Would you buy this Tacoma? (Off road mods)

Fellas:

New here but a long time lurker.

Looking to get me a reliable truck for home renovation duties. Do not need 4WD, but I want 6 lugs and some ground clearance. Regular cab. Regular cab prerunners are not too common so I might have to get a 4WD while not needed it at all, ever. In Miami it doesn't snow and I don't go wheeling.

Anyhow, a dealer a county away has a 99 regular cab 4WD with some mods... Is this a bad idea for a daily ride? Is the 4WD system problematic? Or should I hold out on a prerunner to avoid the hassle?

Would you buy this Taco? Is it lifted? Or is that just in the tires? What would you pay for this truck?

Yea it looks to have some serious mods but that can mean abuse, flooding, wheeling, rock crawling, who knows. This something to avoid not knowing what it's been thru?

Thanks, fellas! What would you do? What would you pay?

 

OP that's a really good looking truck that looks like it has been takin care of. It is probably more then you need, but better to have 4x4 and not need it then need it and not have it. Of course there is a little more maintaince and money involved in a 4x4(transfer case, extra diff, cv axles, etc), but these trucks are known to be very reliable and don't have that many problems. That is a low mileage truck by tacoma standards. You should be able to get 250-300k out of that truck no problem, and long as it was taken care of.

It definitely has a small lift and bigger tires, but if it looks like it does in the pics, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. I got my prerunner, v6 auto extra cab for $5900 with 147k miles, and I have been told that was a steal. The pictures truck is a 6k+ truck all day

 

A mild lift and bigger tires, are not what I would call 'major mods'. I didn't see any red flags in any of your photos. Lots of tread on the tires. Not sure what that thing is right behind the battery, though.

On the positive side, it has manual front hubs. That is pretty rare. For a wheeler, that is good for reliability. For a non-wheeler, its good in that the front axles are not turning at all, while in 2WD. Better on gas mileage and saves wear and tear on the transfer case, front axles and front diff.

 

If you buy it I'll trade you a stock front bumper for the bumper that's on it

 

Thanks, fellas.

Manual hubs, excellent. Anything to prolong the 4wd system is good in my book. I'm a wrencher on the side, specializing in Toyota, so doing work on this is no problem, but I rather not. I need a good reliable truck for parts hauling as well. So as long as its not nitpicking me to death with issues I'm fine with it. Hence me looking at a Taco.

BTW they are asking $6,700 for it. Those pictures the salesman took for me since I had asked. The dealership is about an hour away from me so just hopping over to see it is not that simple with my schedule.

Thanks fellas. Anything else to check out/ask?

And if I do buy, yes the camper shell and perhaps the bumper are for sale.

 

That one sounds perfect for what it sounds like you are wanting, for just utility use and not necessarily a daily commuter. The 4 wheel drive will help it retain value so you might use it for years and still come out with close to what you paid.

Around here, hunters/fishermen looking for older cheaper spare vehicles with 4WD would jump all over a low mileage one like that.

You might be able to pretend to hesitate about the single cab and oversize tires and wrangle a good deal out of it.

 

With just over 100k, and in the APPEARANCE of the condition of the truck, that is a steal at $6,700. Especially with manual hubs. I love my manual hub truck. While it seems crazy, if you are not planning on wheeling the truck you could help your fuel by putting on a factory bumper. Selling that bumper alone could net you $500 in a second. If there is a winch you could add another $200. So net on your investment then would be about $6k.

 

You guys are totally selling this truck to me, haha.

It will be a daily commuter. Altho my commute is 4 miles each way and it takes me 9 minutes. So I don't drive a lot to work. My wife has a Corolla for trips and such and I have a turbo SC300 for mischievous duties.

So it will be a daily but I have other methods of getting around as well.

What kind of mpg would something like this get? How easy would it be to bring it back down? I love the factory stance. Is there any downside to these big tires and lift? MPG killers?

 

I think short drives are typically mpg killers. I would think you could get close to 20 mpg though. Rough guess.

 

In it's current state? Wow that's not bad at all. I can totally do that.

Thanks.

 

Carfax shows a frontal impact in 2008. Might explain the bumper. Will take extra care checking out the frame in this area if I decide to get up there.

 

Yeah, since you said it will be a daily driver and if you are sure you won't need 4WD, I personally would hold back some on that one. A lot of posters are saying it is a steal, but you have to check the actual book values for your area. All markets are different and make sure when you look it up, don't add anything for the aftermarket crap on it, only the factory options if any. My experience is nothing is a steal from a dealer. Maybe a very good deal, but ONLY if they had it for a good while and it hasn't sold for some reason.

Don't know about your area, but up here, you don't see that many single cab trucks anymore. So if it were me and I really liked the truck I would go visit and see what they offer you. Then I would take a gamble and pretend to be concerned about the tire mods and other aftermarket stuff and the collision. You will probably have to leave and don't call them back. With luck they may call you back in a few days then you are in the driver seat if they want you back in there. Otherwise, just be patient and something else will come up exactly like you want. Certainly not a shortage of Tacoma's in the US.

 

Thanks for playing devil's advocate. Both sides need to be represented.

It is true, I don't need 4wd. Would I find myself somewhere needing it? Likely not but it's possible. What I do know is, I want a regular cab 6-lug truck.

And yes, they are hard to find here as well. Ideally, I'd find a Regular cab prerunner but those are rare as well. I missed out on the only one on craigslist that sold literally hours before going to see it. It was an 01 in Lunar Mist, my 2nd fave color choice for 5,500. Damn.

So I probably shouldn't pay extra for it and treat it as a prerunner. Perhaps say tell him $5,500 out the door and I'll come pick it up when he wants.

I'd love to play the walk out game as I usually do, but the dealer is over an hour away.

It was traded in yesterday. The ad doesn't even have pics yet, those were from his phone that he sent to me. So they may not be too eager to sell it low just yet. But when the pics get out, a wheeler might pick it right up.

So still undecided. The fact my sedan is almost sold is not helping. I'm trying to stall it as much as I can before the buyer walks.

 

Fuse/relay box...

 

Just take a good look at the frame for rot, if it looks good I'd jump on it. Nice looking truck with useful accessories.

 

You say you dont wheel now... Buy that truck and report back in a few weeks.

 

LMFAO dude... You sound like a friend of mine. Always putting dangerous and/or bad ideas into my head.

Maybe the 2WD is the best choice after all haha.

You know there *are* some pretty popular mud holes in Miami and surrounding parts...

Ugh. No, I must fix my house. I need a Home Depot truck. Let me just keep telling myself that.

 

Lol, Just saying, that truck would do the home dept runs just fine. Then when you're done with the house, you can go wheeling.

 

Personally in S FL I wouldnt think you'd ever need 4x4 ever lol

Aside from the crash part sounds like a pretty ok deal

 

I have been looking for over a month for a single cab, low mile, 4X4 in the south....I haven't looked much further south than northern FL but around here (north Ga area) that truck would have already been sold and would be 10,000 plus sitting on a used car lot....Even with a salvage title it would sale for their asking price up here. I would check the vin number before I bought it.

If you don't buy it please send me the dealer info.

Brian