wishing I had a 5 speed Off Road

Hello forum
I am on my third Toyota Pickup, fourth Toyota, and First Tacoma...
Years ago ago my girlfriend (now wife) bought a used 94 Toyota Pickup. Base model, 5 speed manual. The only upgrade was turn signals. I was not impressed. Manual windows, defroster that did not defrost, and no dash lights. I could not understand. Well, 23 years later, a distant friend is still using that little red truck. It now has 560,000 miles on it. We went everywhere in that truck including mountain streams in the Green Mountains in VT.
We upgraded to a 2000 Tundra and hauled horses with that truck, then bought a used 08 Sequoia. We just replaced the motor on that. 250k on the Sequoia and 546 miles on the new engine.
Two years ago we began searching for a manual off road Tacoma. After 3 months of searching, we found a barely used 2019 6-speed sport. Close enough I thought...I did understand that only 4% of American bound Tacomas are manual shift and of those 4% are off road with the low gear 5-speed Transmission...We will be replacing the clutch by 65k. Have you ever tried to back up a 7% incline with a loaded hay wagon with a 6-speed sport? I have and it smells awful. It is now a running joke when we smoke the clutch.

Well that is my new guy message. We love our Toyotas and have taken them places that sane people would not attempt. When I picked up the Tacoma the dealer was touting the tires...road tires...pathetic. I laughed at him and he being city folk just didnt get it.

 

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