Advice: 2nd vs 3rd Gen (and Rebuilt Titles)

I'm feeling a bit conflicted between going down the 2nd or 3rd gen route. I've been doing a lot of research and it kind of seems like I've kinda gotta comprimise in one of the following: Clean title, Low(ish) Miles, Price, 4x4, Double Cab, and Year. My budget is around $20k. I've got a 2015 I'm interested in and I'll be looking at it later this week.


$18,500
"2015 Tacoma SR5 4x4 with the TSS Sports Package, 187k, clean title. Freshly detailed. This is one of the mechanically cleanest Tacomas out there. No leaks or weird suspension noises. Everything works perfectly. It is a Texas truck so there is zero rust on the frame and body."

Here's the thing, I love the look of this thing but the miles scare me. It kinda hurts my soul to drop near 20k on a truck pushing 200k. (especially since i'm coming from a lovely pos Ford Ranger worth about 5k) I know Toyota's are known for reliability but still. My other problem is that I really like the exterior of this thing but the interior is dated and the 3rd gens look way better inside in my opinion.

So where does that leave me? Well I can buy a 2nd gen like this one, this is the best I've come across after about a month of research... or I can get a rebuilt 3rd gen. I've been searching and searching and I can't find a 3rd gen that meets my "must haves" in my budget with a clean title. I've never dabbled in the rebuilt title market and I don't have the slightest clue how that works. I've always had the inclination to steer clear of anything but clean titles but I don't actually know why. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

This strikes me as quite pricey for what it is, but the owner is likely gambling on someone's love of the 2G to get the asking price, TBH.

I don't know what your max budget is, but is everything you're looking at hovering at around $20K?

 

The absolute max in my head that I was thinking was $25k but I'm trying to save some wiggle room for registration and potentially putting money into it.

 

It’s been posted that some insurance companies won’t insure a rebuilt vehicle. Not sure if that’s true but check it out before purchasing one that went through the salvage process.

 

I would stay away from a rebuilt title unless you expect to run it into the ground and never ever get rid of it. And even then, only if you can ascertain the reasons for its having been salvage titled, and what exactly was repaired.

 

So this truck does not have a rebuilt title. Personally I’d be willing to pay $15k for it. You’re right to be concerned about the mileage, that’s a lot for any vehicle. Should have plenty of life left in it if all the maintenance has been done and on time. Obviously oil changes are the big one but I’d want to see that the coolant and ATF were flushed every 60k miles. Other things too but that’s the two big ones in my mind.

 

I will say 2015 may be one of the best years ever for a Tacoma. If the service records are in the glove box, this may not be a bad deal. Its all about how it was cared for: fluids changed on schedule, issues repaired correctly, etc. I would expect many more miles out of this truck if it was well cared for. I have had two FJ Cruisers hit 250k+ miles with no real issues other than wear items.

 

Also since you asked about 3rd gens, solid truck but I’m not a fan of the Atkinson cycle and direct injection. They seem reliable and I’m sure it’s better than any competitor in terms of Reliability. I’d rather have the old 4.0 though. Then again that’s coming from a 2nd gen owner so take it with a grain of salt.

 

rebuilt titles are a wild west of scenario's.


there's guys that absolutely do everything right in repairing them, or if you're not going to Snow White's Ball any time soon, there's also plenty of vehicles that get branded/salvage titles for an aesthetic reason like hail damage. there's also salvage title vehicles where the vehicle was stolen, and the insurance paid out for it, but then later recovered undamaged.

but there's also just as many that people try to fix on the cheap, with poor parts, processes, and faking out important sensors with bad electronics, and is a matter of when, not if, it will kill someone.

salvage titles mean that there was something significantly wrong with it to an insurance agency. they're a hassle to buy, a hassle to own, and a hassle to ever sell.

overall, it's better to avoid salvage titles if you can. for the most part, branded titles seem to only go for about 20% less than a clean titled vehicle, which has always been far too much for me given the extra hassle. if you can't avoid it, they just require a lot more foot work to determine how/what got them the branded title, and then have a professional body guy do an inspection on it to determine if the effected repaired area meets official standards. if it's a vehicle that someone did everything right on, it will, and it would be worth it.

that said, i have a lot of doubts you'll be able to find any 3rd gen for $20k for quite a while. especially one that doesn't have 300k miles and poor maintenance records. the toyota tax is real, and real frustrating.


my advice would be to hold onto the ranger for a couple more years, work on a larger down payment and/or for your situation to better itself, and then go for it.

that was what i did... the 3rd gen is what nudged me towards buying a house. but it took another 6 years, with a ranger, before i could set my self up financially to accomplish that part of my goal.