Anyone regret giving up their 1st gen...

It's been a few months from the original post but I hope op found a way to keep it. I wish I had kept mine after insurance totaled it out and just taken the bus or bummed rides until I fixed it. Instead I have a 2nd gen. It's a better truck than the 1st gen but that doesn't mean I like it more.

 

I dont regret it at all! I love my new taco! I had a 03 auto and it was good too but I wanted something newer. Granted, my dad kept the 03 and im paying 500 a month but Im having fun

 

I loved my 05 tundra had a bunch of vehicles in between but Love my Tacoma too

 

I just traded my 04 TRD doublecab prerunner on an 18 SR v6 4x4.

When I bought the '04 in Feb, what I wanted was a new one, I was too cheap to spend big bucks on a new vehicle.

Then the brakes went out, $600 later I upgraded to tundra brakes and new booster. The truck would soon need shocks, ball joints, and status of the timing belt was unknown. I already have a 24 year old Miata, I don't have time to maintain another old vehicle right now.

I really liked the '04, but I like the '18 even better. I went from 16mpg in city to 21-22. Much quieter, comfortable, smoother ride. More towing capacity, and holey crap, the '18 is so much quicker than the '04... and 4x4 Its crazy what features they have on the SR model, more than enough for me.

 

My Dad has a 1st Gen that got a new frame last year. Its amazing that truck attracts any truck guy out there in our area when he goes places. We both have 2nd Gen's. His 2nd Gen him and my Mom "Share" since she has a Pontiac Solstice so there 2nd Gen is her winter car/his not put as many miles when he goes on trips on his 1st Gen that has 185k on it. He has said hundreds of times that if the 1st Gen was still available he'd trade his 2nd Gen in. My Dad is not a mechanic by any means and usually gets rid of a vehicle when it gets up there in mileage and something major goes on it.. His 1st Gen is the only vehicle I've ever heard him say he'll put a new engine or transmission in if something goes wrong and plans to keep it for the rest of his life as long as it doesn't rust out (which it should be fine now that the frame was redone last year).

I can understand his love for it, I love my S10 thats a true compact truck. There is something about those sized trucks that is magical!

 

Why not I kept all 3,LOL

 

I had one of those! Bullet proof, or near enough.

 

Yes I sold mine at 156k and the current owner has 230k trouble free on it. That was a bulletproof truck. Got a new frame in 2011 free under the recall. As of today the engine has only had spark plugs and oil changes. Around 150k thought solenoids went in the 4 baner auto tranny. Dropped pan and was only a broken solenoid wire that I easily spliced. The only complaint I ever had was the axle wrap. Then got a 2nd gen. Then got a 3rd gen and after a month, with 5 vehicles on insurance, I sold the 2nd gen with only 60k miles on it.

 

Are the 1st gens really that much less safe than second and 3rd thought?

 

http://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2...or-company-in-north-america-first-on-a-truck/

 

So third gens certainly are. I doubt there is much diff between second and first?

 

^^^I don't agree with this. Air bag technology alone made a massive leap from the early 90's to the early 2000's; those 10 years the two generations were designed in. Furthermore, every new generation of a vehicle has to adhere to stricter safety standards and it's become an industry rule of thumb that the newer a vehicle is, the safer it is.

All the love in the world here for 1st gen Tacomas, but I wouldn't own one because I thought it was safer than a newer truck.

 

So I've never had an older Tacoma but from what I experienced with my RWD Mazda B2200 mini truck POS I will absolutely say KEEP THE 1ST GEN. It's not worth getting rid of the fun old trucks. I regret getting rid of my Mazda and not keeping it as my project/summer truck. I shouldn't have sold it, I really shouldn't have.