Kept my first Toy pickup over 26 years, just bought a new one

I bought my first and only prior Toyota pickup in November 1987, a totally stripped out basic pickup, brand new for $5,888 (advertised "one only at this price" in the Saturday classified) and since then put a little over 205K miles on it. I put the whole thing on my credit card when I bought it and got a free trip to Hawaii (credit card promo). It was an extra vehicle for hauling stuff, outdoor activities, and most recently was my landlord, beach diving and dog vehicle. The body rust really started getting to me this past year - all the holes in the roof and windshield pillars made it whistle so bad above 45 MPH it was hard to talk on the phone.

Last weekend, my wife bought me a new Tacoma 4x2 Access Cab as a combined birthday and Christmas present. I wanted a stripped access cab, 4 cylinder manual transmission, but couldn't find any. I connected with the Toyota of Simi Valley dealer through the Costco auto program, and my salesman (Michael Dowl) managed to get Toyota to come up with the truck I wanted at a great price. The first time I met my salesman was when I went to pick up my truck, and like my first truck I didn't even bother going for a test drive

Compared to my old truck, the new Tacomas are ultra luxurious and huge, and a lot more plastic feeling. I'm not sure if it will last as long as my old one, or be as economical to operate, but I intend to find out

In case you're wondering, my gardener just bought my old Toyota pickup for $1,800. I figure I spent more on fill ups than on depreciation since I had the truck, and he'll probably be able to drive it and sell it for a profit in a few years if he doesn't like it. It still has the original clutch, doesn't burn any oil and mechanically runs great. Always serviced at a Toyota dealer

Since my old truck predated the Tacoma model designation, I wasn't on here before (yotatech was good for old trucks), but TacomaWorld looks like the best forum for the new trucks from what I've seen

 

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