Double cab and rear facing baby seats

Hey guys, I recently sold my 2nd gen taco and got a new to me f150. Well about 2 months after that purchase I found out my wife was pregnant with our 2nd child! Great news and I'm totally stoked on it BUT my son was only 4 months old when we found out!!! Anyway needless to say my wife's small car is no longer functional for us and I'm buying her a RAV4 and getting rid of my truck. I want to get a first gen taco but need to see how the rear facing seats will fit. My wife and I are both short btw her being 5'4 and me 5'7. Thanks for any help in advance and sorry for the long post.

 

04 double cab should work fine but 2ne gen will probably be roomier. I had an 01 extended cab, no way would a car seat fit back there.

 

I had a 2nd gen double cab, I enjoy a genwon a bit more. :/

 

I have the Gen 1 DC and I use a rear facing for one of my two girls. It fits fine and I am 5'11". We have the Graco extend to fit and I push my seat up to get it set up and then slide it back until it bumps. My three year old is forward facing and she loves dad's green taco

My wife's highlander is more comfy for long trips though....

 

Highlanders are super nice, I wish I could get a low mileage 4Runner for her but those things hold their value like crazy. The new RAV4 is pretty nice. A lot of features come standard on it.

 

We looked at 4runners and if it would have been for me we would have gone with it. The highlander is just so much more plush and has a great ride with 26 mpg in a V6. Ours is a 2014 and we love it.

 

Try looking for 3rd gen 4Runners. They're essentially the same as 1st gen tacos and usually much much much cheaper. As mentioned earlier, try looking at Highlander's also. 1st gen Tacomas aren't exactly the safest vehicles and the room is pretty cramped unless you find a double cab, which at that point, is expensive and it's hard to find a decent one.

 

They aren't safe? I found a low mile double cab I can afford. I'm getting rid of my f150 which I will use towards the taco. Anything I get will be 4 door.

 

I mean, they only have one airbag in the steering wheel and one above the glove box. Newer vehicles blow that away.

 

That's true in reguard to the airbags but the truck itself isn't unsafe correct? As in the hold up pretty good upon impact?

 

As far as that, sure. I think they hold up pretty good based on the crashes I've seen from here. But in reality, they're almost 20 year old trucks and even though they're toyotas, you're still gonna have mainanence costs every once in a while with things like timing belts, lower ball joints, steering racks, etc. I don't know your financial situation but everyone with kids complains about how their money is stretched thin and the last thing you want is an expensive 20 year old truck that needs maintancence. Idk just food for thought.

 

That is true and expected with an old truck BUT no monthly payment is better then maintenance on said items.

 

No airbags doesnt mean is not safe. Randomly blowing up when you roll down the window woukd be unsafe.

But they do get 1 star in cash ratings.

2005 gets a 3

2010 does better than 2015.

But... they changed repeatedly how they test. They went from 3 tests front/rear/side to a. Unch of angles, different striking items, rollovers etc.

 

Wow that's a little sketchy 1 star huh? I expected better then that

 

I guess, mine gets 1/2 stars - only one airbag.

 

So all you guys with DCSB Taco's don't have any kids!? Lol

 

I have an 04 doublecab. My kids are 5 and 8 now, but the rear facing seats fit just fine. You're slightly more limited in stature than I am, so that'll give you even more space in the back. We had the clicky ones where the baby seat would click into the piece that is attached to the vehicle seat. Super easy.

The only caveat is that seats these days seem to be getting bigger and bigger. They're like cars, they just seem to get bigger and bigger. I don't think you'll have any problems getting seats to fit, though.

And Congrats!

 

Hell, i grew up driving vehicles the only airbags were the idiots sitting next to me. How did we survive?


I think making a practice of not getting into wrecks has to help. I've been rearended a few times, had the front of my squad run over by a moving truck, never had an airbag deploy yet. My bmw has so many airbags I'm guessing I'll end up surrounded in expensive bubble wrap if i get in a wreck.

 

Have you seen new atv's? I've seen smaller family cars. Once you need power steering, i think you've lost a lot of what an atv is designed for.

 

Adding onto this, almost all 20 year old vehicles have significantly less safety features than newer vehicles do even over the span of a year after the end of the 1st Generation production in 2004. Here is the IIHS frontal crash test for a 1998 Tacoma versus a 2006 Tacoma. You can see how on the '98 the front fender and engine bay sustains significant damage, while on the '06 the fender and most of the engine bay remains partly intact. If I was in a crash I'd rather be in a 2nd gen 2005 versus a 1st gen 2004.

IIHS Crash Test: http://youtubedoubler.com/letw

Of course I'd rather have a first gen over a second gen and maybe even the turd gen. I'm happy in my '98, but if I had a kid and cared about my safety I'd rather be in a 2017 Tacoma.