New owner of 1995 Tacoma

(preface: I thought I posted the letter below earlier, but do not see it in the forum. The 'Notices' section is also still telling me that I haven't made a post to the community yet. So I guess it's true, and will try again...)

Hello everyone!

I recently bought a 1995 Tacoma from a very good friend of mine who was the original owner. It is a bone stock Xtra cab, with the 4 cyl, manual tranny, and it has 200K miles on it. I bought it for my son who will be 16 in January. But I'm loving it so much, I may have to keep it for myself.

I was hoping to get answers to a couple of simple questions from this knowledgeable group of avid Tacoma fans. I've done the searches and have found some good information, but not everything I was looking for.

First: Rough idle. It ran good when cold, but when doing a lot of city driving in the heat, it would start to die then jump up (repeat). I cleaned the O2 (MAF?) sensor, and that helped the idle tremendously. But now, in the same heat conditions, it bogs down and literally bucks at low RPMs (approx 1500 rpm). The more throttle I apply, the worse it gets. This seems like an extension of the previous problem, but feel free to straighten me out. What should I look at?

Second: shocks. It needs a new set really bad. I'm not interested in modifying it in any way, but don't necessarily feel the need for OEM parts in this area. Given that, what's popular and why?

My friend says he got 28 mpg regularly in this truck. I can only manage 22-23. The rough idle/low rpm issue might be a factor. But I'm sure it has more to do with driving style than anything else. What mileage are other similar Tacoma owners getting?

BTW, I'm not complaining about 22mpg. That's twice what I get in my '08 F150 FX4 (SuperCrew, w/6.5' bed). Which is why I love driving this little truck.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

David