Need Advice

Some of us have it all, wife, kids, and manual transmissions! In our case, none of us have ever bothered to learn how to drive a car equipped with an automatic transmission. Last time my son tried it he got the car moving and when he went to shift into second the car came to a screeching halt; he crawled out of the car shaking his head and said, "Never again!" At the moment we have five cars in the family (plus a new Taco scheduled to be built next week):

• 1989 Bronco (5.0 liter 5-Speed manual) - son/me
• 2006 Acura TL (6-Speed manual) - me
• 2016 Mazda3 s GT 5-Door (6-Speed manual) - wife
• 2017 Mustang (6-Speed manual) - daughter
• 2022 GR86 (6-Speed manual) - son
• 2022 Tacoma TRD Sport (6-Speed manual) - me

 

The kids are growing and will hate you for stuffing them into a Tacoma.

 

Have you considered a 4runner?

 

I have, but I would like to stick to a truck because I have bird dogs that I take hunting and I do quite a bit of deer hunting. I had rather keep all of that stuff outside of the vehicle.

 

Get the Tacoma and get a little bit older of an suv with backseat space for when you have to take the boys somewhere. The Tacoma can be your toy and the the older suv can be your family vehicle

 

My wife actually has a Jeep Grand Cherokee L with the third row seating for long drives. Most of my driving is around town, or a couple of hours or less.

 

So get rid of that ford, lower your payment, and happy hunting

 

Dude, make up your mind.

 

Yeah. I know. Right?

 

has your spouse been talking to lawyers yet?

 

Not as of today. LOL

 

I'm just the opposite with a couple outdoor hobbies. I keep all my crap needed in the access cab portion of the truck so it stays high, and dry... i never forget something either...its always there.

 

If your F150 has a 3.5 ecoboost get tunes from MPT and thank me later.
I still miss my tuned F150 ecoboost. It was a blast to drive.
Tacoma is what I drive the most but no way it would work as my only vehicle.

 

With kids?
Uh, NO

my work truck, 3.5 EB also does better on gas, so it’s been getting more drive time.

 

It kinda depends on you, and what you’re gonna do. like are you a larger person or can you comfortably fit in a taco. I’m only 5’6.5” so the taco is good with me. Got three daughters 11, 8, and 18 months and they all fit in there fine. Plus I’m restrictive about what gets brought along.

 

Buy a wrangler(TJ) and then decide if you need a Tacoma vs the F-150. Seriously, I had the same dilemma for years…no single vehicle satisfied me, so I increased my inventory. Added a nice TJ for fun. Best decision ever.

EDIT: If the 3-pedal itch is what you need to scratch…Jeep manual trans drive better than a 3rd gen Taco MT. I just traded in a ‘20 TRDORMT…1st gr sucked soooo bad, even w/ KDMax tune.

 

I have a rust free 04 TJ rubicon with 20k miles I'm about ready to part with.

 

Get another Tacoma, then get rid of it for a Ram. Might as well keep the trend going.

Srs tho, if deer hunting is your thing, probly should stick full size.

 

Ditto

 

When my son was 12 he was 5'3" and 130 lbs. When he was 16 he was 6'3" and 230 lbs. And if you have kids they want to bring friends. I drove a F150 crewcab and my wife drove a Chevy Tahoe until my kids moved out. I bought the Tacoma then. But 9 years later I had 5 growing grandkids and I'm back in a F150 crew cab. I kept the old Tacoma because it was worth more to me to keep as a 3rd vehicle than sell/trade it.

Keep a full size crew cab truck. If you don't like the F150 there are other options.