Going to see a new taco tomorrow maybe buy

Hey guys

Well tomorrow I am going to go see an 2001 Tacoma 4 door limited with a Trd off road package. It is black and also has a camper on it. From the pictures and talking with the owner it has some beauty marks on the tail gate and bumper. The owner said it has small dings and a rock chip in the front windshield he didn't replace because it never spidered out and at the bottom right.

anyways let me get to thee point of this post. Can someone post a link if this has been post or give me a rundown of things to look out for aside from the basics. What I'm talking about is how do I test to make sure the locker works? Any other things I should really look out for.

Thanks in advance guys. I will add the picks he texted my phone until then here are ones he posted online.


As you can see the tail gate and bumper look ruff. The rest of the truck seems good all around from the pictures. Im wondering how much it would cost to fix that or replace it. It being both the bumper and tail gate.

 

sexy

 

I think it looks pretty nice. I have been looking at the pictures for hours studying them. I cant tell if it looks like the hood has a nice crunch on the hood also. I cant tell if its a crunch or just shadows from trees.

How much would a new tail gate to replace be? Thats the only thing I can tell 100%

 

ha ur right about the hood, cant tell if its smashed or just a shadow. and the cheapes ive heard is try to find someone whos selling theirs, and then get it color matched. otherwise its prolly in the high hundreds form the stealership

 

Im also going to go look at an 03, not 4 door but xtend cab, 5speed and trd offroad. Doesn't look to be beatin up like the one shown above. Does have a broken tail light and a little crunch in the fender by the wheel well, however the sellers asking price is right.


Here you can see the baseball sized crunch I was talking about.





couple of scratches on the tail gate *talked to seller today. He bought a new tail light so thats not an issue anymore.

Here you can see the crunched tail light.

 

Lastly if these 2 tacomas fall through I am also looking at a 99 4runner in amazingly clean shape. No locker but it is 4x4. Tell me what you think

 

2nd one looks pretty dirty IMO

For the 4runner, I'd go for that, it looks clean, and unique color

 

Really? I figure the tacoworld guys would booo the runner j/k ofcourse

I have to ask, what about the 2nd one (silver one looks dirty) Only issues I could see are the two crunches. (its on mile 102k)

I figured the first one (black one) looked to be in the most ruff shape. Has def not been cleaned and what not. (its on mile 153k)

The 4runner im loving the color and cleanness. I also like its at toyota and has always been serviced there. They have the service records from mile 5 to 156k (its on mile 156,001)

 

my vote is the 03 ext cab. Its not that dirty, you could put some elbow grease into it and get it how you want. However if extra interior space is a priority (which I'm assuming has some truth to it since your other two options are 4-doors), then the ext cab is probably not a good choice; they can get tight.

 

The silver taco looks like it was taken care of better than the black one. And that 4runner is CLEAN...I'd get that!

 

Nah space really isnt an issue. I have a six year old but he thinks the lil seats in the back look cool. hahaha. Mostly it will be me, a friend and my dog in the truck. The owner of the silver one is a heavy smoker. I my self nor anyone in my family smokes. I assume this can be cleaned w/ some hard work. Or I wonder if I just pay a professional car detailer to clean the hell out of it, the smell could be removed.

Right now my order is silver one, if it doesn't check out or I don't like it then the 4runner is next top pick.

Oh also how hard do you guys think that dent in the fender to fix would be.

 

that smoke smell aint goin anywhere my friend....you can clean, it shampoo it, hell even bleach it. its there for good. i have a theory that tabocco chemically adheres to vinyl and nylon....which makes up the most of our interiors. the best you can do is cover it up. the next logical question to ask is what is your purpose for the vehicle?
do you wheel at all, if so what mods?? do you plan on towing? or like me a DD?

if its a 4x4 toy id pick the silver one its allready got some dents, locker, 5 speed, etc etc

if its a dd id go 4RUNNER

 

^ Disagree. My last vehicle (03 tundra) which I bought in 09 had been smoked in since it was new. I got the smell out completely in 6 months. Cleaning and all that stuff is necessary to get it from plastic/vinyl surfaces, but the best cure for fabric is direct sunlight. Park it in full sun in your driveway as much as possible with all windows open/down. I learned this from my wildland firefighting days; thats the only way to rid smoke from clothes and I found it to work on interior as well.

 

Why do so many people call it a "camper?" Around here its a "topper" and I've heard "cap," but this is a camper...

 

negrotundra you are more tenacious than i sir lol... im not willing to wait that long to get a smell out of my truck, but then again maybe thats why its "priced right" as th OP said earlier.

props for fighting wildfires... dangerous business

 

I deff think the 4 runner is the best of the three. But nothing beats the practicality of a truck. As far as the smoke, I've smoked in my truck since day 1. Just as he said if I leave the truck in my driveway with the windows down the majority of the odor is gone, I mean you can still slightly smell it. And any professional detailed should have an ozone machine which will rid the vehicle of any odor in it's entirety.

 

I'd be a bit suspicious of the silver Xtracab, maybe it's just me but from the pictures the driver's front fender and door seem to be a different shade then the back of cab and rear quarter. To me it looks to be repainted. Did you (can you) get a carfax for it?

Depending on your needs the Double Cab and T4R both look pretty clean. Again, I'd do a carfax and a good up close inspection of either one of the 3 to double check things like wrecks etc.

 

Appearently I am nieve to the smoke smell reducing technology out there lol. i always rolled the windows down to smoke and i never ended up with a smell in my truck... i quit smoking 6 months after i bought my taco but my car before that i smoked in all the time and it never smelled like smoke. (proof is that i took my mom to an appointment once and she didn't complain =) )

the more i think about it the more i like the 4runner

 

So that silver taco (after looking it) has extremely bad rust on the bottom of it. I talked to who would be my mechanic he said run from it. I sent some pictures. It was really bad.

 

Yea I have autocheck and carfax on it. 1 owner no recorded accident. When I saw it in person the undercarage was extremely rusty though.