Find deal on newer truck or buy older model?

I've been lurking here for a bit as I consider buying a Taco for my daughter; so I'm new to this forum. However I'm not new to Toyota's. I have owned a 97 4runner, 99 4runner LTD (we still have this, my son drives it and has added an ARB bumper and American Racing Bajas), 94 "land crusher", a short stint with an 07 double cab long bed Taco, and my current daily is a 14 runner LTD with suspension leveling, running board delete and TRD Pro wheels with TA K02's. So I'm familiar with most of the issues over the years.

I have my daughter currently in a Subaru Crosstrek. We are building a cargo trailer - to - travel trailer conversion for her. She's in environmental science and sustainability and she needs to be able to travel and live at various remote places. So I'm going to trade the Crosstrek for a tow vehicle. I figured I would get her a Taco (because I know Toyota pretty well) and also because she'll need to have a small generator, likely some gas cans and propane tanks etc and I feel like it would be better to keep that kind of stuff in the back of a capped pickup bed, rather than inside a 4runner. Plus she'll have ski, hiking and MTB equipment that needs to live somewhere as well.

The trailer is a 7x12 V Nose Pro Line aluminum cargo trailer. The weight before our conversion is around 1300 lbs. I estimate that when we are done we will be around an extra 1000 lbs, not including additional gear. I'm figuring it will be around 3000-3200 lbs all in.

I have been following the whole frame rust recall thing.

In terms of the search, I seem to be finding trucks that are:

• 2-5 years old, with low miles and high stickers ($25-30K)
• 8-10+ years old, maybe with a new frame, 100-200K miles and yet still with asking prices at mid to high teens and pushing 20K.

Reading a bunch of threads here it seems that the TRD OR option may be better for towing and for snow/mountain etc use.

So I'm trying to get my head around whether to buy as new and low miles as I can afford (I could do the mid 20K if I needed to), or try to find a "deal" on an older (but maybe with new frame) truck. Keep in mind my daughter may be far away from dad's car help if she runs into any issues.

It also seems (from reading here) that after 2013 or even 2014 you're looking at a much nicer truck and many issues will have been sorted.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

Sounds like a pretty good deal for your daughter!

2nd gen trucks ran from

$90 2005-2015 Toyota Tacoma With 4L Right Petrol intake air snorkel kit high performance system compatible kit Replacement black Rotational Molding (2005-2015)

2005-2015 and have the 4.0 engine. 3rd gen trucks are 2016+ and have the 3.5 engine. Many here despise the 3.5 engine for the way it drives (no power down low) and wouldn't consider a 3rd gen for that reason.

2nd gens are largely the same, except:
- 2005-06 are known to have some head gasket issues
- 2012+ have secondary air pumps which can fail, but the fix to avoid is straight forward.

I have a TRD offroad (2011) and don't see how that would help with towing. One of the key features in the offroad package is the addition of a rear axle locker, but it is only available in 4-low. It's unlikely you'll be in 4-low towing on any sort of paved/gravel road. The rear axle locker is more helpful for extreme offroad situations.

If you buy anything with more than 50k miles on it, I'd budget in some new leaf springs for the rear. Factory leaf springs are known to wear out. If she is towing, newer/heavier duty leaf springs will help keep things steady.

 

The Towing Bible is a terrific resource:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-tacoma-towing-bible.4031/

Also, 2nd gens have a stand alone tow package that’s available in models under the TRDs.

I forget what the limits are but being up around 3K might be near the limit.

I have a VIN check website in my signature so as you’re looking, use that to see how a truck’s equipped from the factory.

Good luck to you and your daughter. Sounds like she’s off on an adventurous career!

 

Very simply get as new and low mileage as you can afford. No matter how great , reliable and dependable the Tacoma’s are, the older , the more miles the higher the probably things are going to go wrong and fail. Could be simple little things to major expensive things. I certainly wouldn’t want my daughter traveling around by herself in the boondocks with an older or higher mileage truck. Time and mileage kill parts and components.
A TRD OR or Sport will serve her just fine. The major difference is that the OR has a electronic rear locker. I think it doubtful she’ll ever have to use 4Lo with a locker but it’s a possibly so if you feel more comfortable get an OR. I have a Sport 4x4 and with 4wd and the limited slip front and rear in 4wd , I’ve gone into and out of rough remote terrain with no problems. I’m an avid hunter and fisher and spend a lot of time out in the boonies.
One last thing get one that has the tow package. Some of the things included in the tow package include - transmission cooler, oil cooler, larger battery, heavy duty alternator, wired for trailer plug in, around 6500Lb tow capacity.

 

Do all tow package-equipped Tacomas come with these extra features? I hardly ever tow, but I can see the value in the tranny and oil cooler at least.

 

Yes those features are on all tow packages plus they come with a tow hitch

 

@klavender1

 

Neat, I guess my TRD Sport is fancier than I thought.

 

Avoid the newest 2020 models since they are now missing the aux trans cooler from the factory. Anything mfg after march 2020, and 2019-20 Tundras are missing aux trans cooler as well. Personally I would buy her a 2014-15 TRD Offroad any TRD comes with tow package and all the older ones have aux transmission cooler.

