I just made a 2021 build order...

I went to the dealership today after work to place a build order for a 3-Pedal 2021 TRD Off-Road. Since I showed up after general factory clock-out hours I won't be getting an estimate on planned build inventory or potential-to-reserve inventory roll out until tomorrow or a few days after.

I do have some rapport/loyalty relationship with this specific Sales Rep and assures me he'll get me what I want and try to pull as much rebates as he can...it will take eight to twelve weeks minimum according to his lead time estimates.

I hope I will like it if it gets built. I wasn't obligated to fork out any money for my build order and when/if it arrives at the dealership I still get to test drive it before talking money deals.

I have searched and read TW's various older threads on people's experience with the manual-transmission and how it seems to have been generally favored, and of course I also came across the few horror stories of the clutch failing prematurely.

 

Tell him you want to put down a deposit. Until you do the truck isn’t yours.

 

Understandable logic. Once he contacts me in the coming days, I will decide then what money I will present to hold my queue in line.

 

Build "for you" Order OR is it really just a promise to tweak a Tacoma in their allocation once it nears production?
Be cautious here - Toyota really does not do a "Build for you" Order unless you REALLY push them at the corporate level.
Been there, done that.
It took 6 months from my first effort through the dealer, then dealing with someone at corporate to actually build what I wanted, to when the truck arrived at my dealer.
You'll know what you actually got once the truck arrives with a few extra packages that you didn't "order."

 

I don't know exactly what the story is when having to place an order for these tacoma's. I got the impression when ordering mine, it has a lot to do with the dealer. I went through two local dealers that basically didn't know, or wanted to know jack-chit to place an order, except trying to convince me to buy what was on their lot, or another dealers they trade with. Going out of state to a large regional dealer seem my only option, which i was glad i did. Took about 10 weeks to get nearly exact what i wanted.

 

I understand. Then perhaps my wording is not as accurate to what I was trying to describe in my initial post.

I requested for a truck as described previously with as close as possible to my min-max criteria, and wanted him to find me one in production to allocate to his dealership once built...

 

Clutch is plenty durable, don't be afraid to use 4 low. There is no low end torque, if you're towing any sort of weight and have to start on a hill then 4 low is almost mandatory to avoid abuse. I've got 195k on my stock clutch and it feels like new.

 

@bigoldbeef - Nice that's good to know. I get it that typically it's always the few and rare negative experience stories which are always the center of online forum attention...and more often than not it distracts a lot of people from good testimonials which are more numerous than the bad, at least as far as the Tacoma's are concerned.

 

Congrats, it took 4 months to get mine but its worth the wait.

 

Don't congratulate me yet...I'm still on the waiting list of the production line queue. Sales rep contacted me about two MT Tacos in production in the White and Cement colors coming to my region and asked if I would be okay with eighter one, but told him I really want it in MGM. So he told me he will continue to push for what I want. I am likely going to have to wait just as you did. I just hope I can get it before my 2021 registration expires this September so I don't need to pay for another year registration just to only have it for a few weeks or couple months.

 

Yeah MGM is an awesome color, cant go wrong with MT!

 

Curious...are you one of the MT owners who performemed the Accumulator Delete Mod on your truck, or have you kept it on?

 

Its still on my truck.

 

Okay...I'm guessing you haven't experienced anything bad as some other few who were unlucky or just have all the negative things to say about it.

 

Getting the MT is the right choice. I started with the AT and after a year and change decided I was done with it.

Told the dealer the config I wanted and let them goto work. Took right about 2 months to arrive with 1 mile on the odo

I didn’t put any money down.

you absolutely can get what you want as long as it’s a valid build. I did the same thing with a tundra a couple years later. Some dealers are just lazy and want to sell what is already on the lot.

 

Yeah I am pretty happy with how it feels, had 3 prior Tacoma's so I am used to them.

 

I replaced mine with a hard line

 

Nice that's awesome.

Yes, I like to think I have a decent rapport with my specific sales rep, since in the past I have dealt with him directly and he handled getting me into my first '16 TRD Sport with my '05 SR5 PreRunner V6 trade-in...then two years after that, I traded that '16 in for my current '18...each time though I wanted them in a MT but none were available at the time and I didn't have the patience to wait; so he figured ways to give me additional discounts off-MSRP with $0 down as well just get me to pick from their inventory, then just promised me that once I am ready to trade in what I have now he will push to get me the MT I want. So far it seems he is working on fulfilling that promise...

 

That's good and reassuring to know. I appreciate testimonials like your's. I am on the fence with what I will do with mine once that clutch is under my left foot...I typically prefer to keep my vehicles stock until that 60k warranty is out, only then will I tinker the shyte out of my vehicles...haha.

 

I hear that gives it a more direct "bite" feel...and I do like bite...haha.

As I previously commented, I am on the fence with doing the ADM until after warranty...