Buying new Tacoma. Never bought a new vehicle before, need some advice.

Yup, another buying a new tacoma thread. I'm new here so apology in advance.

Decided on getting a tacoma. Never bought a new vehicle before, past two vehicles were a 94 camry and 01 corolla both had major problems but again I didn't pay more than $2k for them. Decided to bite the bullet and buy new. Decided on the tacoma over the other midsize trucks (test drove, did the homework, blah blah blah). I'm in Florida so I have some questions with financing. I'll be putting down ~$8-10K as a down payment, and will probably be financing through Southeast Toyota due to their low interest rates. First, is this down payment too large or too small? Second, I've read about penalty fees for paying off the loan too early. Is this still true?

I'll be getting an SR5. Thought about the TRD off road, but honestly the only off roading I'll be doing are dirt/gravel/compact sand trails in parks and boat ramps in florida. My other question is that I'm looking for a 4 cylinder but it seems like they are impossible to find in double cab configuration in the sr5 model. The reasoning for my 4 cylinder is due the reliability. I'm not so certain on the 3.5 v6 due to it being in a new generation and some folks (on this forum, reddit, and youtube) not being too happy with the v6, wishing they got the 4. I'm looking to keep this truck for 10-15 years before selling/trading for an upgrade. Would ordering one from Toyota cost me more than from buying a truck sitting on a lot?


Finale question, toyota safety sense. Do you like it? The truck I'm going for will be a 2020 or 2021 (maybe 2019). If you all have any other opinons/advice, I'm all ears.

 

Welcome to TW!

The V6 is great - don't listen to the haters. The biggest problem it had was computer programming, and the tunes have fixed that. Mine runs like a champ since it was reprogrammed. Shifts great, mileage improved - like a whole 'nuther engine.

I'm also keeping mine for 10-15 years (unless I suddenly need larger).

I'd go 2020 for the features - they're just a tiny bit better than what came before.

As for financing - any down payment reduces what you pay in interest overall. However, if your financing percentage is lower than the interest rate that money can earn in the bank, it makes more sense to have a lower down payment. I've always been of the mind that "the sooner it's paid off the better" but this is your call, not ours.

Again, welcome to TW, and I hope you're able to find the truck you want/need at the best price.

 

Down payment is fine, its only too large if it wipes out your emergency savings. I havent run into a prepayment penalty in a long, long time. Not sure if they even exist anymore. Shop around various credit unions for the best interest rates. Right now the automakers might have the best rates, some are offering 0%. Try to find that if you can.


Get the v6. Ignore the complaining on this forum. They are reliable engines.

I like safety sense. People that complain about that are most likely aggressive drivers that might need the occasional nag (myself included).

 

I buy/trade in a lot of cars (my Tacoma is tenth one and I am only 25). My fiancée also works for an Autogroup that owns numerous dealerships in my area (as you may know dealerships are not owned by manufacturer).

Your downpayment is pretty good. Honestly for “low end” brands, as long as the bank is happy, the dealership don’t care what your downpayment is. Some don’t put any downpayment some do. I sometimes do and I sometimes don’t, but I have excellent credit score so I get the best interest rate the bank is willing to give. If you don’t, downpayment can help them lower the interest rate as it is less of a risk for them. I invest a lot so sometimes I use the money to go into more investment and make more money then I would saving from interest rate. So it’s up to you. It also helps banks determine if they should lend to you if you don’t have excellent credit score (debt to income ratio comes into play).

I like my V6. The problem is not the engine itself, but the tune and gears. Just changing the gears drastically change how the vehicle feels. I drove someone’s Taco with a 5.29 gearing and the responsiveness and power felt like my Silverado (v8). It had the driving feel of what a truck should be.

Ordering a truck from a dealership shouldn’t cost more (if all the addons are the same, but want a different color). They will require a security deposit though and may try to charge a fee if they think you will pay it. All dealership has to do is instead of a basic setup from factory, they can modify it. They are allotted a certain amount of modifications from factory a month. It has to be the current model though and you have to go thru a dealership. Manufacturers (unless it’s Tesla) don’t sell directly to consumer.

