Thinking about buying a taco

My opinion, you should be looking for a clean 1st Gen Tundra if you want to stay Toyota. You will not be happy pulling a trailer with a 4cyl Toyota or a TJ.

 

If I went with a TJ it would be the unlimited with a 3500# tow rating. It's perfectly flat where I live and no interstates anywhere close. I think the taco or the TJ will handle it fine. Especially since I like to drive slow.
Thank you for your feedback though, it is appreciated

 

I'd hook your trailers up to whatever you are buying first before pulling the trigger. Suggesting a Tundra is my opinion. A 4 banger Tacoma any vintage or a TJ Unlimited pulling a trailer is miserable in any condition. They all lack the wheelbase, power, and control needed.

Of course if you needed to do it in a pinch yes. I would haul my parents 20' boat with my old rockcrawler on 37's at each end of the season. Yes it can do it.

Do you want that struggle every day? 1/2 ton truck is where you want to be at. Pulling light stuff in my F150 is cake where in a midsize you have to be on top of your game and the truck struggles especially with a 4 banger.

 

1st gen tundra’s probably the most underrated truck out there. I often wish I’d have held out for one instead of getting my Tacoma, but around me it was difficult to find one in good shape. I’m happy with the Tacoma though. I think your hesitations against the 4.0 because of reliability aren’t an issue, the 4.0 is pretty much bomb proof if you stay away from 05-06’s (head gasket)

i say either find a tundra in good shape as @Slum Lord suggested, or get a v6 Tacoma but be ready to augment the rear suspension (AAL, air bags, what have you) for daily towing

 

the 4 cyl will do what you want if you’re truly going to just be doing light loads on flat ground, but I don’t know that
it’s worth it since the v6 is proving to be just as reliable and the difference in mpg isn’t what you’d expect. In other words for the same reliability and mpg, more power seems a no brainer.

my experiences towing in a Jeep were terrible, but it was a two door non-unlimited. I’d stick with a pickup for daily towing.

 

1st Gen Tundras are the shit. When I worked on them brand new I didn't warm up to them because they were such a far departure from the 94 and below trucks.

Having grown up and wheeled many trucks. They really are perfect. Yeah the V8 never had a manual tcase, no locker option, and the trans is suitable although not bulletproof behind the V8, aftermarket support is weak compared to the other models.

Buy as a platform, they are a perfect size and power for a balanced road, DD, and wheeling rig. By the time you are buying a Taco, outfitting it, overloading in every way, and sucking the 12-15mpgs now...you could have just got a Tundra, thrown some lockers in it or put a real axle under the front to have your cake and eat it too for less money.

Of course the new Overlanding crowd took to the Taco quickly so the pricing on aftermarket stuff had gone up because it's a no spared expense build on something that can barely hold 500 pounds in the bed.

Tundras or the win! Disclaimer...I own a V6 Taco and although a very reliable platform falls short in every regard to ruggedness.

 

I thought the 05-06 tundras sorted out the transmission issue?

 

I don't care for the Tundra at al . I also don't need a full size truck. I've got a super duty diesel that'll out tow anything that's been mentioned so far by a considerable margin.
Opinions can vary so greatly on what's acceptable and what isn't that I'm just Ron the point I need to go drive the 4 banger and see what I think. That'll answer my question if it will handle what I need it to. If the power is equivalent to the older ones I had, I know the truck will do what I need of it.
Thanks everyone for your input.

 

I haven't entirely ruled out the 4.0 . I just don't like the look of the double cab at all, they're so fugly IMO and I haven't seen any regular cabs come up for sale.

 

By all means you should test drive a 4cyl and see what you think, pulling a trailer as suggested as part of your test drive as mentioned is also a great idea. If you’re not in a hurry, consider holding out for a non double cab 4.0. But finding either in a manual trans is rarer and rarer anyways so they may get snatched up quick. If you test the 4 cyl and it’s capability pleases you, and you find one in a configuration you like, well there you go.

 

You could always try an access cab if you hate the look of the doubles. (?) You can still find 4cyl access cabs and itll give you the option of the 6cyl.

