Good bye Tacoma :[

Hello TW members,

I did something that I think I will regret later on... I sold my Tacoma to buy a CUV... It was a great truck and I loved it to death, but the regular cab's limitations finally made me look for another vehicle.

In the past couple of months, I've been working the night shift for one job and doing some work during the day and needed a more comfortable car to sleep in, as well as carrying additional passengers. I tried to do this with the regular cab, but my back was killing me from sleeping on that bench seat. It's fine for maybe an hour, but after that it's unbearable even with the bench seat mod, and I couldn't get enough sleep in. Also, because I couldn't carry a lot of passengers, I would have to transfer my gear back and forth between my truck and another vehicle and that was getting old real quick. So the truck had to go.

Someone told me to get an extended cab, but the current extended cabs don't fit in my two car garage and I don't want to park it outside (my truck was broken into 5 times since ownership). It is really sad to see the truck go. I took real good care of her and hope the new owner does the same. I am going to miss having a truck.

Recently, I just saw the Hyundai Santa Cruz concept and immediately thought this was the perfect truck for me! A CUV interior with an expandable bed, what a great idea! Yea it's front wheel drive based, but it fits my needs perfectly. I hope the manufacturers realize that there is an opportunity to bring some life back to the "compact truck" segment with something like the Santa Cruz. It's risky, but I think theres a market for it.

Anywhow, I would just like to thank those for taking their time to post their experiences and DIY's. i learned a lot and had fun. Thanks again.


BTW, I have some spark plugs and an engine air filter for sale in the TW marketplace (both made by Denso) if anyone is interested.

 

Bye

 

Not sure if serious. Hyundai Santa Cruz?

 

yea... I know.... Front wheel drive, not a real truck, just like the Ridgeline.
But it seats 4, has a bed that can expand and keep my dirty equipment, and it can fit in my garage. There's nothing else out there like it.

 

Serious question, I wonder if in a Hyundai Santa Cruz forum (or Hyundai forum or whatever) members would give him shit if he did the opposite, went from the Santa Cruz to a Tacoma. Like "oh man, that's so dumb...but whatever. Your choice"

 

I take it, you guys aren't so big on this CUV/truck idea...

 

Either are you, judging from the first sentence in your OP. Sounds like the ONLY reason you did this was to fit inside a garage. You could have gotten a DC and threw a shell on it, and slept in the back, but like you said it wouldn't fit in the garage.

Don't sweat it. I am sure the new Hyundai is nice. From what I've heard their quality and styling has improved quite a bit over the years.

 

Hyundai's ain't that bad.

 

Get a 4Runner.

 

Or even a 1st gen double cab.

 

The Santa Cruz won't come out for some time, but it's coming:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...yundai-santa-cruz-pickup-truck-us-production/

I'd expect Ram to follow with the Ram 700:



I've said for a while there is a huge market for some car trucks here. Just make them sporty, small, and cheap. Those features right there would win a fair bit of market share from tons of different lines.

 

Exactly going to be a while before its on market. My guess about 2 years at the earliest. What are you doing in the mean time?

 

I was trying to look for a 2TR-FE 4Runner for awhile. They are so rare.... I don't want the gas mileage of the V6. I drive at least 30K miles a year and go through a lot of traffic.

 

I got something that has a manual and goes zoom-zoom :]

 

Mazda mpv?

 

I agree. I think this is the future. Lots of loyal truck fans will vehemently disagree, but with the way the truck market is going, the Tacoma will only be 5 inches shorter than a Tundra within the next couple of years. I hate how everything just had to be bigger.

 

I don't think the market is going there as in every truck is going to get smaller. I think in a few years you could see a CUV based compact class underneath the mid size class and both could survive. Mid sized buyers usually want more truck but not quite a full size which is why they buy mid sized trucks. I see these mini CUV trucks taking market share that has gone to small CUV's and AWD car buyers who like to go on adventures/camping who would benefit from a similar sized vehicle with a box. There are tons of young people like that who would be into a small sporty trucklette.

 

A Hyundai Santa Cruz in my estimation would be on par pricing wise with a Tacoma and a ridgeline. So at that point why not just get a double cab Tacoma. Then atleast your getting a truck with a frame