Anyone else feeling better about their 3rd gen.

LOL!!!! That is the whole truth and nothing but!

Leaning waaaay back in North Fork, CA.

 

My '23 trd OR 6mt is my 5th toyota truck going back to the 80's. I'm more than pleased with it. Honestly only a few things annoy me. Minor annoyance is the placement of the port for apple car play. Wish they would have put it or one in the armrest console. Another minor annoyance is the lack of an oh shit grab handle on the drivers side. Major annoyance is reverse gear on the manual. Way way too tall. Designed for people to drive 30mph in reverse I suppose. Im aware of the current 2lo mod.I really miss the ability on my old trucks to put it in 2lo with the shifter and NOT lock in the hubs for a mechanical 2lo mode. I'm a little hesitant to do the mod to my new truck.

My last vehicle was a 2015 jeep jku rubicon, and compared to that rig, this truck with the manual trans feels like a sports car.

 

I got a pm a little while ago and thought it applied to answer the question posted and also lend some advice to @2one8

The question that was asked of me privately was how much I was spending in fuel and if I thought it had all been worth it.

I’ve spent a lot of coin on gas. How much I couldn’t tell you because I don’t care. I can just guesstimate. Here’s my reasoning.

First, I bought the truck knowing I was doing the batshit road trip lol @Rock Lobster. That phrase has stuck. Thank you for the daily chuckle.

Second, I want everyone to think about something. If the day ever comes and we are forced to go full ev, the days of long trips are done. Some of you are going to get your panties in a knot and scream and and cry saying that’s just not true.

Guess how many charging station are south of TJ Mexico all the way to the south of Baja? I saw one could have been more in TJ but did not see one the entire drive down the coast through Baja.

Not going to get into charging stations from Baja through Mexico, all of Central America, and down the entire west coast of South America. Want to see the Inca ruins? Not gonna get there in an ev. Want to see the Amazon? No going to see it in an ev. Want to get up to 18700 feet and visit the city of La Rinconada? No way in hell you’re getting up and back in an ev. Climb alone will kill the charge.

I could go on and on. Here’s the point. Up until we had cars we were limited by how far a horse could go. Then came cars and internal combustion. The world is now wide open. Mandatory ev’s are going to take that away. Think they are going to put rapid charging stations in the mountains of Peru? How about in the middle of nowhere in Mexico? Anyplace that is away from a major city is not going to have them. Your available world just became a lot smaller.

Gas is cheap as shit here. My sister lives in Hof Germany. Price per liter there is 2.05 euros per liter. Today a euro is 1.09 USD. 3.8 liters in a gallon. That’s 7.22 a gallon. More than double that where I live in Va, and two bucks more than the gas station closest to my property in Wyoming.

Evs will shrink the world of possibilities. Especially the ones off the beaten path. No way I could have done this 110k plus mile trip ( so far, 5 months left) in an ev.

110000 miles. Say I get 300miles in an ev. That’s 367 times I need to charge. No fast charging thats 8 hours a pop. 2,933 hours of charging or 122.25 full 24 hour days of charging. I’ve been on the road for just over 11 months. That would be 4 full months of charging. Fuck that.

If you plan on going and seeing the US or all of North, South, and Central America the Tacoma is worth it. If you plan on going camping and seeing the outdoors more than once it’s worth it. If you live to be outside and live to explore as I do it’s worth it. If you need a truck to haul shit all the time it’s worth it. If it’s a dd and you don’t need a truck, put your money elsewhere. Not even going to comment if you bought a Tacoma and just built it up for Instagram.

I encourage everyone to get out and go while you can. Don’t wait til evs are mandatory and then bitch that you can’t go where you want.

Do it now. If you have to switch up job plans do it now. If you have to realign priorities do it now.

Oh and a quick guesstimate puts me well over $22k in gas. Still don’t care. This trip has been worth 10 times that.

Edit in response to another pm that asked about lack of tech and power in my truck and wasting money( got this after I posted)

First don’t give a shit about tech in the truck. I have starlink to stay connected. Truck gets me from a to b.

Never once felt I didn’t have enough power. It’s just not in a place most people are used to ie at the top of the rpm ladder.

Waste of money is subjective. I don’t think it’s a waste of money. But since you asked I’ll be blunt:

You worry about your money and I’ll worry about mine. I’m 50 and fully retired. I’m in South America enjoying life not having to worry about daily bullshit. In the words of a great DC hardcore punk band from the early 80’s called Minor Threat, “What the fuck have you done”

 

Shooot…remember when it was hard to find gas in Baja. Now almost every la abuelita along the roadside is selling fuel out of milk jugs.

