Questions about a first gen for a DD

Mechanical things break most often at the worse time and place

Tractor trailer was driving past in a stone parking lot one of the trailer tires landed on a stone just right took outthe right window

Small thin piece of metal got kicked up by another truck took out the condenser and Radiator thank Odin that was only a few miles from home.

If it gets to the point I can no longer do most of my own work I would look at a truck about 3 years or so.

 

Depends how complicated it is to perform maintenance myself. If I find that I'll probably break something, I'll have my mechanic do the work. I consider myself fairly mechanically inclined, so fixing things myself is definitely not out of the question.

I understand that they're decade-and-a-half old trucks and parts will break. After spending $7k in repairs on my 2003 VW GTI (which itself was worth only about $5k) in 18 months and between just 78k and 94k miles, $1,000 for repairs seems like pocket change. I've researched the reliability of these trucks on the forum enough to be confident that 100k miles on a Tacoma is the equivalent of about 25k on a VW in terms of repair costs.

I also put only about 10k miles a year on my car, so I will need to do relatively little maintenance.

 

Hahaha I came from a 2000 Audi A4 so I feel the pain of German engineering. Everyone has different opinions about their trucks. For me buying my little 18 year old taco definitely improved my happiness-- simply being able to go remote places see beautiful things and sleep in the back of the truck is a life changer. I don't think I'd trade my truck for just about anything. Buy one, you won't regret it. And even if you drive it for a few months and hate it everyone knows how well they hold their value, I bet you won't loose a dime on it.

 

Don't fall for the CA = no rust thing

My brother's 07' Tacoma is a disaster underneath, I am surprised he is still driving it. Crazy rust. He lives on the coast though where salt water/air is murder on cars

 

And brains enough to know what your doing, even with this site and the full repair manual, you still need some basic understanding of engine stuff. Unfortunately, I know this 1st hand.. it can't be ignored, it's a must!
Luckily all you guys come with this superhuman ability to remember and master all this intricate stuff, you are on the same level as surgeons or rocket scientists ~ yes, it's ThAt serious!

 

I'm at 6' and it's not bad. The seat leaves a bit to be desired on long drives but that's me though. Other than that I enjoy the hell out of driving it, sometimes I leave for work early just to mob around town in it a bit!

 

Oh.. This thread again

 

This. A million times this.

If you have college budget, time and space constraints... buying a 20 year old truck is not a good move. They need things regardless of mileage...heat cycles over the years are as hard on a truck as mileage is. That also dovetails into the fact that most Tacoma's are on about the third owner...which is when maintenance goes down the drain. They are driven until they cost the current owner too much money to keep on the road and then end up on the market pretty beat down. The cream puff trucks that have been maintained will command a big market premium. The last thing to consider is that if you are going to try and finance one, most banks won't touch a truck that old.

If you have time, space and skills to spin wrenches, then by all means buy one and enjoy it...otherwise I'd be careful.

 

Damn man, that's a LOT of questions...

I've done a fair amount of long road trips in my '04 Taco. The seats are fine, but I will admit the seat in my '17 4Runner are much MORE comfortable.

I used to have a 5 lug extracab (same interior as the 4x's), and I've had a guy, a shall we say bigger guy, sit in the back on moderate trips to Tahoe and back from Sac. I've had 2 people back there, where they sat sideways and crossed their legs with each other. I generally don't think the back of an extra cab is meant for human consumption.

Having grown up in the hills of CA, and had beer cans thrown at me while riding my mountain bike, I understand the red-neck thing. Basically: F em. People who act like that suffer from small weiner syndrome and judge people no matter what they drive. Just take pride in the fact that you drive something made in 'Merika (The Numi plant), and they're driving some Mexican built POS that eats more oil than gas.

I don't have much to add in regards to teh rest of your questions since they've been pretty well answered, just go find one and drive it.

As for the reliability of these trucks, yes, they have that reputation, but like with anything, the older it gets the more you need to do to it. Don't expect to buy a 15-20 year old truck and not have to do anything to it. People tend to ignore the maintenance on these things because they DO have that reputation, but that doesn't mean you don't need to change the oil, etc...

I'll just add that if you are looking for a daily driver, and don't intend to go off road with it, I would consider a 5-lug. They are WAY cheaper, easier to come by, just as reliable, get better gas mileage, (I was getting 27mpg in my '97 5 lug), etc...

 

It's a truck...just about everything you get out of your Honda Accord, you will be sacrificing for a 1st gen, lol. Ride quality, road noise, gas economy, in-cab storage space, ability to haul passengers, agility, etc. But you gain the advantages of having a truck, if that's what you're looking for. They are notoriously reliable trucks, but a 13+ year old vehicle is just that...a 13+ year old vehicle. You have no way of knowing for sure how well it was cared for or maintained. Do your due diligence though when searching and you can find a good one.

I will say this, the road noise in my '04 is loud as hell. On the freeway going 70 my passenger and I almost have to yell at one another. But that probably has something to do with the E rated AT tires and TRD headers/exhaust I have on it.

 

Where you at in California?