Advice on potential trucks

What’s good TW. New member but have been browsing here for a bit before registering. Would appreciate some advice on a truck I’m looking at.

06 260k miles v6 4x4 double cab auto, California all its life. 5 years ago rebuilt head (head gasket failure), timing chain tensioners, timing cover, water pump, tstat etc. Recent fluid flush, brake pads and rotors, new pass front axel. Has bilstein lift. These gen 2s have been holding their value strong over here, even with all these miles. I’m not scared of the miles, but it’s not ideal. I test drove it and looked around, seemed great overall. Looked at the frame briefly and didn’t see anything scary, but of course I’m a noob to this.

The deal would be a trade for a 07 Cayman base 2.7 5spd 175k miles. I did a complete once over on the on the car this summer, doing all the major maintenance, plus a couple mods… she’s running flawless now but still needs a suspension refresh. Tbh I stole this car from the previous seller, and the base caymans at this mileage are probably priced around the same ish at the taco value. If you’re not familiar with pcars, these caymans with the 2.7 are pretty bulletproof and handle amazing.

I’ve been a gear head since I was kid (41 now), but never had a truck. Went wheeling with some friends and had a blast.

I know I’m on a taco forum so there’s a shit ton of bias here, but….. thoughts?

edit: this is a second “fun” vehicle for me, not a daily

 

Kind of wild to think that a Porsche and a Tacoma from basically the same year are valued the same but that’s the way it goes. I say do it, I think the main concern would be frame rust/rot. 2006 was known for head gasket issues but sounds like that’s resolved.

 

I mean it’s up to you. There’s underpay, overpay, and fair. Only “underpay” I’ve seen is with an issue to remedy.

knew a guy who bought one I believe salvage for cheap because the bedside was bashed in. No problem. He replaced the bedside after.

do a general inspection. See if it needs anything else. Inspect the frame. Figure out what’s a good value and what specific model you want since they all have their variations.
Mileage can be a factor. I’m not saying I care about miles. I don’t. I also don’t have the lowest.
Point is maybe there’s another one that looks the same down the road with less miles. Or maybe not.

anything that gets specific, these included, tend to not grow on trees. Versus a brand new Jetta. Yeah those you can find a bunch all next to each other down any road.
Rare or not. It’s not a Ferrari F50. But it’s also not a Jetta.

sometimes I want a smaller cab longer bed. But if that were ever to happen I know it would probably be hard to find one and 1% chance of such vehicle being even in my area versus not in my area.

maybe lucky with that I got but even then was simply getting what was there. Not every option. Is mine newer facelift? No. More preferable color? No. Etc
There’s a lot of variation in what was ordered new. And now they are what they are. Which I guess can be changed.
I’m not saying some are Baby Poop BMW yellow and FWD, but every one is different.

you might even get a feel for the owner. Do they care about the vehicle and take care of things as they pop up or ignore it and hobble along on one wheel.

not really biased. Got what I got maybe it’s good maybe it’s not no idea but going to keep driving it. Better than anything else I’ve ever had.
Old Duramax, old Cummins, old Powerstroke all look nice. Oh well don’t have one.

Gotta say man it’s funny to go from Porsche say you had a blast wheeling. That kinda happened to me unexpectedly. Had a “fast” street car prior that compared to my truck also had like 0 capability. The truck did stuff a car can’t. Wheeling slow is more fun.

 

@TacoTuesday1 it seems good so far. Owner is cool guy, churching going family man - I know that potentially doesn’t mean anything, but it could also mean a lot. He bought the truck off his friend, so he has some service history. Runs and drives great and is super clean. i think the way the car is kept says a lot about the owner, and this one feels good. I hate the brake pedal feel, but I know I can mod/fix that. It’s also slow as hell, but I’m guessing Toyota geared it that way. Only thing that bothers me is the mileage, but on the hand I can work on anything that needs to be fixed/replaced.

I had a 996 c4s in the past, and the wifey has a 958.1 cayenne. In a perfect world I would just lift that on bigger tires and call it a day, but she won’t let me touch it smh. and yes to the slow wheeling! I’ve never been out before and I was like damn this is so much fun! Don’t have to worry about track day schedules or paying for track days, just go out and have fun whenever you want! Was super eye opening to me. I’m also a little concerned this is just a phase and I’ll get over it, but hey I’ll never know unless I try. The world of truck modding was also mind boggling to me. The rabbit hole goes way deeper than building a track car to go fast.

 

it’s slow because stock 4.0 isn’t the most powerful and IMO 3.73 is garbage ratio that it came with. Past cars with more power and less drag came with 3.889 and 4.11 no idea why they put 3.73 and if individual trans gears are a factor.
V6 ~230hp/tq stock vs competition
3rd gen T4R OR = 4.10, same with 2nd gen Tacoma 2.7L MT 4x4

yes it’s a deep rabbit hole. Want good suspension? Get it stateside for a wide range of price.

put WRC suspension on a car? $10-15k+ order from Europe, still not have ground clearance, steel components, low range tcase, etc

 

How many miles on your rig and any major issues pop up?

 

I’ll send PM

 

I have a 2008 with 251k miles and it still runs great, but it really depends on the previous owners. I’d say if you trust the ownership and service history enough, it’s worth buying.

My best piece of advice is take it to a mechanic you trust and have them do a thorough pre-purchase inspection. I’ve seen some trucks where it’s clear the owner has tried to hide any frame issues before they sell it.

2nd gens are great trucks, but you don’t want to let the appeal lead you to a bad decision.

Best of luck!

 

175k Porche for a 260k Tacoma straight trade,NO way.

 

Because……?

 

imo with the work done on that tacoma it should go another hundred k no problem. with 175k on porsche who knows... I had a 911 and parts were astronomical and it always needed tuned and adjusted. I'm sure the newer ones are better about the tinkering, but the parts still have to be way high. But man, was it fun to drive.

 

for the most part, parts aren’t crazy priced. I mean some obviously have the pcar tax, but it’s not as bad as people think. Example, I paid around $300 for a new OE quality water pump and low temp tstat. The plan was redo the entire suspension, and a fully built track focused suspension is around the cost of a long travel kit for the taco. The main issue is if there’s a catastrophic engine failure, then I’m completely fucked. It would be less expensive to swap a LS or K series than forking over an absurd amount of money for a rebuild. Outside of some questionable plastic pipes, this base 2.7 seems pretty bulletproof. Toyota bulletproof? I doubt it.

What gen 911 did you have? Do you miss it/want it again? Looking back over ownership, how do the two compare? I know it’s like comparing an exacto knife to a BFH, but id appreciate your opinions.

 

Well that just happened.

 

Congratulations on your new truck, OP!