I am here to buy the ugliest car on your lot

Is what I said to the sales manager when I rolled up to a Honda dealership 4.5 hours from my house.

I’ll start with the tl;dr, because it only makes sense to put it up front. Kind of see multiple places I can post this, but don’t really intend to be a “build” so I’m taking a shot here. I am the new owner of a 2023 Electric Lime Tacoma TRD Off-road with a 6-speed manual transmission. I see there’s a love/hate relationship with the color, but it seems fun to me; and that’s all that matters since it’s my “forever car” (hopefully).


(the beater and the Tacoma)

So how did we get here? Long ramble ahead:

I had my “forever car” totaled out by a kid who ran a stop sign back in January. Sad day; uncommon car in great condition that could never be replaced as it was. We both had insurance, everyone was ok (most importantly), and his insurance was 100% on the hook for it anyway. Bought a beater car for $650 to hold me over, and wanted a Tacoma. We went and looked at one, sat in the back and said “ew, no way” and a new Tundra caught our eye. Saw enough to shift my focus to a late last-gen tundra, which I thought was more fun to drive; but availability was limited and people were demanding a premium for them. We kept our finger on the last-gen Tundra pulse, and it still seemed pretty crazy. Great, solid, and reliable trucks, but the price and fuel economy just seemed to not work for us. The wife knows I prefer driving manual and she likes to borrow my car on occasion as a break from the family car, and admits she enjoys it on occasion; so Tacoma ended up back on the menu.

We love white cars, but we all know the reality of most white Tacomas. Not really what I wanted to deal with in a “forever car” and I know enough about paint and bodywork to know what it would take to get it right (which somehow has zero influence on resale valuation). Solar octane is beautiful and rare, but most paint and body people will tell you to stay away from red for longevity purposes (especially in sunny areas). Lunar rock and cement are cool, but seem to drive a premium and mass interest. Darker colors are hard to keep clean around here and we get a lot of sun that makes them not so appealing. Perks of metallic paint is they are 3-stage. I could live with silver, but the wife says it’s boring. Wind chill pearl is awesome, but we only had 1 pop up on Christmas Eve in manual with-in 500 miles and was already sold when the dealer responded the day after Christmas, and at a premium price. Electric lime was like “lol, what?! Crazy. But… ok, maybe… it’ll never pop up”. So yeah, we will keep our finger on the pulse and the right car will pop up eventually.

Man… of what popped up. We saw a lot of high-mileage Tacomas, sketch maintenance, damage, lack of features, unwanted modifications, unnecessary dealer add-ons, crazy inflated out-the-door prices. I was fine with simple but the wife said more would be nice if we could find it. I knew I was going to have to pull some tricks to find something hidden. I found some ways to track cars that had been auctioned previously to see what dealers had before they looked pretty on the lot, which saved some potential headaches and wasted time. Learned some tricks, and learned the dealer tricks by walking into the dealer a few times just to do a few dry runs. I mean, almost everything and anything is available to learn on the internet if you comb through it well enough. I have a background in investigations, analytics, and interrogations, so this is a fun game to me. I knew what I needed to do.

So how do you find a car you probably can’t find? Your options are kind of limited between having to pay a lot of money and travel, but there’s some other loop-holes. What if you find a car that falls through the cracks because of a little incompetence? Recipe for success. I could go through the rabbit hole on this, but I’ll try to keep it short.

2023 Tacoma pops up at a Honda dealership and sits for almost 40 days (pulled some tricks to figure that out). Truck had 20k miles, and had all the signs the previous owner loved it, but it just wasn’t right for them. Original owner took it for a break-in oil change at 1.5k miles and was religious with 5k oil changes and dealer maintenance. Researched the town and it wasn’t really an area for a manual transmission, let alone a loud looking car. Listing wasn’t on any of the major sales platforms, nor was it listed as manual unless you looked at the pictures.

