Fourth time Taco owner, first time joining TW

Hey all. Kinda like the title says, I’ve been through a few tacos, but this is my first time joining Tacoma World, although I’ve browsed it a ton.

(TL;DR: this is my fourth taco and I just got it dropped off today.)

Long version:

i started my Taco journey around 2007-8 with a 2001 Prerunner. Prior to that, I had been a Ford owner through and through. After less than a year, I was in love with and thoroughly impressed by that Tacoma. I had it until 2015, when a bearing started going out that I assumed was saltwater flood damage from coastal VA Navy time.

Having loved it, I knew there was only one choice, to buy a new one. I traded the ‘01 in towards a ‘15 Prerunner in magnetic metallic gray with the TSS package and a long bed. It’s still been one of my favorite trucks to this day.

2 years later, I traded it towards a ‘17 in quicksand. The Al Qaeda version, as everyone at work liked to call it. I ended up selling it to CarMax when my wife went back to school, falling back on a 94 F-150 like I started out with 2 decades earlier.

Fast forward to now. With kiddo number two on the way, a single cab truck just wasn’t going to work much longer. We talked it over, and I got the green light to find the truck I wanted, as long as it was in budget and would stay for a decade or more.

I wanted a Gen 2, as I hadn’t been a fan of the 2017, and didn’t want all the extra newer features. I wanted 4WD, especially after a 2.5 hour drive home this year after an ice storm that normally takes me 30 mins. Magnetic metallic gray, TRD/TSS style packaging, and a long bed completed the check boxes. I looked pretty solid for a few weeks, and then I found the lovely lady pictured with the post.

2015 TRD Sport that someone put a lot of time, effort, and clearly love into. I had to do research on some of it, so I learned about the Perfleybilt front and rear bumpers, and the story some guys here are probably all too familiar with.

I’ve never had 4WD to spend time with, so there’s a lot of the upgrades that I’ll still have to learn about. Thankfully I’ve got a bunch of guys at work that off-road and overland to draw experience from.

I feel cheesy having bought something that’s all but built already, but I’m glad to own it, and look forward to starting my own overland adventures with it, and maybe a little more. I’ve only got a few pics of it at the house, as it just got to OK from CA today, but I’ll toss in some of the pics I have saved from the dealer too.

https://imgur.com/gallery/OnU7ErC

 

Damn good looking truck. Don't feel shame about not having built it, its still an awesome rig. Those bumpers are absolutely killer, hope you enjoy the adventures the truck brings. I'm certain you will.

 

Congrats. It’s a great truck.
Can I ask what you like more about the 2015 vs the 2017? Just curious to hear your opinion.

I’m in the same boat as you. It was time to buy a truck last year so test drove the new Tacoma’s and ended up buying a 2015 trd off road.

 

Thanks! It’s just a little shame I love looking at it too much already for it to be a lot of shame lol.

Thanks! The biggest thing I hated was the transmission. I had steered clear of the 2016 because I heard they had problems, but I don’t know that the ‘17 got much better. My first ‘15 would have a sweet and steady ramp through the gears getting on an on ramp in daily driving. The ‘17 would just pick and choose when it wanted to skip 2nd and drop into 3rd on the same onramps that I never had problems with. I thought it was me at first, but after 2 years of driving it was always random af.

The other half of the transmission problem was similar, but involved pulling trailers. I occasionally use a tandem axle 14’ flatbed to move stuff, so I had gotten real used to manually using lower gears in the 15. With the “Shift plus” feature, I assumed it would be the same, but it wasn’t. I’d downshift to hold momentum pulling a hill, and when it decided it was ready for the next gear, it’d just go there. I can see the benefits of that to prevent damage in normal use, but when pulling a trailer and controlling my speed it was a pain the rear.

I love some of the body features of Gen 3, I just don’t want all the bells and whistles. Which kind of sucks, as Gen 2.5 versions like ours seem to be more limited in customization compared to everything else.

 

@Gr8rSherman8r that's a head turner for sure - nice looking truck.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Thanks! It definitely caught my eye, even after the thousands of Tacos I’d looked at!

Thanks!!

 

Thanks!! @buckhuntin-tacoma! That’s a beauty in your profile pic too, I’m definitely going to bed some step-sides for my kiddo to get in this one, which set is on yours and how do you like them? They look similar to some I’ve been looking at at least.

 

They’re made by N-Fab, much easier for my to get in and out of my truck with the 4 inch lift. Had mine sprayed with bed liner because I run a lot of gravel roads during deer season.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Long bed best bed!

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome!

 

Thanks!!

I’ve had 2 shorts and 2 longs, long bed IS best bed!!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Now if only I could figure out who built this bad beast, because there’s a switch that I STILL haven’t figured out what it does. Whoever did it took a Sport model and poured 5-10k into it, only to lose it to default or liquidation. I say liquidation cause I found this pic that’s reallllly close, and had me wondering. I’ve got what I suspect is the previous owners neighborhood, though, from clearing the GPS navigation, and it looks to be a little far from where Pelfrey was based. The truck did have a bedrack on it at one point ‍.

edit to add: Turns out, after a basic google search, the previous owner of my Taco and Tyler Pelfrey were within 50 miles of each other, which makes me wonder about this picture more.