Advice on used 05 Tacoma

I am the lone owner on my 05 which has 170k and has seen its fair share of bashing while wheeling. Engine has been solid and well maintained. I wouldn't take the sellers word about previous crawling history. Just look underneath for scrapes/gashes or Colorado Pinstripes on the paint and that will help with that answer.
My $.02 - run away from a rebuilt title regardless if it checks the boxes of what you want in a vehicle. Insurance companies have already paid on the vehicle once, they typically are not keen on doing it again.

 

Congratulations on the new career and picking a Tacoma.

A vehicle's cost over it's life is: purchase price + repairs + maintenance - sale price.

If you're just getting started with your career and your Tacoma will be your daily driver and you don't want the risk of spending money on unexpected transportation costs... I'd recommend that you look for a lower mileage stock condition truck. Travel 100s of miles if need be.. it'll be worth the time and effort.

You can pick up aftermarket bumpers and accessories to trick your truck over time.. relatively inexpensively by monitoring craigslist and TW.

Start with a solid truck with clear title and work from there. That's my 2c from an old(er) guy that's been there.

 

Thabks man you just saved me $14,000!

 

Thank you I appreciate I'll keep on looking for the tight truck

 

Yes. Search this forum for Head Gasket!

 

05 with salvaged title this is basically a parts truck. Lol at $14K!

 

Offer him some prime swamp land in Florida on a trade

 

I’d spend that budget on a well maintained stock truck so you don’t run into any unforeseen issues. Mods can come later.

 

Salvage title is worth half what a normal truck title would worth,I would not pay more than $7k for that truck.

 

Nothing but good things to say about my 2005 DCB, V6 Prerunner. Bought new, personally changed the oil 63 times. Just drove a 3Gen yesterday for the first time. Thinking about it, but love my 05. B est damn vehicle I have ever owned, PERIOD!

 

I just bought my 2010 about a month ago. I paid 15.8 at a dealer, the truck had been in a hail storm but they replaced the hood and windshield and put new tires on it. 149k miles.

It needed a few things but I'm taking care of that. Shocks were shot so I bought a set of 5100s on Amazon and had them put on. There were no floor mats, just bare carpet, so I picked up some Weathertechs. Replaced the drivers side mirror glass and the battery holder. Toyota is going to replace the leaf springs on September 18 under the recall. I've also changed the oil, new air filter, cabin filter, wiper blades. Cleaned the throttle body and MAF sensor.

Tacoma shopping is not easy and finding a good deal on a good truck is tough. Be patient. I looked at a lot of trucks online and several in person before I found mine. I previously had a 2005...I wouldn't automatically say no but they had more issues than the later years, as several people pointed out. My '05 had the timing cover leak which would have taken a lot of time and/or money to fix. TW has been a huge resource for me. I have learned to do several things myself such as a quality HID headlight retrofit, fixing the temp/compass display, cleaning the TB/MAF sensor like I mentioned, and more. I will probably attempt my first DIY full transmission fluid change (flush?) on this truck.

Do plenty of research and you'll save a lot of money and aggravation in finding the right Taco and taking care of it.

 

Thanks for the advice I've completely walked away from that truck at this point. Especially after looking at all the posts I'll keep my eye out for the right one. Buying stock and upgrading as I go is definitely smarter that way I'll be familiar with my truck and everything that's been modified.

 

I actually passed up a heavily modded '05 also, a few months ago. I feel a lot better about this '10 and it was worth the wait.