It’s between Christmas and New Years, so everything is a recipe for success already, only issue is the 4.5 hour drive. Played ping pong with the sales manager over the phone, price was coming down, and knew I could have leveraged another $1k if I drug it out to the 31st, but he was in my range. Got some videos with good reflections to see zero door-dings or body damage. there’s “minor damage” on the carfax, but no signs of it. Reality is probably 80%+ cars on the road probably deserve “minor damage” on the carfax but don’t have it. There was a lot going for it, seemed too good to be true, so the wife and I said let’s take a chance.

We drove out yesterday and everything looked mint. Metallic is hard to blend or hide repairs, so I didn’t see any signs of that or other repairs/replacements. No scratches, dents, visible detailing tricks to hide stuff. No visible modifications. Even the soft plastic and leather seats look mint and the truck still smells naturally new with no signs of smells being masked. Still has the factory AT tires with plenty of tread life. Even my bank said great deal and gave me the best interest rate offered on a new car over it, even though they knew it was used.

I’m happy with the deal. I’m pretty confident I could have leveraged more, but we were in the zone my wife and I agreed on between us, it checked more boxes than we initially had, and seemed like the most solid used Tacoma we have seen on the market since we started looking. If this truck was local to me and/or listed and advertised appropriately I’m confident it would have pulled in another $5k. Obviously it’s “baby shit green” but I think it’s fun and unique. I would like to believe it’s so loud that it would be less likely to be targeted for nefarious means.

 

Ignore those who dislike it ... https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/electric-lime-metallic-thread.741287/

 

Had to make some edits, this forum is a new platform to me and I had some irrelevant stuff uploaded to the first post

 

Ugly as Hell. I like it.

 

The electric lime metallic is growing on me...I'd own one. Sorry about the VW. There is no such thing as a 'forever' car (unless you're about to die).

 

Embrace the lime light. You own one of the coolest trucks on the road.

 

I think that’s one of the colors you have to see in person to appreciate.

 

My friend said “It’s ugly and eccentric so it’s totally you”

Thank you. I thought the color was ridiculous until it became a reality to own. Still ridiculous, I guess.

Kind of learned to not fall in love with cars. Do my best to take care of them, but the lack of massive depreciation on Toyotas combined with their simplicity really drew me in.

Thanks!

 

Very good point. I think a bright sunny day brings out the best of it. It’s not as vibrant when it’s overcast, nor does it photograph well in most pictures. Easy to skip over when you see it for sale online

 

Sinus infection green as I call it. Right up there with neon Campbells tomato soup.

Clean truck though and I still prefer the 3rd gens with their quirks over the 4th gen Tacoma's.

 

Congrats on the new Taco. I think it looks great and you must too since you said, "I think it’s fun and unique". I had my first new car many years ago and got it because no one else liked the color. It was a mustard gold 1973 Corolla SR5. I had it for 15 years and 240,000 miles. Sold it to a kid who would replace the clutch himself. He thought it was great too. As far as "forever car" I said that 3 vehicles ago ha ha.

 

Green is the 7th most popular color in the US. Here is a cool interactive map. Click on your state to see the most and least popular color and the most popular vehicle in your state.

https://www.edmunds.com/most-popular-car-colors/

 

Haha, that’s a great name. I love people poking fun at it.

I bet that Corolla would out live all of us. “Forever” is the goal, but I get it. I’m sure in 10 years we will all be in EVs or whatever; who knows.

This is a really cool tool, thank you for sharing. I wonder how much of it is based on availability vs what people are actually choosing. The top 3 seem to make up 90%+ of the dealer lots around here.

 

I saw one on the highway last night. I think they look pretty goood

 

Nice find for sure! I personally love the lime, but I also drive an inferno Tundra so im into the loud colors.
Did interrogation training in the military and have some LE background and have to say I also love playing the games with the dealers. Its a friggin hoot and we always win.

 

No way in hell I'm reading the OPs manifesto, but congrats on the slime green truck!

 

It’s a good time for sure. I miss doing it as often as I used to, so this had me re-live all the fun.

Thanks! I get it. I figured 99% would only care about the tl;dr so I split it up. Just fun for me to talk about it more so than if people actually read it.

 

I wouldn’t buy that color, but appreciate it vs the sea of white, silver and black vehicles

 

I like it. That color looks fantastic in the sun. Congrats on a great truck.