Looking to buy a taco

What's going on guys, I've been looking for a 1st gen taco for a few months now and think I've finally found a some decent ones. Please excuse my ignorance as I'm a VW guy and have always owned them so this is new for me.

Are there any specific things to look out for on these trucks for failure? Other than normal inspection that I should take a look at before buying? I know on my VW the timing belt tends to go much sooner than factory thinks.

Going to be used as a daily driver, around town, occasional off road (nothing extreme), just need something reliable that isn't going to leave me stranded.

Thoughts opinions any help would be appreciated as I'm new to the TACO world

Anyway, the two I'm looking at now are as follows...

1.) 02, Black, SR5, 4x4 double cab., v6 3.4l, automatic, 55,000 miles.
- asking price is $14,6xx
- 3 owners
- dealership owned (mercedes dealer..)
- tires are pretty much bald and need replacing asap
- oil pan/plug seem to be leaking (from quick look when I slid under the truck)
- lots of little scratches (pretty noticable on black paint) seem to be from brush/trees from being off road

photo

2.) 03, silver, sr5, trd pkg, crew cab, 4x4 v6 3.4l, 5spd, 119,000 miles
-asking price is $11,995
- tires have 80%+ life left
- spotless inside and out
- private licensed seller

photo

 

Both look like decent deals for the price. I'm a little iffy on the Black dbl cab and some of the would-be repairs you might need to do.

Are you a family guy? Do you plan to haul around friends n'such? maybe you should take the dbl cab. The Silver with the TRD package would have you pretty set for a while as far as what you describe might be your off-road habits.

 

the wheels on the black one look like the wheels i had on my 2000 taco... and I dont think they sold them from the factory on the 01-04 model... so im guessing someone swapped those out along the way.
When I was shopping for my trucks in the past it was mostly about what I needed in a truck (extra cab back in 2000 and 2003 and double cab by the time 2006 came around). Do you need the double cab? if not, the extra cab silver taco looks like it might be better (silver paint hides blimishes and dirt the best of all colors).

Other than that, I dont know much about issues of the 01-04 tacos cause I never owned one. My 2003 truck was a tundra.

Good luck.

 

Check the frame for rust, I bought a 2001 DC in september, and the dealership has had my truck for a month while we are waiting for a frame reaplacement.

 

Wow, awesome response time on here. Very nice!

I have no reason to have double cab, just me and the lady and no kids planned yet.

As for off road, I MTN bike and would like to be able to get to trails here off road in sand etc, but I'm in Florida so there isn't anything too impressive here. I'm buying this as a second vehicle as my current car is a VW I've poured money into over the last 6 years and it's just not as comfortable as a daily driver as it was when I was younger. It sits about 3" off the ground and can barely clear speed bumps without the control arms taking out the yellow paint. Figure I won't have this problem in a taco
I could probably get away without 4wd as well, but I'm at the beach a lot in the summer (Daytona) and I never want to worry about getting stuck in sand or anything off road.

My buddy has 1980 Toyota with a 20r, it's got well over 300k on it and it still runs like a champ. To this day that truck has not been stuck once and we've been in some pretty crazy places with it.

Picture of my current car

 

Old photo of buddies Toyota since I have it.

 

Another thing before I get off here... Is mileage a concern, I mean the black one has only 55k while the silver one has about 120k, if correctly maintained and taken care of what can I expect out of them? Should I buy one with less miles "just because" or is that irrelevant if it's taken care of?

 

Hah, your reasons for getting a tacoma were similar to mine when I first got my truck. Look for my build thread.

I'd definitly go with the silver in your situation. I wouldn't worry about the miles at all. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but i'd trust a truck with higher miles with one owner vs. a truck with less miles with a few owners.

 

Awesome, and it's silver!

 

Offer your buddy 5k for his truck, its twice the truck the other 2 are.

 

You want the silver one. Don't let 119k scare you. I just purchased an '03 with 149k on it... confidently =) Well maintained, you're gonna get a MINIMUM of 250k... and that's if the truck is a cursed lemon.

 

He would never let it go, he's done every bit of work to that truck.

Going to look @ silver one in person today!

 

Shit dude, now that Im lookin' at it, that's the EXACT truck I have... and yah, I started out saying I need a nice dependable commuter truck I can take camping and light off-roading, lmao! Its still stock (bought 2 months ago) but I already have a build list over $3k... so ummm, yah... be prepared...

 

Nice truck those are usually rust buckets here in the midwest if you can even find one.

 

Yea, it was a rust bucket. He replaced the door panels, and my dad put a LOT of hours into fixing rust spots on the bed.


Silver one turned out to be from PA, more rust on the underside/frame then I was comfortable with. It wasn't terrible but I don't want to deal with troubles down the road. There was also a ton of rock chips on the bed from debris flying off the rear tires. Also what looked to be power steering fluid leaking from somewhere. Two owners with 3 pages of maintenance history too, was a well kept truck.

Turns out the guy is a Tacoma freak, knows a ton about them and actually once I got to talking with him suggested I wait if I didn't 100% need 4WD. I really don't, the beach (in sand) is about the extent of my off road needs. He explained that he comes across Prerunners more often than 4wd and suggested I look them as the price would be a little less for almost the same truck.

He said, and please correct him if he's wrong.. that the Prerunner SR5 with TRD PKG is the same truck as the 4x4, less the 4WD. However the Prerunner with TRD Package has a locking rear diff in 2003+ models. (I did not know this, and figured with a locking rear diff I should be able to handle beach sand with 2wd)

JBear, I was looking at your truck and they are pretty much the same thing. Good stuff, I'd be in that truck right now if it wasn't for the rust. Oh well.. I have no problem waiting for the right one!