To buy or not to buy: 2013 Toyota Tacoma 2.7L 154,000 miles @ $10,495

I've been looking for a reliable truck for my landscaping business.

Things I tow include a zero-turn mower, several yards of mulch, and the occasional cubic yard of river gravel.
*EDIT - I DO NOT HAUL THESE THINGS ALL AT ONCE! Just some examples of what I generally need to do with my work vehicle. I want to make sure I'm setting myself and my work truck up for long term success, i.e. not putting excessive strain on the tranny, brakes, etc.*

Any advice is appreciated!

 

Seems like a fair price. Just so you know you can’t upgrade a 5 lug truck with suspension etc like you can on a 6 lug Tacoma.

 

I can't speak to that exact price point vs. the model year, mileage, & engine specs/features, but as a rule the most important consideration for buying a used vehicle, whether from a dealer or from a private party, is how it was driven & maintained previously.

I only buy a used truck maybe once in 20 years, but when I do, it's only one that has had a single owner, clean title (see CarFax -- not salvage: no major accidents, flooding, etc.) and that has full service records going back to when it was driven off the lot, which the seller is happy to let me take 15-30 minutes to read carefully through.

A $10K 154K-mile Taco might give another 200K miles of good service with minimal ongoing maintenance -- or it might be a lurking nightmare that needs $5K-$10K (or more) in remedial work over the next 2 years just to keep it going. Only way to tell is to have a mental framework by which to evaluate the likely condition of the engine/drivetrain before you buy.

If I was given only 5 minutes, with a gun to my head, to decide whether or not to buy that particular truck, I'd use 2 of those minutes to pull the oil dipstick, the auto transmission dipstick, and open the radiator to inspect the condition of those 3 most-critical fluids. The other 3 minutes for a drive test.

Ideally, engine oil should be transparent & no more than toasted light brown in color, w/ the dipstick metal showing clearly through it. Not black or opaque (too long since last oil change) and certainly not a milky-coffee color (likely coolant leaking into engine oil.) Going by this chart, I'd find a color of 1 to 2 encouraging, 3 to 4 acceptable, 5 questionable, anything beyond that a hard pass/no thanks:



Transmission fluid, likewise as close to transparent as possible, and a healthy clear reddish-pink color, not brown, and not "creamy" opaque-pink. Either the 1st or 2nd condition on this chart, nothing beyond that:



Engine coolant (from radiator) for Tacomas should be either red or pink, as close to transparent as possible. If none is visible when opening radiator cap (on a cold engine only!,) try squeezing the upper radiator hose lightly; if the cooling system is properly filled, the coolant level should rise right up to the top of the open radiator cap. If this coolant is opaque/milky, or any shade of brown/rust colored, no thanks.

Either of the 2 colors in the vials here is good. The rusty crap in the 2nd photo below is bad.





The next 3 minutes I would start the engine, listen to it idle for 30 seconds, then drive around a side street or parking lot reaching at least 20-25mph to hear & feel how it accelerates, shifts, brakes, steers, etc. These should be as close to "normal" as possible, considering type & age of the vehicle.

 

Nope. Get a 1/2 ton at least. My ZT's alone weigh over 1000 pounds, [my new one is 1200, my older one probably weighs more]

 

Fair price. Shell is nice to have. Unimpressive truck. Fine for business needs. Likely to be reliable.

 

Toyota's specification for the towing capacity for the 2013 2.7L 2WD-Auto Tacoma is 3,500 lbs. That's the max legal weight of both the trailer & trailer cargo.

A lightweight single-axle landscape trailer might weigh about 1K lbs empty and have a cargo capacity of 1.5 to 2K pounds. So, in theory you could legally haul a 1,000-1,200 lb piece of landscaping equipment. But that's pushing it. There's a reason you don't often see 2.7L / 4-cyclinder Tacos towing heavy trailers.

I have seen V6 + tow-package-equipped Tacos (rated for ~5,500 to 6,500 lbs max trailer, dep. on model year) pulling 6 x 12 dual-axle utility trailers, modestly-loaded with lighter cargos, with a weight-distributing hitch, in a manner that looked respectable & non-janky. (Rear not sagging down, truck able to accelerate & brake normally, etc.)

 

^^ I will humbly disagree w Ed. Not a tremendous value buy but with reasonable expectations the truck can do most truck things.

AT and not 6 lug are the two dealbreakers for me.

The 2.7 in a RC has no balls for sure but for a work truck you may not be able to beat the engine reliability.

 

If you can split that cubic yard of gravel into two loads, you’re fine. For short distances on streets you know, I’d send it. Especially if you add a brake controller.

 

In the current market, it's not bad and you could probably get 500 for the shell if you don't want it. I sold a '12 last yr with 135k mi for 11k.