Gen 1 Owner, New Member

New member here and the original owner of a 2002 SR5 access cab 4x4. Best rig ever with 238,000 miles. Never had a truck exceed 185,000 miles (a 1987 Ford Ranger) and so this all new ground for me. I religiously have it serviced at the Toyota dealer, i.e., timing belt, water pump, all fluids including the automatic transmission and diff. But I'm getting nervous regarding just how long an automatic transmission will go miles wise or any other unexpected mechanical issues. So, I roll into the Toyota Dealer to price a new 2017, SR5 4x4 access cab with the tow package like I have and am still reeling from sticker shock . All said tho, if the 2017 is as dependable as my 2002 it'd be nice to have a new rig after 15 years! At my age, probably my last.

Any feed back from you good folks will be appreciated.

 

Welcome to the TW

 

Welcome to TW. I have no first hand experience with 3rd gens, but there is lots of info to be had here.
Warning, you will find a lot of complaining about issues. Some is justified, some is not. Do some good research and thoroughly test out whatever truck you are considering.

 

I don't have any experience with the new generation Tacomas either. The 2017 Tacoma will be a lot bigger and more comfortable than your 2002 without question. Your 2002 is just a small truck with a relatively large engine for the size of the truck if it has the 3.4 V6. Follow the advice from the post above and research everything.
Good Luck,
Paul

 

Welcome to TW. Only had my 2017 for a week, but I love it.

 

Thank you folks for the positive responses. Greatly appreciated! If I pull the trigger on the 2017 I'll let all you good folks know.

 

Just a thought, keep your 02 a couple more years and save those payments of the 2017. Then in a couple years the 2017 will be a couple years "Old" and then it won't feel so expensive.

 

From what I read over at the 3rd Gen section, I would not expect the same reliability. But I don't know, just more of an anecdotal assessment on my part and only time will really tell. Why not keep driving your truck until you hit a serious roadblock?

 

Highest mileage I've seen on these was a 2003 DC with 627k on the odometer. Bought new and religiously serviced and taken care of by the first owner who traded it off on a new one. I think you can get a few more miles out of yours yet! There's a member on here with over 500k on a regular cab V6 Tacoma. If you take care of them, I don't think they'll have any problem reaching the half mil mark. But if you love the size of your 2002, you'll hate the 3rd gen, it rivals a full size.

That's why if I were to upgrade, I'd skip the "mid-size" class of trucks and go full size, they're so close in price I don't see the point in having a mid-size anymore, they don't make financial sense when you can have something more capable for around the same price. If Toyota were to bring back a true compact Tacoma, I'd order one in a second! Mine has 111k on it currently, and racking up miles doesn't concern me one bit. In fact, I look forward to seeing how many mile-markers I can get out of it!

 

Thank you folks for the great feedback! 99Supertaco that was my thought. Could just see some Yota exec in a board room meeting telling the clan we have to roll back dependability cause those Gen 1 an 2 owners are getting great miles on their rigs and that doesn't sell new ones so let's roll back dependability, read ya ain't going to get 300-500K on a new one? But who knows? 2004TacomaSR5, great comment! These new Taco's are comparable in size to the T-100's and the old Tundra's and a base line Tundra is what 1K more than an SR5 6? It's entered my mind but it just gets harder to park those bigger rigs in a Fred Meyers Parking lot with shrinking stalls!

Should have joined this Forum years ago. Would have had a lot more knowledge on the Gen1, SR5 I have been driving for 15 years! Again folks. thanks for the input.

 

Welcome.
Is your name a reference to.....Megadeath?

 

No Matic, it's in reference to surfing. I get up at O'Dark thirty, with a Yota loaded with surf play toys and hit the surf before dawn and the lemmings finding their way out to the line-up.