Dunno, looks doable in an EV…maybe not the most convenient or the quickest, but don’t think going full EV is going to be the end of vehicle travel. Can also tow a something like a Rivian to charge it too.

Can pan out and scroll around.
https://www.plugshare.com/

Wouldn’t be my first choice in what is available today’s market, but think it could be done.

 

I agree it could be done but why go through all that bullshit when you can do it now for 3 minutes at a pump. Or you see someplace different you’d like to go but no charger is available .

Yes it’s doable to some extent but I’m an off the cuff kind of guy. Came to a fork in a road in Canada. Apple Maps told me to go left I said fuck it and went right. I have 25 gallons of spare gas.

Valid point though.

And gas in Baja is still questionable. Found out some of the ones listed are only open during the Baja races and closed at other times. Yes I bought gas out of 1 gallon milk jugs. Hehehe.

 

If Ewan McGregor can do it, anyone of us knuckleheads could…of course he as a little more resources than most. https://www.longwayup.com/

Charging down time, gives you a chance to sit back relax and check out the local scene. Had some of the best interactions with people when we broke down or ran out of gas.

That said…that is if those charging points even work. My wife used to live in Panama, power would go out for hours/days at a time. Same with water, during the dry season…they would turn the water on for an hour or two in the morning and that was it. Try and fill every container you have.

Yeah, kind of the same as you, like to flip a coin at cross roads, always have 15-20 extra gallons with me, because I want to find out where that road goes, even if it is the “wrong way” Do think an EV could work with careful planning, but where is the fun in that? Really hate itineraries, EVs will get there though (eventually)

 

I gotta say bud,

I'm currently facing a mid career "well shit what do I want to do now?" change. It might or might not include a span of in-between joblessness, depending on how my motivation hits this month.

A batshit roadtrip sounds pretty damn appealing to me right now.




But yeah, if my truck can lug this trailer from the Pacific to the Atlantic and do so happily, then I can't really call it underpowered. It does its job. In a weird way, its quirks taught me to road trip better. Its a truck that hates the interstate and loves the secondary biways. And I love it for that. It has taught me how to explore my own continent.

 

I was until I read about that plastic water pipe in the back of the engine against the firewall that cracks and is hugely expensive to get replaced; or the plastic plenum flap that breaks off and causes weird/random CEL codes and make the engine sputter at low RPM but drives mostly fine at higher speeds (or is it the other way around?)...I get saving money but using plastic on these high-temp/high-rotation parts?? Hoping my truck doesn't succumb to these ills...

 

He also did "Long Way Down" and "Long Way Round" vids too. Pretty amazing stuff.

 

Most intelligent and well-articulated argument I've ever heard against ev's. At the bare minimum, maybe this will make some people consider what a future reliant on ev's will be like. I have nothing to add.

 

Yep, watched them all.

First one was probably the best when he was still green.

Long Way Up did change my mind about EVs. Enjoyed the problem solving, of course they had one hell of a chase crew. The Sprinter had a generator in it too if I recall, been awhile since I watched it.

 

Not sure how all that was lending me some advice?

 

not sure what you mean?

 

Toyota doesn’t offer the Pro in a long bed

 

Hell Yeah! Where to next!?!

 

The top picture is my truck over 8 years ago when I bought it. The bottom picture is this week after I washed it. I few posts back I said I might trade in if I got a huge 4th Gen discount. After seeing these pictures together, I am keeping my Access Cab. Yes, I know the bottom picture still needs a fresh coat of wax.

 

My truck 8 years ago





It got suntanned 6 years ago



And then it hit the gym.





I'm also not selling, and mainly because Im not in a mood to unbolt the copious amount of bullshit that it's wearing at the minute.

 

2022 TRD OR with 22k miles. This truck is solid, not a single squeak, rattle, electrical glitch or strange sound in 2 years. It starts and drives exactly the same in all conditions. Best mileage so far is 23.5 (measured, not digital). When the tranny annoys me I turn on ECT and it drives like I used to drive my manual trannys.

 

Yep.
My best is 22.6 mpg, and I do enjoy both ECT as well as locking the A/T out of the higher gears.
This is quite useful in descending a steep grade and avoids over braking.

 

Agreed. For my 30min hilly, city commute, it's S-4 only with ECT at times.

For some reason there are lots of folks perplexed by S-Mode. Same for ECT to some degree. Lots like to just put in D and go.

I like being as engaged as possible with my 6-Auto. Comes from years of commercial driving an Eaton Fuller 13 speed and the days of my 92 Toyota truck with a 3.0L 5spd for 14 years.