Howdy y'all

What's up people!

Never had a truck, as a matter of fact I kinda never liked them. Drove nothing but manuals (by choice) my whole life before moving to Teslas. I started looking into potential trucks because I'm curious about off-roading, and the new Taco caught my eye. I'm one who prefers smaller vehicles for handling, but with a family I've had to buy a couple of SUVs in the past 10 years (current SUV is a Model Y). Never thought I'd be looking at trucks, but here I am!

Even tho I've driven Bimmer, Benz, Audi, VW and a whole bunch of others, one of my favorite cars which holds a special place in my heart was my Honda Accord 5MT. I sold her @ 220k miles on original clutch and she really and truly drove like "the poor man's BMW 3 Series" (which I also had, at the same time, in 6MT guise). I'm particular about quality, reliability and overall design style, so when I saw that Toyota is gonna update the Taco I realized that this could be the answer to my search, as I would much prefer a Japanese vehicle (at least engineered and designed, if not built). I really like what they've done with the new design style that's sweeping across the lineup (hopefully the new 4Runner's right behind the Taco!) and love the look, at least from pics, of the 2024 truck.

I'm absolutely pro hybrids (I've been pure BEV for ~5 years now, for me it's a step backwards of sorts) and, barring any 1st year gremlins, I'm very excited about the hybrid versions of the iForce engines in the new truck (being semi-asthmatic, it's great not to have exhaust pulling into/out of the garage, esp cold engine exhaust — one of my children got that gene from me apparently and she is also bothered by it). It would actually be a huge minus if a hybrid wasn't available, and having driven EVs for a good while now I know what that electric torque is like from 0 RPM. I like how the electric motor is packaged to drive the transmission so that it can smoothly cooperate with the gasser, I think for this kind of application that's a brilliant choice!

I have an early number (front of the line) CyberTruck reservation, that may or not happen (for me, I mean). Ironically, while electricity is literally everywhere, large battery packs require a decent supply which is super slow on regular 110V (in other markets where the wall plug is already 220V it's easier to get a little "juice" in a pinch w/o a specialized outlet, vs waiting forever on 110V). I'm nowhere near experienced enough to go somewhere offroad where I'd even think about taking extra gas cans with me, but that's one of the pluses in favor of getting a non-EV truck. Saving money is also very nice

Anyway, I'm here, I'm interested primarily in the TRD Pro (but may consider the OffRoad). I am also considering a 4Runner TRD Pro, but only when the new one comes out.. should be a very similar platform. If I get the truck (which I kinda want more), I will likely have to close the bed for long roadtrips, because that's where Mr. Dog would ride (small obstacle to overcome there, would there be enough AC from the cabin thru the open window so the dog is comfortable?)

In any case, I'm here with y'all for the ride to release of the new truck — let's do this!

 

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