Looking to buy 2006 Tacoma... Concerned about rust.

Hi all,

Name's Matt, I live in Alberta Canada, have never owned a truck before, and am looking at buying my first as a winter vehicle. A used Tacoma seems like it would fit my needs and price range.

I stumbled upon a 2006 double cab V6 SR5 on a dealer lot a little over a week ago, purely by coincidence, it immediately caught my attention, as did the price on the window... I took it for a test drive and other than a wheel imbalance on the highway (Dealer agreed to fix if I purchased) it drove pretty much perfectly as far as I could tell.

Ive been reading and studying up on them as much as I have time for since I looked at it, and have gone back and checked it out two more times this weekend while the dealer was closed, and the one thing I’m struggling with is the rust all over the underbody. I’ve read that the 1st gen's were notoriously bad for frame rust, and it sure looks like the same could be said for the 2nd gen's. I'm no body or frame expert so I took a bunch of photos of the truck and was hoping that someone here could give me an idea as to if the rust on this thing is really something to worry about or not.

The truck has 180K on it (112k miles) and the body looks almost mint... The original owner had that DK (dimond kote) anti corrosion system installed on the truck, but it doesn’t seem to have helped the underbody.

Thanks for any help advise.

Matt

 

Personally I would pass. That's starting to look pretty nasty, it would be better way to wait for the right truck than to rush into something and have major head aches down the line. If a car is super cheap at a dealer ship theres usually a reason.

 

it wont be super cheap at the dealership unless something is wrong. dealership is looking to make a bunch of money. just like the others said i would pass on this in a heart beat it isnt worth the hassles

 

Matt,
As a previous owner of a gen 1 Taco that had the frame replaced by Toyota because of rust, run from this one.

 

X2!

 

4Fe + 2o2 = 2Fe2o3

In other words, DON'T DO IT

 

Well that makes my decision much easier. Thanks for all the reply's guys, much appreciated! It's too bad becuase other than the rust on the underbody the truck looks great, but I dont want to be dealing with headaches two or three years from now when the frame falls apart...

Thanks again,

Matt

 

Wow looks like that truck has spent its life in Ontario rather than Alberta. I would pass on by that thing...funny thing is a lot of used car dealers in the Edmonton area bring in their stock from Ontario because its cheaper to buy them there from the big auctions and just have them shipped across Canada. I never take the dealers word that what they have on the lot is "local", I know first hand as I grew up in the used car industry.

 

Looks like either alot of salt from icy roads or alot of saltwater driving. Pass on that truck...

 

damn, guess I'm the only one that thinks its not horrible. I would buy it for cheap, clean up the undercarriage and sell it in a couple years for the same price I paid for it.

 

It's not the worst, but not great. I would also pass. Don't let that discourage you from tacomas though. Any vehicle that is around salt is going to rust up if the undercarriage isn't washed. You can find plenty used tacomas with a much cleaner underside.

 

I have a 2006 & it has minor surface rust but NOTHING like that, I would avoid that like the plague & do some more research to find something better. I know it all depends on what conditions you live in but I live in a humid environment & pretty close to the ocean as well but for the year of that truck it's got WAY to much rust! Just my opinion...

 

^^ This. I also have an 06 here in Calgary, and it has some light surface rust at some of the welded seams, but nothing like that. I would pass.

 

Doesn't look much worse than my '09

 

Def run from that, just think of it 5 more years down the road

 

Thats a pretty fair amount of rust if u live in the salt belt, & do not keep up on rinsing after each storm, & yearly paint touch up. Also, alot of your northern brothers live by fluid film 1x-2x a year. Find a truck that the underside has been taken care of, in addition to the paint. Good luck.