 

Have I got a deal for you! Yes it has 118k miles but meticulously maintained. The first owner took it to our Toyota dealership every 5k miles for service. And I work at a Lexus dealership and have kept it serviced every 5k miles. As far as the secondary air pump concern, I've taken out the foam filter that falls apart and clogs in up and put in a UNI filter to solve that problem. Plus it's a TRD OR with the tow package. It's always been a southern truck so no rust.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2013-trdor-ac-v6-4x4-for-sale-in-sc.678636/

Disregard the wooden shift knob I made out of a piece of dowel because I was bored 1 day. I've since reinstalled the factory shift knob.

 

@raddad22 You would truly be a Rad Dad buying this for your kiddo. Rear locker, ATRAC, winch, sliders, tow package, good tires, she can go anywhere and explore to her hearts content in this truck. And the 2.5 gen is the best, still has a truck engine instead of the minivan motor that they put in the 2016+ trucks.

 

I just spent a few days researching newer used Tacomas. Found several priced around 30k that looked pretty good. From my research it appears 2018s and some 2019s have a recall, as yet unresolved, for a potentially serious problem.

In my naivety I assumed the internet price was pretty firm when dealing with the "internet manager." I ended up buying a new one for a bit less than the advertised price for a trade-in. You might find what you want at the price you want with some negotiation.

 

This is great feedback, and why I like to participate in sites like this. So the key features are to get the 4.0 liter engine (which I believe is the same as what I have in my current 4runner?), the Sport or TRD OR package (which gives her the diff lock if she gets stuck, but I get it that it does nothing for towing ability on the road), and the factory tow package, which yields the aux trans cooling.

From there I am leaning towards a newer, lower mile rig rather than an older rig. That will also leave me with more value down the road if or when she changes gears and settles down, and if she no longer needs the truck in a few years. For now (and for cheaper insurance) I'm just keeping everything under my name and policy until she gets on her feet.

I always treat car purchases from a "commodity" point of view. I'm not afraid to negotiate and I'm not afraid to walk away from a deal. Another one will always come along.

I appreciate the input.

 

@klavender1 nice truck! I think my son would want that. Too bad it's not closer. Good luck with the sale....

 

Although the 4runners and Tacomas both have 4.0L engines they are different. I believe the 4runners have 270+hp and the Tacomas have 230+ hp. Also, I wouldn't shy away from non-TRD models. My SR is 4x4 and has the tow package. It doesn't have a locker but being a member here for a while it seems the consensus is most people in normal conditions never use their locker. You may find better deals looking for a "lower" model but with good options... such as mine.

 

@gkomo ok thanks for that clarification on the engines. And yeah the locker/TRD is definitely not a necessity.

 

Update; We found a truck! 2014 with 89K miles and tons of nice goodies added on. It was not easy. The market has gone completely crazy over the past 2 months. No sooner would we find what looked like a good listing, place a phone call and find out it was gone. We finally got lucky about a week and a half ago. I stumbled on a listing at our local dealer on a Wednesday night. I called on Thursday morning and the sales guy confirmed that they had just taken the truck in and were completing service and recon. I did a VIN search on Toyota's web site and also a CarFax search while I was waiting. The truck was a California truck up until late 2018 before it came east. I found out that from the factory; it has the TRD OR Bilstein suspension upgrade and the Factory Tow package. We started to get excited.

The sales guy texted me mid day to let me know it was ready. We ran right over there. The truck was better than expected. We took it for a test drive and swung back to our house (10 minutes from the dealer) where I was able to crawl around and check everything out without the sales guy lurking over my shoulder. You can eat your breakfast off the underside and frame of this truck it is so clean. It has the suspension and tow packages, it had a lift/leveling kit, Mayhem 17" wheels, upgraded headlights, aftermarket "Toyota" grille, K&N air filter and a Prinsu overland rack! It also has a front bull bar and one of those T Force light bars on the bed. (We have since removed the T force an will be selling it because we got a cap for the truck). The sales guy said that the poor guy trading it in had a couple of little kids and had to go to a bigger truck, but this was his pride and joy. I can tell by how clean it was.

So we jumped on it. I can't say the negotiation was great. It is a seller's market. There was no budging on price however it was fairly priced at market without options and I knew it might be months before we found another one. They offered us crap for our trade (isn't that always the case?) so I didn't bother. I have this mint Crosstrek so I just detailed it and put it on CL; already getting bites and showing it. It will go fast and I'm not leaving money on the table.

Thanks for the advice. My daughter LOVES the truck. She's already been cruising around and has gotten compliments on it several times. And Karma is real. I checked Craigslist the day after I bought the truck, and found a mint condition SnugTop cap, in the same color code! So we snagged that. What are the odds?

Here are a few pictures:

 

I wish I was a girl, the daughters always get the cool toys.
Also boys or irresponsible and I know.

 

Nice truck. Your daughter is a fortunate girl to have a great dad like you. She’ll enjoy the truck.

 

Wow looks like you lucked out especially finding a used shell the next day. And the truck was local to you. The perfect storm but in a good way. I spent 6 months looking for the right truck and had to make a 14 hour round trip. I was very specific with what I wanted so that made it a bit harder I guess (manual transmission, access cab, 4.0L, 4x4). Couldn't find a used shell for a few months so I bought new

Glad it all worked out for you. Wanna tell us what it set you back? Curious about the shell too but I understand if you don't want to say