What would you do? Truck advice

I'll try to make this short

My commute is about 60 miles a day and my truck, which is serving double duty, gets about 17mpg average. In the next couple months I plan to get a car that's better on gas (Civic, Corolla, 22re yota pickup, whatever). I plan to spend $2500 max on a car and with how much I drive, the car will be justified in about a year of driving it, from my calculations. From there, I am considering selling the Tacoma I have, silver one below, in favor of a BUILT (dual cases, 2 lockers, big tires, geared axles) mid 80's 4runner that is reliable enough to get me to the trails and home.

While the current Tacoma is reliable, it's not nearly as fun offroad as my previous Tacoma; the tan one shown below. It also hurts a bit more to beat it up in the rocks whereas an older truck or 4runner, I won't care as much about AND it will be better suited for rock crawling. Not to forget registration and insurance would be cheaper on the older vehicle. Downside of an 80's 4runner is it wouldn't be as reliable getting to the trail as the Tacoma.

Obviously the right answer is to have a tow rig, trailer and dedicated wheeler but that's just a bit more money than I'd like to fork over and daily driving a full size isn't ideal. I'd like to stay at a 2 vehicle maximum.





One thing I forgot to mention is I can probably come out ahead on the deal if I get 9 or 10k for the Tacoma and buy a built older Toyota for 6-7k.

What would you do? Sell the Tacoma in favor of a more built truck or stick with the Tacoma? No, buying my old Tacoma back isn't an option anymore unfortunately.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Why did you get rid of that sexy beast?

 

I like your truck, wouldn't wanna sell that thing!

 

find a sugar momma. make sweet sweet lovin to her. hopefully she will buy you all you want

 

Lost my job at the bicycle shop (shop went under), planned to go back to school about 2 hours away, ended up selling the truck for something better on gas, right before I was ready to go back to school, I got a badass job offer I couldn't turn down and didn't end up going back to school. I was left with a car that was good on gas but no truck. Hence why I built the double cab.

 

The truck I have now is great for dual purpose catering more towards street driving but it's just not fun to wheel offroad. It still needs more work (gas tank & tranny skids, u-bolt flip, beefed up front skid, a set of KM2's) to be better off-road but then I'm pushing the limits of the IFS.

 

I say you have the right idea, no sense in beating up a nice truck. but just so you know the 22re trucks don't get much better mileage than the current v6 tacos.

 

in that case, why not buy an old Jeep? I know we're on a toyota forum, but jeeps are built for wheeling and are very impressive offroad...

just throwing out options though, I understand not wanting to beat up the tacoma!

 

oh, and I'll give you $9k for your Tacoma. I want 4 doors!

 

get a bike, then ride in the middle of the street with other cyclists

 

I'll give you $10k

 

prove it!

 

I won't be caught dead in a Jeep....or a Prius and I'm a diehard Toyota guy Even if the 22RE shits the bed, I'll swap a 2.7 Tacoma motor in and it'll get 20+mpg. My ultimate goal was to own a first gen 4runner with a 3RZ in it; ultimate reliability!

I'd take either of you up on your offers but the problem is you both live in Canada and I have no idea how transferring the title works and all that. When I sell, I'd like to do it locally so the buyer knows exactly what they are getting. This truck is extremely clean and has been taken care of it's whole life through Toyota and myself.

 

It's not too hard a job to get it across the border... I'll look into it!
any accidents?
how many miles?

 

I think it was in 1 front end accident before I bought it but I had no idea when I bought the truck since it didn't come up in the carfax. Frame wasn't tweaked or anything, I was able to get the TG front bumper on without any issues. It has an ARB rear locker and Can Back over the bed too. 177k miles