Help me decide which truck / Buying in August 2020

No. 1's options were like dealer install prices, plus they're old, I'm with these guys, SR5 2020 even if you gotta travel to get it. I had a '19 Off-Road, pretty sure noone uses crawl control, almost ever

 

Really enjoying my 2020 DCLB SR5, my Diamondback not so much because it leaks and the locks freeze up in the winter.

 

Can you make this a poll?

#2 for me. I love doing my own mods. And less miles is a huge plus.

 

Door #2

 

After all that, I called Monday morning to put a deposit on the new truck and was told someone else scooped it up on a Sunday, when the dealership doors were closed but Internet sales were open. So still looking for new.

2020 long beds are a low inventory item and going fast. 2021 are being built but not priced yet. Might have to wait until the market cools down a bit. Thanks to advice here, I’ll start to look into SR5s too.

 

Option 2

 

Sir you need a Toyota Tundra

 

Time for a 1st gen with all the fixings ready to bang out 500000+ miles

 

I’d vote for an SR5, sounds like you only need 4x4 for your camping trips. No need for the extras the OR offers. Save the money and buy what you need, not what TW tells you you need.

 

That new bronco is pretty sweet too.. just sayin.. lol

 

I was gonna post but then read your opinion about opinions and... well, I needed that.

 

For new Tacoma buyers and a few others, here’s a long write-up of the acquisition. I’ll go easy on the TW acronyms.

BUYER TYPE: I need a truck as daily driver and technical work which includes buying materials, custom building and transportation, and light towing. I also wanted a vehicle for mountain and desert travel and camping, getting to out of the way places, with a family of 4, usually pulling a high clearance light duty trailer with wired signal and running lights. I’m a decent wrench-turner but don’t want truck mechanics to become another weekend project— I’ve got enough of those.

VEHICLE: Double-cab long bed is the match. I like the maneuverability and availability of short bed but need the extra room of a 6. Looked at GMC/Chevy and Ford but couldn’t find the configuration, price point, and reliability of a Taco. For future accessories and mods, Diamondback tonneau fit the bill. I went with HD for an extra $400 and 35 lbs because I could imagine periodically putting more than 400 lbs up there. I also like a the idea of a little extra bed weight for snow driving. Aftermarket mud flaps for protection. Start with an Al engine skid plate. Someday add rock sliders. That’d put me at near 300 lbs of permanent extra weight so I might have to add heavier leaf springs. Maybe higher suspension down the road. As far as packages go, as few as possible. Tech is acceptable because safety functions are useful especially to occasional drivers of the truck. Cosmetically, I don’t give a crap what it looks like. Just not black or similar dark, less visible and more heat absorbing colors.

THE SEARCH: This thread goes into it in detail. Top line takeaways: First, DCLB limited availability of used and new sellers. Second, used 3rd generation trucks were selling at 4-10% less than new. Third, relatively low mileage, late model 2nd gen without a bunch of mods (and who knows how well they were done) and accessories are rare and go fast. After a few months of looking and some close calls as described by this thread, I decided on new, a part of consumer culture that I abhor, except in the case of snow, bike shorts, plumbing, and, now, a Taco.

DEALERSHIP BUYING: I searched new using Autotrader, which is pretty inclusive and has decent rules about dealership transparency. I used a temporary Gmail account so I wouldn’t have junk in permanent emails. In a weak version of method described elsewhere in TW, I used a spreadsheet to compare how much a dealership was willing to reduce the price— the true dealership discount not including differences due to packages or manufacturer rebates. Toyota has a VIN lookup that’s useful for determining packages when they’re not clearly listed. Then I’d play dealerships against one another, asking them to beat another’s price. It became pretty clear that certain dealerships tended to order vehicles with fewer packages. It was also clear that total dealership discounts ranged only from $1000-$1200 for an item that was low inventory. I’ve read of greater discounts and there are online resources to track pricing trends. There was a price drop in spring at the beginning of the pandemic. 2021s are being built and, although pricing isn’t available, it’s a good bet they’ll begin more expensive than 2020s without noticeable improvements. It might be cheaper in November. But 2020 DCLBs were going fast. A couple were snatched just as I was about to put down a deposit.

THE SALE: I settled on a truck from Mountain States in Denver. $37.8 (pre-tax) with tech and mat/liner package. No dealership fee or other crap. Bought a Toyota bed mat from them for $124. Pre-arranged financial transactions and they met me with the truck at the airport with a full tank of gas. 20 min of inspection and paperwork, and I was driving home.

EXTENDED WARRANTY: Their finance guy offered me a 10 year 100k bumper to bumper that I negotiated to $1550, which was just above cost according to them. It was only available at time of purchase, a pressure tactic that rubs me the wrong way. After some research, I learned these “warranties” are better understood as insurance products— a type of service contract. It locks you into dealership service departments, which I didn’t like, and “bumper to bumper” coverage is subject to dealership interpretation. It’s more accurately a 7 year / 64K since the first 3 years / 36K is covered. A lot of the sales pitch has to do with so many electronic controls being really expensive to replace. “My seat heater went out at $50k and the warranty paid for itself right there.” There is a clause that you can get your money back pro rata by ending the warranty early: End it on year 3 and you get back 7/10th of your money. But it truly only covers the last 7 years so your year 3 rebate amounts to completely frittering away $450. My judgement is that it’s better to save $1550 for future repairs with a mechanic you trust and suitable non-OEM parts.

FINAL THOUGHTS: TW is a terrific network and provides solid input not found elsewhere. This is my attempt to give back to the community (and remember how this process worked myself if I have to repeat or improve it). Somewhere in these threads, a member advised to take TW comments with a grain of salt: it is fundamentally an enthusiast site, and passion isn’t based on logic. Still, there are lots of contrarians who help keep the advice balanced. For example, earlier in this thread, someone suggested that I should look at a lower trim like a SR or SR5, instead of accepting the marketing bs about crawl control and locking differentials and other Off Road features. In the end, TW is a very helpful tool to acquire and manage an expensive good. In the future, I expect TW’ll help me squeeze more uses out of the truck too. Thanks y’all!

 

Well done!

 

Option #2. Careful with option #1 / 2016. I had an early 2016 (one of the first after the redesign) and it had several problems Toyota could not seem to work out (Leaking roor brake light replaced 3 times. Leaking rear diff "fixed" three times - still leaking when traded. Failing welds on hood sheet metal - Toyota would not address. Various other things). I know that isn't the "norm" for third gens, but my experience was not great.

 

No brainer the brand new one .. why would u want a used one who knows what they did with that truck .

 

To late now but maybe this will help someone else, weathertech makes a really nice bed protector.