Decision to Purchase

Oct 6, 2015 ....
.... was the day I spent 3 hours at a dealer, reviewing, test driving, etc. Ultimately placing an order for a 2016 TRD Access Cab Off Road with all the whistles and bells.
(My entire life has been driving manuals: my 3 speed 1968 FJ40 which I still drive since new (47 years I've been driving this thing? geez, where has the time gone?).
I have my 2002 SR5 already sold (for damn near the same $$$ what I bought it for 160K miles later); will hand if over IF/WHEN I get the '16 Tacoma.

Been spending COUNTLESS hours in these forums, reading the reviews of others, particularly focused on the 6 cylinder Adkinson/6speed AT combination. Enough to really question my decision to purchase.

So, I took a two drive today, back to the dealer for a fairly analytical and revealing re-test drive. And here is how I feel about the truck and my decision to purchase.

With all the shifting up and down, and in and out of Drive/Sport modes, and all the rest of the configurations I could think of:

I am so ready to take delivery on this truck; the drive today functionally removed all doubts I had accrued as the result of reading in this forum. I know there's a great many people who have bought these new trucks and are not convinced about whether they made a good decision to buy. Personally, I can't wait to learn about this thing, what it needs and how to manage it.
To all of you who really like the trucks you bought, Way To Go.
To all of you who think its not what it should be and that the machinery has 'issues', I hope the best for you that you can reach some level of satisfaction.
I believe Toyota has made an incredibly good machine. It is very likely starting the program which we will see many other makers will follow over the years to come.

Reminder: this IS One Man's Opinion.

So it was a good day.
(And yes..... the pics? those are of my machines.)

 

Chip! Stop driving that FJ and sell it to me!

 

I have no problems with my decision to purchase.

 

Shoot, I'll probably use it to be buried in! LOL

 

ill be at your funeral

 

To take delivery? HA! sorry, its already been spoken for..
Its a great rig; almost stock. Just shy of 200K mikes, the biggest problem has been the brakes which I finally addressed by converting the front axle to disc brakes with PWR assist. Switching the disc eliminated 4 of the 8 brake cylinders which need a ridiculous about of maintenance.

 

Is that a Bell 403?

 

No. AS350B2. 13 Years in Alaska.

 

You kind of look like the guy off of the dodge ram commercials. LoL

 

Nice.

 

Nice FJ. Mine says hello!

 

Nice.

 

I love them. I drove both manual and automatic versions, and settled on a manual transmission. I found the automatics shifted a lot between 5th and 6th on my test drives so I just decided to go with a manual transmission truck.

 

Sam Elliott

 

Yup, thats him!!

 

That's a fine FJ.

 

Thx. Sure been to the end of the road and beyond many times. (I remember the day when forest lands, public AND private, had no gates... )