Former truck/hilux owner on way to tacoma ownership

Hello All,

My name is Roger and I'm new to tacomas. I've been lurking on TW for while now and was a long time member on yotatech and toyotanation. I currently don't have a taco but have had a 1992 hilux extra cab 4wd 22re in high school to community college that I constantly tinkered with and a 1988 hilux "xtra cab" 4wd 22re that got stolen my first day of junior year of college at UH Hilo. The 92 was more bondo than metal and the 88 was super mint. Anyways I'm in the process of buying a 1st gen taco since I think they blend the best of both worlds: reliability and modern drivetrain. I just took a green 99 regular cab 4wd for a test drive in Van Nuys today, the body and interior was clean but had more rust than I anticipated underneath, no muffler (at some point someone cut it out and straight pipped it) and the autocheck report indicated 298xxx miles instead of the 130xxx on the cluster
I'm going to check out a 98 extra cab sr5 v6 4wd in Santa Barbara next week. Wish me luck!

TL DR New to TW and tacomas. Had a couple older yota trucks. Looking for a 1st gen.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

Welcome Roger!

 

Well guys the search is over. I found a 2000 Tacoma SR5 V6 4wd Extra Cab with 175xxx miles for $4800. I acted fast was was able to walk away with it for 4k! It's no beauty queen has rust on the back half of the bed but the frame is amazing, either it was replaced or they rust proofed it early on because it looks powder coated. The interior looks like it's well used truck and will need a deep shampoo or new carpeting in addition to seats. Otherwise it runs well and has cold AC. Compared to my last 2 truck: this thing hauls! 5vz sounds good too. My current plans are to find a new bed to swap on and 4runner seats.