Being led to the light

I’ve had a truck or two in my life, but, I was out camping, at the time I owned a GTI and these couple of dudes came rolling through with a first gen. I was very jealous of ground clearance. Started looking for a used manual, then just started looking for a manual.

 

Toyota fan here, but not rabid. 190k miles on my FJ and the only repair was an alternator at 135k. That’s over 9 years.

Reliability is a thing.

I needed a pickup bed and a loaner full size turned me off after the first trip to airport parking. A tacoma was the answer.

Later in life now and a full size or SUV may be in the cards.

 

Toyota says: Come at me bro....

 

I purchased a brand new Ram 1500 years ago and took meticulous care of it and it turned into an absolute nightmare of a truck. The vast majority of the issues were electronic. After that experience, I wanted to buy the most reliable thing I could find because I use my truck like a truck and don’t have the time to deal with it constantly breaking.

The Tacoma’s reputation in that department is obviously well known so here i am! Best choice I’ve ever made.

 

Oh…. And back in the day I had a ‘92 Toyota pickup. Pre Gen1. 22re 4-banger in a manual 4x4. Point and go. Not fast, and not with a heavy load, but otherwise it would go wherever you told it to.

I drove it regularly towing my sailing boat….not a heavy boat but probably a bit of drag. Clutch started slipping and it wouldn’t hold the high gears under load. Spent a winter weekend on a garage floor and creeper and swapped out the plate myself. I was sore from that one for about a week. Cold concrete just saps it from you. Other than that repair, it was running just fine at 170k miles when I traded out of it.

 

My first truck was a used two-tone brown/beige Isuzu Pup long bed, 5sp while I was stationed at Hickam AFB, HI circa 1999-2003.

It was a transition vehicle since I had to ship our 2003 Silver Honda Pilot EX to my next assignment in Germany.

Had that SUV until October 2018...then a 2010 Mazda CX-9 and finally a brand new Midnight Black 2021 TRD Sport Auto/DCSB in May of same year.

Found this site in Sept 2021 so I was unaware of all the hoopla. lol

I've had her 4+ years and have spent well over $5K on upgrades...prolly closer to $8K.

I enjoy posting on this board and have met members through Meet Ups in Delaware & PA/Philly.

Living in the TriState Area is a great experience for this transplanted west coast guy from SoCal/LA via retiring from USAF.

 

Still not a 5th wheel

I bet I could "pull" that with my 200hp sports car

 

Yea I had one too. Bought it new for $6,700 in Sacramento.
I think the payments on that thing was like $120 a month LOL.

I ran it up to 199,999 miles and sold it for $1,000.... I think it's still running somewhere.

Original clutch... hell I think it still had the original tires on it LOL

 

First vehicle was a Toyota. Also, I used to work for a large automotive company. The most reliable used vehicles were always Toyota and Lexus. They might've had 60k miles, but they still rode and drove like new.

I'm not partial to any particular brand, but some manufacturers are better than others imo. My 3rd gen has been one of the best vehicles I've ever owned and I'm thankful for that.

 

There’s a bunch of brands I do not want to drive. Ever get a rental, and they give you some lime green hyundai?, with Georgia plates? While your in upstate ny…

 

Chevy beat Toyota years ago

1972 Chevy pulling a 747
Chevy Cheyenne vintage commercial

I had always respected Toyota quality, but there was no way to make a truck that small work for me when my kids were home. I bought my 2007 a few months after my youngest moved out.

 

Last rental I had was v6 camaro convertible from hertz. It was full of fleas. It hurts to rent from hertz.

 

My first truck was a new 1979 Chevy stepside (last year of the wooden bed). I put over 400,000 on it.
Next was a little bare bones 1991 Isuzu pickup, I put about 380,000 on it.

New GMC’s are blowing up left and right with that AFM system.
Fords have massive tranny failures, and spark plugs are breaking off in the heads.
Nothing against Dodge, just never liked them.

So I bought my first Toyota, we’ll see how it fairs.

