PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Upgrades rarely add any value to your truck unless the potential buyer had something in particular in mind. Most of the.time you are better off returning the truck to stock and selling the parts to get some kind of return.

 

I'm proof.
I lost over $4k on my 1st Gen in 2004 when I traded it in.

 

@ColoradoTJ

I have consistently put about 20K miles on my truck in a year since 2020. This year, two things happened that were out of my control, and resulted in me putting almost 30K miles on my truck this year. The first was true love; I did not expect to reconnect with a girl from my high school days and end up rescuing her from the shitty situation she was in.

I got pulled over by an NJ state trooper at the end of January 2023, and proudly told him that the truck had 163K miles on it when he complimented me on what good condition it was in; Carfax shows me getting an oil change in March 2023 at 165K and in May 2023 at 170K. I was driving up to Washington, New Jersey 3+ times a week between January 21st and April 1st of 2023 when Amanda still lived up there; 50 miles one way. Surprisingly, I only put about 6,000 miles on my truck from the middle of December 2022, through the end of March 2023 when I help Amanda move down here. So, it turns out that true love is only a small portion of why my truck has so many miles now.

The other thing beyond my control was getting laid off in October 2023 and resorting to DoorDash (something I swore that I was done with) purely out of desperation. Just from October to December of 2023, I put 5,000 miles on my truck! DoorDash sucks, and I am truly done this time.

 

Cruise control, intermittent wipers, backup camera...? That's the stuff I'm talking about...

 

I've seen low-mileage 5-lug RCs going for $10K+; CarMax in King of Prussia has a 2013 RC 5-lug with 60K miles for $20K, which I'm pretty sure is more than it sold for brand new...

 

Actually, the head gasket job (which included a timing chain) was almost $5K; I pay for pretty much everything on the truck myself (routine maintenance, unscheduled maintenance, insurance, etc). When the head gasket blew in October 2022, I didn't have that kind of cash readily available, as I put most of my money into an investment account that I cannot touch right away. I did extensive research, which included a replacement engine and a replacement truck, and my parents ultimately came to the rescue by paying for the entire head gasket job as an early Christmas present. The head gasket, timing chain, and all parts and labor associated with it are covered until October 2024 with unlimited mileage. If the engine goes kaboom before the middle of October this year, Thompson Toyota will pay for everything. I plan on either selling my current truck or relegating it to "second vehicle" status long before I get anywhere near 250K miles. If I hit the lottery, I would keep the truck and put a new engine in it when it died.

 

I'm not afraid to say it.
The Honda Ridgeline is actually a better deal than most Tacoma trucks on the used market.
Before I'd over pay for a 2.7 or a PreRunner, I'd look at a Ridgeline.

Us Tacoma owners are crazy. We pay a lot for used Tacomas.

I don't know what you're looking at buying next Charlie, but we'll still love if you jump ship and go to a different brand.
I probably will myself too.

 

I have come to terms with the fact that I need to start looking for a new truck. I will likely NOT buy another 2nd Gen; I have my heart set on a 2018-2019 Tacoma SR5 V6 with 4WD. It has the safety features I want, it has a CD player, and the radio doesn't have that stupid nanny state feature that locks me out of the iPod interface at over 5 MPH. I will also NOT buy a 2.7L 3rd Gen, because they are too slow! The 2023 SR that I recently spent a week driving while my truck was getting fixed, was slower than my truck!

 

Right, I knew what you meant.

 

I'm looking at the current Frontier; Ridgeline is too goddamn expensive! I'm not selling the 2010 this year. It just needs to last one more year, and I want to at least do the "Zombie Truck" and the "Christmas Truck" one more time...

 

Yeah, that stuff adds value. My truck is actually quite stock compared to others I've seen. It's got a 2" lift kit that wasn't particularly expensive, and the biggest upgrade is the stereo, which is very discreetly installed and doesn't take away from the drivability of the truck.

 

You can still do some upgrades to the Stereo on a 3rd Gen to improve it too, I did Subaru Tweeters in the Dash, Kicker Speakers in the Doors, and some sound deadener in the doors too.

 

If you manage to get anything, it will honestly be pennies on the dollar as upgrades just dont get figured into value.

 

The biggest issue here is payments; I've never had payments because my current truck was a gift, and I really don't want to finance a 2018-2019 Taco at today's interest rates.

 

Well, I'm not gonna yank out the cruise control. It probably won't get me any extra money, but it will still increase my truck's appeal over a similar one...

 

Definitely helps if you have a few bucks saved up beforehand, hopefully your folks can offer you an interest free loan.

 

That's what I'm hoping for; I have good credit, but that doesn't seem to mean shit anymore because interest rates still stuck.

 

I know what you mean, have had a Lowe's Card at a reasonable rate for years, they sent a recent letter that says they are jacking the rate to over 30%. I have a current balance of about $100 so will pay it off and cancel it as I would never pay such a ridiculous amount like that.

 

I've always paid off my credit card before they can charge interest...