New Tacoma buying advice?

Hello I have lurked for a few months and am now closing in to buying and new/slightly used Taco. First off would it be smarter to buy a 2009-11' taco or brand new? These things hold there value really well. Now if I buy new what is the best time to buy? I mean are there deep discounts on closeout 2012.
Im look for a white access cab SR5 4x4 with the 4cyl/5mt.

Thank you for all the info and a great site!!!

 

When I was looking I didn't see any huge close out deals. I was looking since Aug. 2011 and bought in March 2012.

I opted out from a 2010 SR5 w/ 28k miles and bought new for $4k more.

Not a lot of differences in the model years, but for 4k I also got TRD, chose my paint color, and got all the options I wanted (all weather flooring!!!). The 2012 design changes to the interior are what pushed me over from an older year.

 

Thanks thats what im thinking as well. Plus lower rate and suprisingly lower insurance. I work at an auto auction and my boss said that I should be able to get at cost dealer pricing.
What is the lowest price anyone has heard of for a new 2012 Access cab SR5 4x4 4cyl/5mt? I only have $3500 to go on my 07 Civic and then im in the Taco club!!!!

 

I bought in July but am not convinced the deal was any better than I could have gotten earlier in the model year. If buying new, just don't wait until your choices are too limited to be satisified with the truck you purchase.

 

" I only have $3500 to go on my 07 Civic and then im in the Taco club!!!!"

even at 350 a month -it will take you almost a year to get "in the taco club"

 

I bought my 05 AC OR for $11k. Screw $600 a month payments. It's a truck, theirs not much that break or can't be fixed at home. Why hang your self with hefty payments?

 

I don't know about specific pricing for the truck you want, but in general you can find salesmen more "motivated" to sell during the last week of the month and in the middle of the week (Tues-Thurs). I've heard this is due to them trying to hit their sales quotas for the month.

Back in '06 when I was truck shopping I was set on finding a clean, used, low-mile Tacoma in order to save money. After several months of looking I couldn't find a decent truck; they were either way over-priced and within just a few thousand dollars of new trucks, or they were beat up and had a ton of miles on them. I became fed up and bought new instead.

Good luck with your searching and purchase!

 

Well im paying 1k a month, it sucks but the finish line is near. What month did the 2012 start to come out?

 

I'd buy new. I DID buy new after researching what was available used. There's not enough price difference from used to new to make up for having your own truck off the lot. And 15 yrs from now being the original owner is a good selling point, worth about an extra 15% selling it especially if you kept maintenance records.

However, I wouldn't buy the 2012 2.7L with an access cab. Some people will dispute that, but I bought a 2012 with that setup and it was just too weak to pull that 4055 lb curb weight vehicle. I thought it would be OK since I had a '97 reg cab with the 2.7L and it was decent power-wise. But the extra 400 lbs with the access cab was too much for that 2.7L motor, took it back to the dealer and got the 4.0/6spd MT.

Best of luck to you.

BTW, I sold my '97 reg cab 4WD base truck a couple weeks ago and got about 40% of original value. Amazing resale value.

 

.I like the 4cyl. I drove an 08 access cab with the 5 speed at work for a week. Its fine for me, im not a speed freak(funny im 25). I get my kicks of Lotus's, Camaro's etc at work.

 

"Well im paying 1k a month" ...Thats a hefty payment almost like a mortgage, I can see why you cant wait till that is over with....

 

Do your home work. Go to Truecar.com. You'll see recent sales data on current sales data and you will get 3 quotes from dealerships. It's free. Be sure to make a wide selection on the dealerships and include your dealer of choice to get the best price. Then print the low one for proof. It will give you the base price plus all the options price. When your closest dealer or dealer of choice calls to follow-up, just say that you are getting ready to go to the low dealer because their price was so much better. He will quickly match it and that's your starting point once you sit down to talk prices.

Remember, there is a dealer holdback of approx 2% of dealer invoice that they get back from Toyota annually or semi-annually. So figure out what the invoice cost is (which you will get from the Truecar) and that is the most you should pay. This is how some dealers sell for less than invoice. You can usually get another couple hundred off once you say you'll think about it and get ready to leave. If he doesn't offer to lower, you can always accept invoice cost, unless you want to play some more, i.e. fax an offer to 3 dealers with what you want and see if any will take it.

If you're trading in a car, you have even more room to work. First get an offer from CarMax. That's your starting point. then see what others are getting for similar cars...i.e. edmunds, etc. If you don't want to sell yourself, you can usually get them to raise their "wholesale trade-in" offer by 1-3k depending on your car and the condition. I got my '12 DC TRD sport w/heated leather seats for invoice + $2.5K over their initial wholesale trade offer on my super clean '09 Benz. The advantage of trading in is that you reduce the amount of sales tax that you pay on the new truck.

Just my $0.02.

Good luck.

 

Test drive, test drive, test drive. Make sure you don't buy one with the shaking drive shaft prob, many of them have this and Toyota is inconsistent on how to address it or if they want to.

 

Is there a thread on this? Havnt heard of this problem.

 

Toyota is giving 2% holdback and 1% financial reserve on the total price.

I've bargained and fought out some good deals over the years, but the best approach is reading what is on www.fightingchance.com. Also, I once had the opportunity of checking his true dealer invoice against what the Toyota plant said, and it was dead on. I can't say too much about that, but it is good to back up the info.

Anyway, the philosophy behind the fighting chance approach is that while you can dicker with a few dealers, this plan has you pitting a dozen or more bidding. This isn't a dealer group scam. I've done this on 3 new cars/trucks. The first one I contacted 23 dealers by fax. Anyway, the info is interesting if you hit the website. It 's a shocker when you find all of the ways dealers can make a fortune.

 

there are several, these are for the 2012's. They had this prob on the 2006 and 2007, but it's back for 2012. If it shakes on acceleration btwn 5 and 25mph, especially uphill, don't buy it!!!

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/225428-2012-issues-totally-nerded-out.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/187518-2012-stock-tacoma-driveline-vibration.html

 

Never heard of such a thing, provide some substantial info please.......not forum posts.

 

if you're referring to the driveline probs, you can either drive my truck or try reading the thread, it's got images of RO's, conversation notes from Toyota, dealer names other.

 

Is it just on the 6 speeds? Anyways, does anyone know how much Toyota employee discounts are?
I work at the Boise auto auction and I will get that price or better if I buy new.