In market for used Tacoma for 16yr old son--questions

My son will have his license soon and really wants a used Tacoma for his first pickup. I've seen many on CarGuru's and have a question. Is it bad to buy him a prerunner? He really likes the looks of the Prerunners, double cab and we found one that looks nicely cared for. Haven't seen it in person yet. But its a 2012 and has 165k miles on it for $13k. My boss, who is a truck man, said prerunners are undesirable because their resale is bad. But this is for a 16yr old. It will most likely be one he'll drive for 3-4yrs to get him through the last two years of high school and then either into the working world or college/trade school until he probably trades it in or sells it for a newer pickup by then. So I'm not really worried about the resale value as we tend to drive our vehicles into the ground after many years. My husband drives a Camry 06 and it just turned 300k on it as its his daily driver to and from work. My Caravan I had before my Rav4 had over 240k on it and drove it for 14 years. Just wanted to hear from Tacoma owners. He has a budget of 9k-14k to spend(he shows goats for our county fair each year since he was in 3rd grade and has saved up every auction check he's sold his goat for every year). Can anyone help a mom out here and give me some advice and direction?

 

OP, IMHO get your kid a used VW or some other beater and let him learn how to repair vehicles. Take any extra money available and invest it.

 

IMHO. That is too much to spend.

He will likely crush it in some manner. Driving errors, horseplay, friends, showing off.........16 yo boys are insane when wheels or female is involved.

A vehicle with 2 or 3 wheels in the grave is more appropriate. Low investment. Plus, the boy can earn driving experience and wrenching skills.

If worse happens, he could chew through 2 or 3 cars in the $2-3000 range without spending $13K.

Save the $$$ for education beyond HS.

 

i agree. get something older. check for rust. also get it checked out at a independent shop, usually costs a few dollars. dont get a loan. used car prices are high right now due to the computer chip shortage affecting new cars.

 

For getting around town there is nothing wrong with a 2 wheel drive vehicle. If you want an off road play toy a 4x4 is desirable. Also yes, 4X4’s have higher resale, they also cost more.

 

I’d get him a 1st gen Tacoma, or an older Toyota pickup ‘85-89. Single cab to limit passengers/distractions. 4cyl. Manual because everyone should learn.

nothing wrong with the Prerunner, it’s just not 4x4, do yeah resale won’t be as good. But you’re not buying it with plans to resale anyways so that shouldn’t be deciding factor. It’s still Toyota (truck at that) so it will still have decent resale. My first vehicle at 16 was a 2000 Prerunner access cab, bought at $5500 with 210k miles. Was totaled about 5 years later and insurance gave $3k for it with over 300k miles.

just my opinion tho, not my money.

 

Money-wise, it's your decision, I wouldn't spend too much time on others input to the contrary. When I was buying cars for my kids, I spent more and got more recent models as, at that time, it needed to be newer in order to ensure it had the "nannys" built in. I wanted that safety factor for them. And neither cratered the vehicles, in fact one of them is still driving the one we bought him 9 years ago.

As for pre-runner, for trade values, it will retain value just fine. You will pay less for it going in and you will get some less going out, so in essence not much difference. I won't comment on whether it's right to put a pre-runner vs. a 4x4 into a kids hands as that is your call to make based on your kid and what kind of weather you see.

 

I should add we are in South Texas, so no snow problems. IF we ever get snow(which is many years between that happening) its usually melted by the next day. lol We live in a small rural town, one red light and about 2 miles out in the country. He's a pretty laid back kid though. He's a homebody really..likes to just work with his goats and game in his spare time. No girls. At least none yet. Has a very tiny group of friends and two of them just got pickups, but brand new. I don't see him whooping it up with any vehicle he gets as he is like his dad, quiet and hangs out at home. We have a new 4 wheeler we bought last year and the boy doesn't even tear it up. LOL He seriously only uses it to run his show goats for excercise and rides it down the county road to his 4H meeting once a month. hahaha

 

If the price doesn't concern you, it's a great choice. It'll be safe and reliable for many years.

 

honda civic

 

i would still recommend he gets something affordable enough, if he ever decided to modify it. affordable means something different to others though... also he wouldn't cry if a goat decided to climb 'mount tacoma' or it got beat up. heck it could just stick around the house as a yard truck
i dont know much about a prerunner but i just read this: Tacoma 101 - What's A PreRunner? - TacomaHQ
i am partial to a 4wheel drive but if hes okay with a 2x4 thats okay, someones gotta buy them!

+1 agree with thunderfist. i still have my biases though ahah.

 

if he likes it, go for it. i just looked in my area on cars.com for a similar truck, and yours is a good deal. (though the market is hot right now)
if he gets it, change all the fluids and oils. and then just drive! like thunderfist said,

 

If a truck is what he wants then maybe a 2wd 5 bolt 4 banger. It would be a good starter truck. Just enough room for him and a gf... no more.

 

As someone who’s first car was a 13 year old 1984 Chrysler E Class I’m a proponent of buy a kid a beater because they’ll just wreck it anyway.

That said, if the kid has saved since he was in 3rd grade and has $9-14K to spend then he’s already more responsible than 90% of the people on this forum who would advise you on what he should buy. I say go for it. Resale may be less than 4WD but cost is less too so no big deal IMO.

 

Get him a manual transmission vehicle and teach him to drive it! Not many people know how to do that today....could come in handy in an emergency and harder to steal. Both my daughter (2-Jeep Wranglers) and son (2-Ford Rangers) learned how to drive 5 speeds. Now, both have automatics. Daughter is on 3rd Wrangler, but lives in Pittsburgh area. Lots of stop/go and screwy roads to deal with. Son bought a '20 Ranger and they only come in auto trans. Both of their first vehicles were close to their age when I bought them - 16 yrs. old as I figured they would likely get wrecked and didn't want to invest too much $$ for that reason. To this day, neither has even had a fender bender (knock on wood).

 

from what i see pre runner is that, almost like a 4x4, but without the 4

 

@jcarr492 welcome. Sir, you are one hell of a dad for even considering dropping that kind of coin on a teenagers first car.

Personally, I wouldn't. Being in my 50s, I remember myself first getting my license. My first ticket, out of state, with the handwritten license from passing the test a day or 2 before.

That being said, something older, reliable, and cheaper on insurance is the direction I would go. If your son is mechanically inclined an older vehicle will be an excellent learning experience.

Everything is pretty much the same one way or another between vehicles. The time he invests working, learning on/from it will serve him well. The feeling of accomplishment is always nice too.

In any event, keep him OFF of this site! This place been be like the vacuum of space on your wallet.

Kidding!

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

well my comment was going to be about where are you located, 2WD for a new driver in snowy conditions would be a challenge. our trucks get squirrelly in those conditions, with that being said if your son has saved for this knowing this is what he wanted. good for him he is doing a lot better then us at saving, he will have a better appreciation for his purchase then. do you have more details about the pre runner? is it the 4 or 6 cylinder? manual or automatic transmission? have you gone and checked VIN against a car fax?

 

Y'all on are on here talking like the kid is getting a 2021 TRD lol It's an 11 yo 2 wd truck. That's not unreasonable for a first vehicle. Especially if reliability is important. In a rural area you're not gonna want your kid stranded in the middle of nowhere with no cell service because their beater crapped out on them. Also, they are very safe vehicles.

 

Toyotas are a good choice and a Tacoma even better. I see people offering parenting advise here and it makes me chuckle.

A 2wd in Texas you should be good. Used car prices have been jacked up for over a year now due to "the pandemic". The depreciation of any Tacoma in good shape should fair well compared to the alternatives. Congrats to you and your son.