BTW, looking at cargurus with 20 mi radius of me, I can find 3 Reg cab 4x4s with about 100k or under miles for about 12k or under. There are about a dozen for 15k or less so you may have a little wiggle room.

 

Access cabs look the best anyways, but that’s my subjective and biased opinion

 

05-06 Tundra has the A750 which is probably better with the V8. The A340 isn't great past a 6 cylinder bit they seemed to have better reliability in the later years. First few years they were eating overdrives which would eat speed sensors and flexplates snapped easily.

The 5 speed is built with a higher torque rsting. Be aware that if your Tundra has a 5 speed you have a VVTi engine which has greater output but you also have the $2k air pump BS as well.

So back on topic...

Why not just keep the Ford for work duty instead?

 

But what if one say you decide to venture away from your flat area? You ever know what you'll be doing down the road. You may need the e traveled power one day and regret not having it.

Just a thought.

 

I'm also biased, The ultimate Taco would have been Reg. cab, 4X4, with a 4.0. I'm still peed off at Toyota for not offering it that way. The Reg. cabs & the longer cab Tacos are identical from the front bumper to the rear of the front door. Bolting the 4.0 & it's wiring harness & computers would have been exactly the same as bolting it in the longer cabs. Still can't figure why they didn't do it & charge the extra $$$ exactly like they did with the long ones. Heck, I get mad just thinking about it. Like you Brent, I hate the those longer Tacos, I don't want or need a bigger truck. I'm not happy with the little weak 2.7, but still rather have the Reg. cab even with the little 2.7.

 

don’t confuse tow ratings. A 3500 lb tow rating means the suspension and tranny can handle it but has no bearing on engine performance when under that load. Also you mentioned the truck you looked at had new leaf springs and you thought that may be the result of rust. There was a recall on leaf springs so they are probably the new tsb springs and not from rust.

 

I'm not selling the super duty. I'll always have it to pull stuff. I also have the 2019 4runner that is setup to tow if I really needed it. The tacoma will be a 3rd vehicle to the stable and the MAJORITY of it's use would be just going from stop to stop around a 50 mile radius hauling maybe 200# in the bed. That's what the the trucks primary purpose will be.

And thank you for the info on the rear springs That makes me feel better.

Oh and the one thing I've learned about tow ratings in all my years of towin . Most of them are very conservative on what the vehicle can actually do.

The one dealer I've been talking to just emailed me and said an individual took the truck out last night and the truck experienced transmission issues and needed to be towed back. They said it won't be available for a few days while they work out the issue. That concerns me. Also makes me wonder if they're just buying time before they give me their final best price that I've requested
They've had this truck since November which seems odd to me. It's 80 miles away and I've been too busy to make it there.

 

And yeah the access cabs aren't that ba . I prefer the apoe8and agility of reg cab . My super duty is a quad cab and hate how it looks, too. I think all 4 door trucks are ugly lol.

The extra space of an access cab would be nice but dunno if I want to trade the agility for the extra space. I've owned over 100 vehicles in my 30 years of driving and 2 of my most favorite were the reg cab 4x4 4cyl tacomas. They were just fun to drive!!

 

I saw a very small number of 2 door regular cab 3.4 V6 Taco's back in the square headlight vintage. Some had manual hubs, some even a 5 speed. Man did those haul ass. Never seen one with a locker option though. A very rare combo indeed.

If this is a 3rd vehicle and only hauling 200 pounds, I'd probably get the Jeep. An unlimited will have a D44 rear and a 4.0, not a bad combo. I'd take it over a 2 door Taco. A 4 banger 2/3rd Gen Taco leaves a lot to be desired in all departments. Good news it will sick at everything for about 300k miles.

A nicely equipped TJ Unlimited will probably go up in value where the 4 banger Taco no one will want. Except my old man, he is slow.

 

It is very temptin . I've been a jeep head for a very long time and have built many sweet jeeps in my time. The LJ is nice and spacious and yes, they have the D44's. And I am considering this pretty hard as well a d have a couple inquiries out there with dealerships.
Speaking of jeeps. This is my brother in laws JK with a hellcat engine, magte h super charger, and dana 80's that dynatrac custom built for him.