First new vehicle in 10 years

First post, figured an introduction was needed. My name is Will, I recently purchased a 2018 Tacoma Off-Road, it was a huge deal for me and i'll get into that more as I go. I owned a 2007 FJ cruiser before the Taco, it was great but gas mileage sucked at 12-13mpg and the front diff took a dump, trans was making noise etc, thus my upgrade. I made the decision months ago to look for a Tacoma when the time was right, however with everything going wrong on my FJ I was rushed into it a bit sooner then planned, I originally went to the dealership looking at something small to get to and from work in, a corolla or C-HR (great car btw) and after many test drives i said screw it let me drive a Tacoma and that is when I couldn't leave without it. I had a few necessities for my choice, had to be inferno orange, had to be an off road, and of course had to meet my payment requirements, they happened to have one still in plastic just off the truck, so a few hours later and a ton of dealing with paperwork etc I got to drive it home. This truck means the world to me, my father was a 38 year master Toyota technician, I grew up at the dealership I got my truck from, and I grew up being crammed in a tiny 1st gen Tacoma back seat, made a lot of memories in that truck with my family. I loved these trucks for so long I needed to own one but money was never right, until now.

Growing up around a master mechanic has a ton of advantages, I learned a lot, I know how to do 99% of my own work etc, that comes with disadvantages too, being I like to tinker, I cant leave anything stock and it drives my wife nuts. This truck I plan to only use Toyota/TRD parts on, though I doubt it will stay that way, but for now it will. As for some of my tinkering history, I own a 2007 Honda Civic as well, it has roughly 450-500 horsepower to the wheels, it was fun, but costly to fix (blew the motor due to a bad oil pump, oops) and the honda crowd is not for me, made some good friends in it but also dealt with a ton of other not so fun people as well.

As for some small upgrades, I absolutely HATE halogen bulbs, LED lighting will be a mandatory upgrade, I just got the Tacoma on 5/7, the fog lights were installed today, really liked that toyota used Rigid Industries on the Pro model so I had to go that route, new LED headlight bulbs should be in tomorrow. Also installed AVS vent visors, saw them on a showroom model in a matte black low profile, they looked good, ordered them the same day I got the truck. Future plans are simple stuff, rid the outside of chrome pieces, change wheels, maybe the exhaust, but I really enjoy it the way it is so that will come slowly.

Sorry for the rambling, but its been awhile since I have joined any forum, I hope to learn a lot from here and maybe contribute to help others in some way as well.

 

Welcome to the forum! That is a wonderful story, and I'm glad you could reconnect with your father through the purchase as well! Great looking truck, really like the color!

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

Sweet ride!
Welcome to the group!

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the TW family!

 

Welcome !

 

Nice looking taco , congrats and welcome.