 

Got in a pinch for a truck in the 90's, and found an '89 2WD with 125K for a good price. Bare bones, 22R, 4 spd. Had a Maine forestry sticker in it. I worked the livin' snot out of that truck: think it spent half it's time on the bump stops with the rear loaded down. I added ~100K to the OD, then gave it to my dad. He added another 50K before he stopped driving. Put a water pump on it, but that's it. That little truck's reliability impressed me with Toyota.

 

A buddy had a mid 90's Corolla growing up that I always really liked, still one of the most well built vehicles I've ever been in. Another had a single cab 1st gen Tacoma that he bought in college, and the first time I drove that, I knew I wanted one. Came from a background in cars but loved little trucks, and always liked the Toyota truck aesthetic way more than any of the domestic midsize offerings, so I bought my 1st gen access cab 4wd 5 speed in ~2014 and enjoyed the hell out of it.

Never really had love for the 2nd gen Tacoma's, although they grew on me over time, but when the 3rd gens were released, I knew that's what I would eventually replace my 1st gen with. COVID had me saving money like never before during the first few months of isolation while my 1st gen had gotten a bit long in the tooth, so I pulled the trigger in the fall of 2020 on my current truck before prices went nuts. Been a happy owner since, especially hearing about all of my buddies who still drive domestics making half a dozen trips to the dealer for various ailments on their relatively new trucks, and am certainly not eager to join in on that fun. I intend to drive my truck til the wheels fall off, and if Toyota is still making good Tacomas when that happens, I'm sure I'll end up in another one.

My old man was very much "buy American" growing up, so I think some of my Toyota love came out of spite too, lol. My mom bought a 2005 Corolla, much to my dad's chagrin, as the first Japanese vehicle in the family. 20 years later, and my dad refuses to get rid of it with 250k on the odometer while my mom has replaced it with a Rav4. Dad still uses it as a runaround vehicle because it gets great gas mileage and it always works. Couldn't talk him into a Tundra (and wasn't sure I wanted to when the new gen came out) so he ended up in a Silverado after years of being disappointed in Fords, but there's still time to convert him.

 

My mom and grandma each purchased 1st gen Rav4's (both 5sp manuals) in 1998 brand new together. They both drove those until my sister and I were of driving age. I inherited the 4 door in silver. Severe lack of maintenance, mobbing the mountains, rear ended and not ever a mechanical issue.... My sister inherited the 3 door coupe in red; treated it similarly and had no issues either.

Years later, moving in with my girlfriend of the time it was decided that it was time for us to be a 2 car household and I went and bought a 2000 VW Jetta VR6 5sp manual. It was the exact opposite experience I had with the Rav4's in where basically every time I drove it, it had something wrong with it. Silver lining to it was that I learned how to wrench on cars because of this car; but at some point it shut down on me and I'm pretty sure it threw a T-chain and I was sick of the damn thing.... Scrapped it and went and bought a used 2015 Scion tC 6sp manual to replace the Jetta. Thing was great and I was very glad to be back in the seat of a Toyota again.

Few years down the road and divorce happened and she took the Scion, much to my dismay. However, it opened the opportunity to purchase my first truck; the Tacoma! My now wife traded in her 2016 Honda CrV in favor of a 2021 Highlander as the family car after she met me; completing us as a Toyota family

Our family members all have Ford's, Jags, Kia/Hyundais, etc and I am constantly being called to come help them fix this, that and the other on their cars. The only "work" I do on our Toyota's are maintenance and upgrades/mods.

TLDR; grew up in a Toyota family, branched out of Toyota when I was older and regretted it deeply. Came right back to Toyota and will never look back!

 

My truck was on the elevated platform in front of the dealership and looked great, so I bought it. Pretty much all there is to it.

 

When I got my 2000 Access Cab in 2004 I was living with my grandfather. I was so proud to show him and had him walk up to the window to see it in the driveway. He said good looking truck,that a Chevy or what is it? I said it's a Toyota. He asked where it was made and told him Japan. He said you know I fought against them right? I think he felt I betrayed our family loyalty to GM.