Tacoma Stalking, er...uh, Spotting, with Charlie™ (3rd Gen Edition)!

Yep, my son is getting ready to learn how to drive and have been thinking about teaching him in a manual. Both my wife and I know how to drive a manual and thought it be good for him learn how to dive one too.

I have to admit my Taco has an AT and got it because there is to much stop and go traffic where I live.

 

So true.... some take to it like a duck to water and others just will never be able to do it.
When I was 16, my dad took me out to this gigantic parking lot and we spent a couple hours with him just having me start from a dead stop and just get going in 1st gear... Cuz once you get going the rest is easy. Plus he taught me .. That still a lot of people don't do ... Is downshifting to slow down. I still see people who just push in the clutch and hit the brakes and then when going slow enough, find their way back into 1st gear. My wife can drive a stick, but it took me a loooong time to break her that bad habit.

 

Soooooo very true! I really tried to hammer home to my sons when they started driving was that 'Everything .. EVERYTHING .. 'mechanical' will break sooner or later. How 'sooner' or how 'later' all depends on you'...
The funny thing I did notice was when they both went off to college and dear ol' dad bought them both their own rigs (Used but not too used) they treated them like shit. I used to have to jump up and down, just to get them to check the friggin' oil. Of course, they didn't have to pay for them.
Oddly enough, when my oldest son graduated and got a job and plunked down $45K for a brand new Forester, with monthly payments and the insurance that comes along with it ... All of a sudden, he started doting over it like a brand new baby that just came home from the hospital. i think he still waxes it, like, 6 times a week .. LOL!

 

Congrats! LOL! You are truly The Exception To The Rule. Be proud you have a skill that is fading fast into the sunset

 

October 18th, 2020:

Skippack, Pennsylvania

 

3rd gen is such a good looking truck. Damn...

 

October 24th, 2020:

Exton, Pennsylvania

 

Why’d you put this in here? I see no 3rd Gens, not even a 2nd Gen...

 

November 27th, 2020:

North Wales, Pennsylvania

 

That looks kinda low to the ground, wonder if its a 2WD or just maybe the long-bed is making it look that way.

 

It’s 4wd but yeah I do agree it does look lower. That may be because the air dam and the running boards. Here’s mine when it was stock

 

It says “4x4” on the bed...

 

Good grief l didnt even see that!

 

So, it appears that both Tacomas and Tundras no longer have CD players as of MY 2020; I saw a brand new 3rd Gen Taco at Carlisle last August that did not have a CD player, and the new Tundy CrewMax that my friend bought (Actually leased; He plans on buying the truck outright at the end of the lease if they like it) his new wife as a wedding present does not have a CD player either

 

My 2020 doesn't have a CD player. Don't even remember the last time I used a CD either.

 

I have some CDs, and my truck came from the factory with a CD player; One of my biggest reasons for getting an aftermarket HU with a CD player was because I used to work at a bar/music venue (and will be again once they reopen next spring; They've been closed since January 2019 for massive renovations, the current COVID pandemic only succeeded in making it take longer) and I got a lot of free CDs from the various bands solo artists who performed there.

 

Mine has one, I use it a good amount too. My dad got a new 4Runner a little while ago and that does not have a CD player, however.

 

What I'm worried about is that eventually companies like Alpine, Pioneer, Kenwood, JVC, etc, will stop making HUs with CD players. My ultimate goal is to drive my truck until is no longer economically feasible to do so, and replace head units along the way if they break or better technology comes out. My last iPod Nano died, and I liked those far better than the iPod Touch, but I'm stuck with a cumbersome and occasionally glitchy iPod Touch because they stopped making Nanos and the only way to get one is to buy it from some asshole scalper for a ridiculously jacked up price on Amazon...

I really don't want to be forced to pay double the MSRP for a radio with a CD player in the future!

 

My 2017 had a cd player but i never used it and actually forgot it even existed lol just got a 21 with the limited package and there no cd but screen size is bigger and has more built in tech stuff like apple car play, alexa and goolge assist if your in to ordering groceries while ur driving! But the 1 thing that is weird with Bluetooth pairing you must connect a phone wired to use Apple CarPlay idk about the others

 

The 2020's do not have a cd player. My 17 does. Some where in between they took then out.