First Timer

Pleased to meet you all. This is my first Tacoma. Also my first Toyota. Hell, my first truck. I'm more of a hot-hatch, sporty car guy.

But now we've bought a piece of property an hour away and are planning to build a home for retirement. Our Mazda CX5 has done surprisingly well towing a zero-turn back and forth but it's not ideal for hauling lumber or firewood. So we needed a truck to do truck-things.

For most of my life I've driven Fords or Mazdas. But Ford has pretty much driven me off by doing away with cars and putting the Mustang name on an SUV. I briefly considered a used Ranger, but when I found that the Tacoma was available with an MT, that sealed the deal.

Watched the listings for a TRD Sport with MT and <65k miles for a few months and this is the one I pulled the trigger on (excuse the dealer pic).



2019 Tacoma TRD Sport with 29,697 miles. Clean with clean Carfax although it's been through three owners.

I'm proud of myself for staying patient on this one. It was listed at $38k in January and then marked down to $37k in February. When they cut it to $35k last week, I figured they were ready to get rid of it so I was able to get it down to my budget number.

 

Congrats!!! You found a Tacoma in arguably one of the best colors ever. Happy travels.

 

welcome to tacomaworld.

 

You may find this thread interesting regarding 2WD/4hi/4Lo, excess tire wear from mis-using those 3, AND how to drive on ice/snow. Not knowing your location the snow/ice part may be useful.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/4x4-best-practices-for-snow-covered-roads.753009/

 

Yeah, I like it a lot. I prefer bright colors for my cars but I was resigned to whatever color came available at the right price. It reads lighter in the listing photos and the dealer listed it as Voodoo Blue so I was surprised to see on the lot that it's actually Cavalry Blue. Seems like a nice color that should age well.

Thanks, that's helpful. I experienced some of that. Before sealing the deal when I took another test drive just to confirm that everything was working. I put it in 4H on straight stretch of road to confirm that 4WD would engage. That was fine. But when I pulled into a parking lot to turn around and head back to the dealer the binding was disconcerting. I didn't expect it to be so bad since the pavement was at least wet. I guess I was expecting something at least a bit smoother than my in-law's 20 year old GM truck.

But that thread makes it obvious. It's 4WD, not AWD. Without a center diff it's never going to be happy with tight turns on non-slippery surfaces. Got it.

 

Welcome to an addiction known as Tacoma world.

 

Sae your money for the new home ... run away fast from this addiction-contributing crew ...

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to the great TW!

 

I've never been real big on mods. I just got some of those nice Weathertech floor mats. And I'll need a bed mat. Fortunately it already has a tonneau cover. But it's one of those roll-up ones and those hard covers sure look nice...

 

Welcome to TW.

 

Dat color tho….

 

Beaut. Welcome to TW.

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the TW