thinking about getting a Tacoma....pros and cons?

my first vehicle was the families 78 toyota pickup my dad gave to me. it ran great until I was in a wreck and it was totalled.

my next toyota was a 91 pickup that i got in 95....i loved that one. I drove it all over and it had great gas mileage.

now Ive moved from Texas to Connecticut and have had a 91 jeep wrangler for the past 5 years and now Im about to get a new vehicle. Just got a 30k loan and need to make some proper decisions.

I thought about a new jeep but I really miss the extra cargo area of a truck. I had a ford ranger extended cab used a few years ago and it wasnt as small as the toyotas i used to have, but it wasnt like a full sized truck either.

today, you just cant get "small" pickups anymore.....so im kind of stuck with a ranger, frontier or tacoma.

i checked out the ranger last week, the price was attractive but there were several things that i didnt like, and if im spending good cash on a new vehicle there shouldnt be a list of things about it i dont like.

so that was out....next i test drove a 2010 tacoma last week and it seemed bigger than i expected. i was in the 4 door model so i may need to try out just the access cab. I would like 4WD automatic 6 cyl....is there anything wrong with this choice in this year tacoma?

apart from that....i may check out the frontier and see if the interior of that is any better, but ill prolly go with the tacoma. i kind of like the metallic grey, but they dont offer that color in the trim i wanted....i may go with pyrite instead if they cant get the grey.

 

also, does anyone have any experience with leer tops for these?

 

i have a leer. it's great!

 

go for a trd off road access cab auto 4.0l 4x4. wont be disappointed

 

there are no cons in a tacoma!!!!!

 

pros- reliability

cons- they're small

 

i'm trying to be unbiased as possible when i say this, and i know it is up to opinion in hte end... the frontier has some nice features, but the interior is deffinately not one of them imo.

as for pros and cons of the taco....
Pros = everything
cons = you'll go broke because you'll always want to buy stuff for it

joking asside, take the access cab for a ride and see how you like it. they are great trucks, but in the end, it comes down to how you feel about each one.

and the acces cab v6 4x4 is very popular around here btw

 

The only immediate cons I can think of are that there are a few TSBs you may want to have addressed prior to taking delivery...primarily the rear spring TSB and auto-trans shift pattern TSB.

 

I have a leer model 180R i think its a mid rise on a dbl cab short bed its awesome fits really well and the window configuration is sweet windors with half sliding screens! anyhow its real nice.....
Im actually gonna be in connecticut on wednesday if you wanna look.

Also what trim are you wanting just curious....personal opinion I had a sr5 2005 and it was decent upgraded to a trd offroad 2007 and it is 100% better especially the interior

 

Not many cons, but do agree with this one. Especially with a family.

 

Pro- its badass

Con- Might be to badass for some

 

Agreed! Not everyone can handle it!

 

thanks for the replies! I never do any offroading, i use 4X4 for the snowy winters up here....so how much a difference is the off road package over the sport package?

whats a TSB?

oh, and first thing (after the leer) is a lift kit and replace the factory tires with something a bit larger...i dont wanna go crazy, I just like it a bit higher....is a 2" lift that noticable?

 

search bilstein 5100, thats your lift.
technical service bulletin

 

thanks Rab, so thats sort of like a recall?

the warranty they offer is pretty good

 

for a tall guy the short roof line makes me have to crouch down alot if im too close to a red/green light. Thats my only beef with my 09 Trd 4x4 DC SB 4.0 v6 sport.