Diesel Tacoma featured on TFL is for sale

Probably for reliabilities/emissions sake.

There are a lot of issues with clean diesels

 

nope, bc of the Chicken tax, this prevents automakers from selling small pickup trucks in the US, unless they are built here.

 

I'm not sure what the chicken tax has to do with Jeep putting a diesel in a Gladiator.

Toyota has always played it conservative in the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TtGQnyPZ6g

 

You can import a hilux for 70k

 

Educate me. What is so special about the Hilux? Even a few Salesman at the Dealerships speak highly of them for whatever the reason. Besides Diesel, what is the big deal?
And I don't see Diesel as a big attraction.

 

A lot of it has to do with Top Gear and the rarity factor IMO

 

I think it's got to do with the fact that you can't get or they are hard to get here in the States. Sort of a "I want what I can't have" sort of thing. I know for me when I see a Gray Market vehicle it's special, like walking through a parking lot and seeing a full roll cage in a Camry. You know there's something different about the car which makes it unique.

All that an I think the HiLux has a reputation of reliability and ruggedness which rivals the classic Land Rover's. Oh and solid Front Axle.

Dang it, now I've to look-up vehicle importers again...

 

I prefer the Tacoma's styling.

But you're telling me this thing has a solid axle? I couldn't easily find the information myself

 

I was talking about the older Hi-Lux's from ~20 years ago. I'm sure the one in your pic uses IFS. The newer ones sort of give-off a Ridgeline vibe to me.

 

ugly as shit

 

Haha those are serious Ridgeline vibes bro

 

The tacoma was built for going to the mall the HiLux was built for smashing roos, working and exploring the outback

 

So:
The owner of Diesel Toys, Todd, is one of my best friends. I worked for him for 2018-2019 and still do a little moonlighting when he needs a little help with the grunt work of installing or tear downs. I actually did a lot of the grunt work on this very truck!

Todd does INCREDIBLE work. His conversions are clean and there are no 'gremlins' or bugs in his conversions. Diesel Toys is NOT a home-garage project outfit. Far from it. It is a very professional operation. He's the best mechanic I know personally and goes above and beyond for his conversions, and they are a lot of work, especially the harness work!

The truck in question literally does drive just like it came from the factory with that D4D in it. Those turbo 4 cyl diesels make a Tacoma a joy to drive, no joke!

ALL THAT SAID, I personally would not pay $75k for this truck. Ron is understandably trying to get what he put into it with a little profit. Who wouldn't?
It is definitely perfect and drives like a champ, and I worked on the damn thing, but no, I would not spend $75k.
If someone wants it bad enough and has that kind of money for instant gratification, it's a great truck and will last a long time.

And please (I probably should not have even posted lol), - I don't want to field questions about DT and I don't care if Ron sells his truck or not!
I am mainly posting to state that Diesel Toys does top notch work - best Toyota diesel conversions in the US.

 

I don't think anyone doubts the OEM level of quality in this conversion, but for $75k i can get a Raptor and have some money left over for a slurpee

 

Exactly

 

I read the article about the Top Gear truck challenge. Pretty impressive.

 

I also think it's silly that they picked an SR5 for the conversion.

I think they should have used a manual Off Road or Pro

 

He used an SR5 because Ron (the owner of the SR5) got it new off the lot for a smoking deal in early 2018. The majority of trucks DT does are gen 3 Tacoma OR's or Pros, but a lot of gen 2 Tacoma's too, a bunch of land cruisers from all gens, a few FJ Cruisers from 1969-2007, and a couple Sequoias. And a Tundra or two...

You would be VERY surprised how many people bring in old Tacoma gen 1's and gen 2's that are beat up to hell, not taken care of at all, about to spend $30k on a conversion. It's so strange... The owner of DT has actually turned a few trucks away due to being in such bad shape - like junk yard bad, rusted, ripped up interiors... some people have more money than sense!

 

I think that's why it won't sell and the end of the day it's still an SR5 that needs a lot of upgrades to maximize the enjoyment level. The only thing it can currently do is go down the road further on a tank of fuel.

There's a lot of things one can do with $75k and I can't imagine this is on people's bucket list of how to spend that kind of money. It would get lost in a parking lot in it's current configuration.

I'm not saying it's a bad truck or the build quality is bad, but $75k NOPE. It seems he's been trying to sell it for over a year.