2012 Tacoma, All options or 2016 sr5 4x4?

Hello Folks. I am in the Coast Guard, soon traveling to Alaska. I am looking to trade my 2014 Camry for a new 16 Tacoma. I saw one I liked, a 4x4 TRD Off-Road Crew Cab, Sand color with the long bed. They want 37k, but I can talk them down. Anyhow. the only reason I am kinda off about buying it is because it does not have the Premium Package. I feel the only thing I will want with the whole package is the heated seats. Should I get the Premium Package or would the regular package be fine? Anyone really feel it was necessary for the Premium package? Another dealer is getting a orange short bed and has the prem package..Darn thing is 42k...

 

You are going to buy ONE truck. Buy the one you want with the options you want. IMO the premium Tech with JBL is a bargain....I don't need 4x4 but you will so your options over a 2WD will eclipse $6000


The truck you are looking to buy has an Invoice of $33,293 . MSRP $35,890 (including destination fee $900)

I would start at $33,000 and go up from there (INCLUDING their Doc Fees as Doc fees are just an "addendum sticker") Figure $2700 for the premium and tech with JBL or $700 less without the JBL option,

If you want the Premium and tech w/o JBL add another $2000 or so.

 

YES on the premium package. I have a DCLB Sport with the whole shebangabang, and love the shit out of it. Make sure to get the towing package.

As for price, go through the USAA car buying service for pricing. My dealership stopped accepting TrueCar but they still took the USAA price because they didn't want to alienate the military. Took $1400 off MSRP. I also got all the port installed options separately for a lot less, saving almost $500 installing them myself.

Check with your sponsor in Alaska if you can use the AAFES/NEX car buying service. A lot of guys I deployed with would order cars, trucks, or bikes for just above invoice and pick them up on the way home. I don't know how it works in OCONUS locations.

I love having the long bed, too. Don't give in - get the truck that you really want!

 

Hey dude, my .02: buy the most you can safely afford and mod the rest. I have a 15 dcsb sport. Would have liked leather, jbl, etc, but I promise you over the next few years I will have the exact truck I want. In the meantime, minimal payment and I'm driving my truck. I'm very happy. If you can get everything without jeopardizing yourself, do it of course. Otherwise, take your best chop and build to it. If that is not what you want to do, save and wait. Just don't put yourself in a bind. Ever.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I feel that I don't need the Sonar stuff or blind spot. My GF has a brand new lexus and when I drive that with the blind spot monitoring, I still use mirrors. She has sonar front and back. The front is cool. The back is not really necessary imo. The Tacoma has a backup camera, so eh. Plus if I go off-roading and the "Sonar" sensors hit something, that will be something expensive to fix vs and chrome bumper. Dual climate control? Eh... Heated seats would be SICK. If the Premium had remote start that would sell me. Anyhow here is the link. I think the color is awesome, some may disagree and the long bed to me is a must. Short bed doesn't do it for me. Here is a link to the truck.
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...TOYOTA[TACOMA[]][]]&listingId=419711039&Log=0

 

You can turn the BSM off with a push of the button for off-roading. I use it religiously on the road with asshats on scooters riding in and out of my blind spots. You'll find it extremely useful.

Heated seats are the cat's ass. So are heated mirrors. Dual-zone climate control. Awesomeness!

 

I was in the same boat. The only things I wanted from the tech package were the heated seats and mirrors, but I did not want the moonroof because of the headroom. I'll retrofit the heater elements myself at some point. There are a lot of options. The easiest way to go would be some seat covers with built in heaters. More complicated would be buying the factory heating elements and doing some custom switches and wiring. I'd say do the factory switches, but they're incorporated into the dual-climate control switch panel so that would be pricey and maybe require retrofitting the dual climate control (on some vehicles this is easy ... some not so much, not familiar with Toyota, can't say ... I can ask a buddy who might know though).

 

Welcome! I'm a fellow Coastie (Always hated that term but hey, it's what we've got), waiting for my ordered TRD OR DCSB in white to arrive. I'll second what the majority of folks above are saying based on my previous experiences. Get what you want and if you have to wait for it, then wait. Be patient. If you treat these trucks right (and even a little wrong), they'll last a lifetime or damn close to it. I ordered the tech package 2 for the safety features and JBL. Do I need any of that? Nope. But when I'm freezing my balls off in Colorado or Utah I'll be glad I waited.

If you ever wanna bs about cg stuff, shoot me a pm!

ME1-PSU 312

 

You can after market heated seats.

 

I'll add that the rear sonar also comes with Cross Traffic Alert, which saved my butt once with somebody storm trooping out of a drive thru. Heated seats..yes, heated mirrors in Alaska...YES!
Sonar is nice, but camera works just as good. BSM has its value, but I've driven a truck for years and never had an issue with blind spots.

 

Believe me, you can live without the Premium Tech Package. I preference ordered my 2016 and chose to delete the PTP. Heated seats would be nice I guess, but the rest was just $1500 worth of fluff to me. Automatic climate control can be annoying, since it tries to reach the set temperature too fast and blasts you with too much air. I can turn the headlights on myself, and look in the mirror before I change lanes or back up. You still get the heated mirrors and backup camera without the PTP. If you have it, you might like it, but if you buy one without it, I really don't think you'll miss it.

 

I opted not to get the Premium Tech for the main reason I'm fairly tall at 6'3" and sit pretty straight up in the seat and not having a sunroof provides me with plenty of extra headroom.

 

All Tacomas sold in AK should have heated seats standard.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Going to start a new thread with another question. thanks again!

 

I recommend you change the title of this one instead.

 

Ok so I changed the title, now for the question. Due to being upside down in a 14 camry from my Divorce I can not afford the TRD Off-Road that I wanted. My best option to get out from under the car and to get a truck for the north would be to lease-to-own. Leasing will keep the payments low and allow me to get free from the car. Unfortunately it looks like a SR5 4x4 is my only option. I saw a 2012 SR5 with every traction option there is. 66k miles and the payments will be 50$ less financing vs the lease on a new 16. My only scare is that the SR5 may not perform up north in the Alaska winters. Im not sure. I am not 3 wheeling and rock climbing with it but I want to go on some trails with it. If anyone has a SR5 and is happy with the performance, let me know!

 

So i called and 15$ extra a month for a 4x4trd sport. So ill go with that. If they are available haha