 

Down payment will depend on your current financial situation. None of us can really judge, I think Tacomaword sees both ends of paying cash and zero down.

I would check the loan terms but typically there are no early payment or payoff penalties.

The 3.5 is an old engine, while the 2GR-FKS is "new" its based on the 2GR engine which is about 15 years old. The engine itself is fine and will likely last forever we already have folks with over 120k on them. the misinformed reddit and youtubers are likely unhappy with the transmission. No one really likes the auto transmission.

I don't have TSS.

 

Thanks. Yeah I read about the computer issues. Thought that was with the 4 and 6. I forgot to mention about taxes. Does the OTD price include taxes? I'm not taxed on the downpayment right?

 

You're taxed on the entire vehicle purchase and it's factored into the final OTD price.

The size of your down payment doesn't enter into it - you're paying the same amount.

The gub'mint is getting their money.

 

OTD typically means Taxes, title and tags, the taxes will vary by state but its usually a % of the purchase price.

 

Credit score is 776. My banks and credit unions are 2.7 and above. Toyota is 0% for 60 months or something like that.

 

So the county i live in has a sales tax of 8.5%. The county next door is 6.5%. So I should just go the 6.5 county to buy right? Or does car buying go by state tax?

 

That’s a good down payment. You at least want to pay the depreciation you’ll have driving off the lot so you’re never upside down in the loan.

Your average vehicle loan has no prepayment penalty but you need to ask your lender to be sure.

 

It’s by state that you will be registering the vehicle in(from what my fiancée is saying).

 

Check with your credit union and bank too. Keep in mind that dealer / OE rates are artificial, and they make their money by selling the vehicle at a higher price. So you don't know the 'real' cost of your money, 'cause you don't know the 'real' cost of the vehicle.

Only the T/C of the particular lender will apply here. But I'd never take any loan that had that penalty.

It's a toss up. There is no real 'ordering', they'll look to swap with another dealer inventory.

I will add that SE and Gulf States Toyota are not the most favorable regions. I'd shop online further north. It could well be worth the ride to pick up what you want. As in I bought new from them once, and never again. You can get lucky and find just what you want parked somewhere, and the market is in your favor right now. But it's still worth shopping elsewhere.

I don't have it so I can't speak to it as a user.

I can tell you that I'm not interested in it. To me it's a crutch for the inattentive driver and another level of complexity. And what we don't know is what future repair costs of all that package will be. Other than 'not cheap'.

 

Ok cool

 

Since it is your first new purchase, watch out for the add-ons the finance officer will try to sell you. Extended warranty, nitrogen filled tires, etc.. They tack on to the price and aren’t always worth the cost.
The salesperson is also going to try to get you to commit to a monthly payment amount instead of an out the door total. They want you to focus on the monthly payment so you don’t pay attention to the total sale price.

 

Oh, I 100% know this game.

 

A little tip from me and my fiancée.

Go in with a pre-approved loan. They will try to pull the four square trick on you and try to only talk about monthly payment. Tell them you are not worried about that and only care about getting best price for the vehicle.
Better yet, If you don’t need to test drive it, you can just email or call for pricing. Don’t let them tell you otherwise that you can’t get pricing over the phone or email. If they do, move on to the next dealership.
Once pricing is done, then you can talk about financing. Show your term you got from you banks pre-approved, and ask them if they can beat the interest rate (which they normally can). Just make sure you the terms are the same except the interest price. They’ll sometimes increase the term length to lower monthly payment, but not really save you anything.

 

Get the V6/Auto. No one ever complains about too much power.

 

Do NOT go through toyota financial. Get a pre-approved loan through another bank. Don't go through Bank of America either, they are equally terrible.

 

Why? If they have the lowest rate what else matters?