New guy looking at a 4cyl taco

Looking for a first gen Taco that will suit my needs. My 10mpg Wrangler is not cutting it anymore. I have heard great things about the Toyota motors that come in these trucks. I have found an 01 on Craigslist that seems to be pretty well taken care of and is in awesome shape for being 11 years old.The only thing I'm slightly worried about is the 218,000 miles on the truck. It has the 2.7 4 cylinder. Now I've read of many trucks hitting this mark and going above it with absolutely no problems. Oil changes have been right on the mark at 3,000 miles with conventional and 4-5k with synthetic. Ad says the frame was replaced via their warranty campaign so that's another thing taken care of. I have an email into the seller and I'm going to try and go look at it.

My main question here is what should I look for and what should I ask to seller. I know the normal things to inspect but I was wondering if there is any special things to look at and consider when checking this truck out.

Here's a link to the ad: http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/3193389101.html

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

Also, the ad is old so the truck might be gone. I'm still on the hunt for a good 4cyl truck (possibly lower mileage than the above truck) and would still like to hear of any issues with this generation truck.

 

Thanks --- so frame rust, weak leafs and steering bushings.

 

In Ohio I would check the frame for rust. They were recalled, and could have a new frame.

 

Writing his life story in there like that makes it sound a little fishy. I'd be concerned that he's trying to cover up for the fact that the frame replacement may have resulted in a lot of problems with the vehicle. I'm not sure how unloading a truck for $6000 or less can make a huge difference with respect to "life changes". That is, unless he has become a quadruple amputee....

 

for an additional 20k you can buy mine its dam near brand new and loaded to the gills just saying lol

 

Found another one. Less miles, cheaper and looks to be in a lot better shape.

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/3262759097.html

Again, thanks a lot for the help guys.

 

Wish I could I'm actually looking to do a swap from my Jeep to a Taco with very little to no money outside of what my Jeep brings in. Being a college student sucks

 

"fresh paint job".... RUN!!!!!
It was either in a collision, or had MAJOR rust cancer, which will come back quickly.