Two days into this new subculture i didnt realize existed

Hello All,

I would love to introduce myself, and give a little background on who I am. My name is Andrew, and I am brand new to the Tacoma World in general, not just these forums. Ive been eyeing the new Trailhunter since it came out. I picked one up a couple days ago and its an absolute monster of a stock truck. Love it. I did not have much of a choice on color when it came down to it, they only had one. So my only visual drawback is the color matched wheels that are color matched to the wrong color, since they all get these bronze wheels. Immediate thought is to wrap or trade them for Matte TRD Pro wheels. I digress, back to introductions.

I am a 34 year old father of two boys, 7 & 9. I have been a lover of the outdoors and motorsports my entire life, but I have always driven small 2 seat rides built for fun times. That was until I had my first son, and I had to "grow up" a little. So I got a Nissan rogue and have been rocking that thing for years now. With being a homeowner I have found myself lacking for transportation space when I need to get stuff from Lowes/HD, plus the Rogue wasn't able to take us everywhere we needed to go. So I decided I wanted to get a truck eventually. Well, the Rogue became unreliable and was giving repair folks a hard time so I knew it was time soon. Lo! & Behold. The local dealership down the highway from town had just parked this BEAUTIFUL white Trailhunter out front. It had gotten in that day and I just so happened to swing by the lot that day, even though they were closed. I'd never stopped by the lot before but wanted to see the new Tacoma in person. Wild coincidence So I left a message about it and test drove it last Monday, put a dep down, picked it up this Wednesday after a console safe install. They did not have any roof racks available

Now the Boys and I can go on weekend adventures basically anywhere we could possibly want to go. We have all the 6ft bed room to put gear and supplies in. The cabin is so nice, and even though it's smaller than some people want the kids fit no issues. Love the light bar and the rack, really dig the ARB rear but wish there was a stock steel front bumper and winch for the price point.

My only functional gripes are the Auto Start/Stop, as I can't sort out how to turn that off. As well as the Fog Lights, as I cant sort out how to actually turn them on. I hit the button but they dont seem to turn on/off nor do I know how to change them from white to amber. Everything else is super intuitive.

Any "must have" mods for rust belt state weather aside a yearly fluid film or other underbody rust protection?
I want to get the rust protection, bar mount fire extinguisher, Rotopax on each side of the bar for spare gas before winter hits again.
I want to eventually... Get a prinsu rack with 40" bar, get a super stock or some other full functionality steel front bumper and winch. Pretty billet Tie-Downs and D-Rings, and Matte Black wheels to match the rest of the trim. By that time there may be some wear and tear on the upholstery so replace the vegan leather upholstery with a set of Katzkin actual leather upholstery. Want to build a rack for my solar generator and a mobile fridge for the bed when we're out on adventures.

Like I said i have been looking at these since they announced their return. Building out lists of stuff i wanted to do to whatever lower tier trim model i could find if a Trailhunter never showed up.

I've been thinking about possibly looking into whether there are any upgrades or mods to make the full "TOYOTA" badge on the front of the TH/TRD PRO glow like the upgraded Logo badges on the lower models. I really like the idea of how that would look

Looking forward to learning everything I can about these trucks, and this new sub-culture of Tacoma Fans I found myself meeting day1 of owning this truck. I had someone leave his wife to go into target alone to shop, so he could stay outside and look at my truck. He was super stoked I let him look at it inside and such but how could I not show off a little with such a beastly ride.

-Andrew

 

Do what you wanna do with your truck, but every single Katzkin leather “upgrade” I’ve seen looks cheap as hell.

 

Welcome to the forum

Post up some pictures of the new ride & congratulations!

Also good on you getting the kids outdoors doing things.

 

Perfect and congrats!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TW.
Congrats, Now you`re a Taco owner.
Post some pictures , We`d love to see it.

 

Whoa, that's a lot of words. Welcome to TW! Lots of good info and personalities. There is an argument to be made you got the best Tacoma. Enjoy! This is The Best Toyota Tacoma in 2025 and Here's Why!

 

I have only seen it twice, and both had them professionally installed. they looked nice. However, it seems to be the only actual authentic leather seat cover/upholstery option ive seen. Better suggestions are very welcome!

 

Thanks i will post some pictures when i take some good ones. I have a couple random shots but just showing off the cool features to people haha.

Yeah I tend to talk a lot. I'm in sales, it's hard to turn off sometimes.
Now I am watching this video, I haven't seen a full video from a mechanic about the truck yet so its good info.

 

Gotta love the new toy smile. Not the best pics and I’ll get some better pics of the suspension when I get it treated to prevent rust.

Cheers

 

Ohhh, it's white. I didn't realize you were talking a white TH. I didn't realize they came in white.

 

Welcome! And I’ve got to say, the wheels look pretty good to me.

 

Katzkin done right is great. There are bunch of others. There is film leather and partial and vinyl options so depends on what you choose. Boy the fronts get the full leather the rest will be center. There is a thread on Katzkins on the forum from a vendor that does great deals.

 

Yeah I think it's called "Ice Cap" if i'm not mistaken. It's nostalgic, i learned to drive stick on a 1990 toyota pickup truck that old farm truck was white and i loved that thing.

So they're growing on me to be fair, they also match the control arms, badge and shock bodies. I've also been told by 3x local shops they cant wrap them and would have to paint them. I dont want to permanently change them like that.

I would do 100% natural authentic leather if thats an option, i have mad leather protection stuff for my boots and other leather goods so i could take meticulous care of the leather.
That being said, if anyone has a better suggestion for a full leather re-skin of seats feel free to let me know.



Unrelated to any of these responses:
Would getting fluid film done to early in the season be detrimental? Like if i filmed my new truck, would i have to do it again before the first snow here in the midwest?
Also, does anyone know how to turn off the Auto Stop/Start functionality? I really do not like that.

 

With a nice clean new truck I would use Cosmoline.

https://www.cosmolinedirect.com/cosmoline-rp-342-heavy-spray-military-grade-rust-preventive/

 

What does vegan leather mean? And if it's a real thing (fake leather? I'm confused), is there any evidence that your taco comes with something like that?

 

Nice looking machine, where in the rust belt are you?

 

This 100%. I use fluid film on my Tacoma, and the wife’s 4Runner got woolwax. Both are great products. That being said, on a brand new truck, I’d definitely go cosmoline without a second thought.

 

As far as I understand the minerex interior is a synthetic leather not a natural leather.

 

I'm in ohio!