I will soon own a pickup...

Never say never.

After limping my race car with an ailing engine from Ohio to Kansas, competing for 2 days, and then limping it back, I have decided I'm LONG overdue to start towing it to events. So I am now going to do something that I thought I would never do; I'm going to buy a pickup. On top of that, it will also become my daily driver.

Honestly, kids, never say never. You'll just feel like a fool when you get older.

This weekend I plan to pick up a very low mileage white 2019 TRD Pro with a manual transmission. Not my ideal Taco, but pretty damn close. And if I find I really want what it's missing, the absolute insanity that is the used truck market means I can likely sell this truck in a year for nearly what I'm paying for it now...

But pessimism aside, I actually am looking forward to this. A dealership near me had a manual 2018 TRD Sport on hand and I took it for a test drive. While it certainly wouldn't pass for a sportscar, I still found it entertaining to drive. Riding so high up was a new experience, and the silly amount of throw in the shifter reminded me of an 86 Corolla Deluxe I once owned, and that little car was a blast to try to drive quickly.

I've also been lurking around TW here for a few weeks now. Once I decide on a car, I tend to dive in head first and start learning all I can about it and the aftermarket for it. This truck is no different. I've already a list of mods I want to do, some appearance, plenty utilitarian, and a couple somewhat performance related for down the road. I hope to make this truck as much of an evolving project as my race car. Ultimately, I hope to make this truck into something that the Wife and I can use to tote our bikes and camping gear around with, while also being a tow/support vehicle for events.

And I may even take it to the off-road park that the guys at work keep talking about...

Pictures to come this weekend.

 

I'm not trying to dissuade you from the purchase, but in my opinion and limited towing experience with my manual transmission truck...it's not cut out for it. I'm not bashing Toyota's I love them. Bikes and camping gear no sweat and even pulling the boat is ok. It's the backing it that's difficult. Like reverse isn't low enough. Depending on weight of car and trailer a spring addition may be needed too. The wife has a 2013 with OME suspension full leaf pack, auto trans and it does a much better job. A coworker said the same about his Tacoma and backing a trailer. Other than that we've had great luck with Toyota trucks. Good luck and congratulations

 

I agree with @tacotoe. And might even go a step further in saying if you're wanting to buy a truck solely because you need a tow pig to tow your racecars around you might want to step up to a full size

 

Tacoma ticks a lot of your boxes, but you'll feel underwhelmed if you tow a car with it.

 

edit to add Dart 400 SHP going into my '68 Corvette project

 

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I often won't need to back the trailer up as most events have an open field for the paddock. But I'll see. I hope it's livable, as I really want to have a manual.

Spring improvement is on the list, specifically air bags. But I think I may start with a weight distribution hitch first and see how the truck behaves. Trailer and car together should be around or slightly under 4000lbs, though I do plan to have 2 or 3 sets of wheels/tires above the bed and tools in the bed which would add about 500lbs or so. So the air bags ma still be needed.

We shall see.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

I considered that. But due to space and the fact that I will have to use this for a DD, I've settled on the Tacoma for it's reliability, adequate towing capacity, and most importantly the manual transmission.

A friend of mine tows his car to events with a 2nd gen Taco. He complains about the mileage, but otherwise he's happy. His car is probably around the 1800lb mark with mine at only 2200lbs, on open aluminum trailers we're only at about 60-70% of the rated towing capacity. I'm not expecting effortless towing, but the truck shouldn't be struggling.

Damn. That's more than three times the motor in my little runabout

Thank you!

 

Welcome to TW!

If you want the Tacoma "sports car," you need to shop for a X-Runner.

 

Ha! Reminds me of the Typhoon.

 

It's basically a lowered Tacoma with a suspension tuned to handle. The goal was to exceed the Nissan 350Z's lateral G numbers, and they beat it. It pulled more lateral Gs than any vehicle in the Toyota/Lexus/Scion lineup when it was released in 2005.

It came with the 4.0L engine, and the 6-speed manual transmission. The only option was color. They offered it in blue, black and red. Would give the actual color names, but all three changed over the life of the truck. The red went deeper, the blue went darker, and the black went from a "pearl" to "non-pearl."

It wasn't any more powerful than any other 4.0L Tacoma, and all upgrades (like the supercharger) are available. My biggest beef was the front brakes. They "under-braked" the fronts to encourage owners to buy the $2K+ BBK kit.

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Thanks!

 

A good portion of the X-Runners are in Hawaii

 

Welcome to TW.

My last car was a Ram 1500 with 6MT. If you want to talk about throw... on that bastard 2nd would be against my thigh and I had to slightly lean over to push it into 5th. I had to be careful about lugging the engine in traffic or that shift knob would put a rapid-fire beatdown on my leg like a processed demon. Nothing teaches you pedal control like a fresh set of bruises. It was a fun car but I'm glad its gone.

Congrats and good luck on the Tacoma purchase.

 

Thanks. I'm already eyeballing short shifters.

 

And it's mine!



Just picked it up today. 2019 TRD Pro MT with only 3000 miles.

It's quite a different experience to drive. It's literally the polar opposite of what I usually prefer to drive, but I really enjoyed driving it home. The DD I traded in had pretty much every feature you can find on a car these days, and I forgot how nice it is to be so involved in operating a car. Even something as simple as the wipers.

I will say this however: Y'all need a lower final ratio.

I can see why the Auto transmission gear-hunts so much. The gearing is reasonably low mathematically, but those tall tires just undo so much of it. A lower final ratio would probably wake these things up, not to mention make pretty much everything they're designed to do easier. But that's a bit more than I really want to do to this. The stock ratios are liveable, just not optimal.

Discovered a couple of neat things on the 4 hour drive home:

1. This is the first car I've ever had where the sunglass holder actually fit my sunglasses. I was stunned. Usually they're too shallow for sports-style sunglasses.

2. When in cruise control, you can shift without the CC shutting off. First manual CC car I've had that didn't just disengage CC when the clutch was pressed in.

First mod is already done! Picture to come in my build thread.

 

A couple more surprises..

Bad: No Android Auto. I even googled before buying and the top responses said yes. Apparently I should have read deeper. Oh well. I think I might just get a mount for my phone. I did consider replacing the head unit, but I think the money would be better spent elsewhere.

Good: OMG these are good brakes. The stopping power is good, but what really impressed me was the pedal feel and modulation. I've driven sportscars that didn't have as good of a brake pedal feel. Whoever was in charge of this for the Tacoma needs to apply their talents to other cars. I haven't driven the Supra yet, but if its brakes don't feel like these a travesty has occurred.

Oh yeah, stock pics and first mod in the build thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...or-activity-vehicle-with-other-cameos.698537/