 LandCruiser and traded it for a 94 Toy Pickup mainly for gas mileage...drove the piss out of that truck for 12 years and 212k miles...only sold it because it was popping out of gear...now have a '11 Taco Access cab and I hope to be driving this truck in a decade.

When I sold the 94 pickup, original clutch, ujoints, front end, rear brakes, never even took off the valve cover or pulled the distributor...

On the other hand, went through 3 rear bumpers...

Howard

 

The Transformers, Trailbreaker was a black hilux.

 

Damn. Good guess...it was back to the future for me. Lol. I don't know why I held off from getting one till now though.

 

Ive owned a hand full of trucks over the years. My first being a 2003 GMC Sonoma, 4 banger 5 speed, then a 79 chevy lwb , 87 chevy swb 5.7, 700r4. I joined the navy moved to california and bought a 04 VW GTI.. fun car but not as practical and fuel savy as i expected. Surfing, mountain biking, fishing, camping and the outdoors in general had me on the hunt for a truck. Basically test drove everything and the only midsized truck i liked was the tacoma. So i bought one. and i love it.

 

Back in 1996, I was driving by a town ( Hidalgo, TX) that is a rest stop for dealers from central america who come to the states to buy small trucks that have very good re-sale value no matter what brand down south. It was at a motel 6 with a caravan of about five dealers. Each was towing three small tucks with a full size truck. One of those trucks, was what appeared to be a 1989 Lifted toyota truck that was modified with a fiberglass crew cab cabin! And had a 4cyl. Turbo diesel engine. It was love at first sight. So much, that I stopped and found the guy thatnas towing it. I found the guy and asked him where he got it from. He said he had bought it at an auction in Arizona. I offered to buy it, tomwhich henreplied a bold NO. I told him I could pay whatever he was going to get out of it in south america. Still he said NO. Ever since, I have been in search of such rare specimen, with no success. So when Toyota came out with the crew cab in 2000, I waited patiently for the time when I would finallly afford one. Well that time was now! Finally. I know is not new and that there are other tacomas out there better than mine, but this one is mine!

 

Congrats! I'm also lucky enough to be driving my dream truck, way to persevere!

 

Thank you! Now I just have to make it last. If I give it the love it deserves, I know it will be faithful to me.

 

Me too!! I wan like 5 years old when that movie came out and was completely in love with that truck and always wanted a Toyota ever since.

 

I use to work on cars, saw plenty of high milage toyotas with little to no issues. My freinds dad had a supercharged land cruiser that was AWESOME and had over 300,xxx going strong, it got stolen and totaled, so he bought a Tundra about 5 years ago and already has over 200,000 on that. His son( my freind) bought a rock warrior tundra a few years ago, etc.

I come from a nissan family and their great, but as far as trucks go i trusted the tacoma more.

Also, my other car is a twin turbo audi s4... i wanted something that would require as little work as possible...

 

If I'd seen that video it would just have re-enforced my decision. I went with the best mid-size truck available, plus I like the looks of it better than the others, too.

 

I already owned my Tacoma when I watched that video. I've seen every episode of Top Gear UK and even US since.

 

Yup me too. Bought an '83.

 

Worked at Toyota from 04 to 05 right as the 2nd gen was put out, always thought Tacoma (and the 4runners) were badass after driving them through 2 feet of snow with no problems.

 

If like to see them do that to a 2nd generation US Tacoma!

 

I remember watching Back to the Future and falling in love with that truck. Still a sexy beast 20 years later.

I blame Marty McFly for my Tacoma love