Thinking about buying a Tacoma

Hi Everyone,

First post...seems like a great forum!

I used to own a 1998 black Tacoma xtra cab / 4 cyl back when I graduated from College. Great truck, but very underpowered (it was a dog climbing hills on the highway). Have owned cars ever since and presently drive a 2012 Acura TL SH AWD. It's fun, but part of me really misses having a truck. Especially now for all the house projects I have going on.

So I went to the dealer the other day and REALLY like the looks of the Baja Tacoma, especially the lift. But the price is steep, and I honestly don't need all the extra bells and whistles, as I doubt I'll take it off road....much.

I was thinking about taking a look at the double cab, long bed TRD version and adding my own lift and maybe some aftermarket rims & tires. But this will be my every day vehicle. I work from my house, so I won't be putting tons of miles on it, but I do want this to be a every day driver friendly vehicle. I have a wife two little kids as well.

So my questions are:

- Is modding the TRD version more cost effective than buying the baja series?
- What's the easiest way to lift it to give it the baja series look? I think this will require a 2" lift? I'm sort of mechanically challenged, so I would need a garage to do this.
- Will lifting it cause any issues? Ie. poor gas mileage, void my warranty, etc.?
- What other easy mods can I do to make it look like the baja series?

Thanks,
Tim

 

Welcome,
My 2 cents are, with a wife and 2 kids get a 4 door.
Its always cheaper to mod it with your own labor.
Lifting puts stress on the steering, suspension and drivetrain components.
After lifting, bigger and more aggressive tires equals worse gas mileage.
For a 2 inch lift, an add-a-leaf in the back and the Bilstien 5100 shocks in the front are one of peoples' favorites on here.
Try searching the site. There are years worth of blogs on lifts, tires, etc.

 

Thanks for the responses.

Quick follow-up question. So it seems like an after-market lift "may" cause some issues long term with wear & tear. If I opted for the Baja edition out of the gate, does the way it comes stock still make it prone to these issues?

Thanks again!
Tim

 

^yes, any lift will cause suspension parts to wear out faster.

 

Do yourself a favor and buy something else, the quality of these trucks have dropped since they are built with substandard parts made in china. We wont even get into the rust and corrosion issues. Use a borescope on the inside of your frame after toyota applies a fix that is cosmetic only and you will understand. Steer clear of these and all toyota vehicles that are not produced in Japan. It should be noted that I have owned toyota vehicles for 20 years and I worked as a tech for toyota/lexus for many years and the bottom is falling out from under toyota bit by bit. The floor mat excuse was final straw for me.

 

Wow. Someone needs to move on it appears.

Op you can do the mods to get the look but if you don't have the ability to do the work yourself or some buddies on speed dial that can, the cost to pay others to can quickly negate the savings.

Welcome!

 

Yikes - hopefully Toyota is still the great build quality & reliability I'm used to. Like I said, I had a 98 Tacoma, and my wife has had two 4runners (99 and 2004). All were rock solid with no rust issues.

So I went to a dealer last night before I was going to a movie. Was in a rush, but the salesman did his thing. I told him I was in a rush, but I just wanted to "sit" in a DC tacoma to see how it felt for legroom and check it out. He refused to open it for me and said I would need to "come in and fill out some paperwork". I passed on his offer and just kept looking since I in a rush. Went to the back lot and another girl sales rep was nice enough to grab a key and let me check it out. The baja is a damn nice truck! I'm 6' 1" and it felt very roomy. Need to get the wife & kids on board with this idea though. Some will think that I'm nuts for getting rid of a loaded TL w/ only 18K miles....

 

+1, I looked at it and compared the cost. Not much difference unless you do not want the rims and exhaust. I needs the tied upgrade and would have been replacing any way so I went for the Baja. If you just use a 4x4 on the street in snow I would just get TRD.