Tacoma Stalking, er...uh, Spotting, with Charlie™ (3rd Gen Edition)!

@shakerhood

We discussed this before; The DCSB is by far the most popular 3rd Gen Taco configuration, unfortunately with an automatic transmission. I tend to see far more more SR5s and and TRD Sports than I do TRD Off-Roads like yours, and that's in any configuration. The 3rd Gen TRD OR wheel is, without a doubt, one of my favorite factory wheels EVER on a Taco (of any generation); If I were to buy my uncle's 2017 AC TRD Sport 2WD, I would swap out the factory wheels for TRD Off-Road wheels with Cooper Discover AT/3 tires and call it a day...

That's another thing; 5-lug 2nd Gen Tacos are extremely common in my area, in both RC and AC form! Unfortunately, the vast majority of the RCs that I've seen are absolutely beaten to shit. When people see my truck, they cannot believe it is a 2010 with well over 100K miles on it because aside from a few dents and scratches it is damn near mint!

I know I have seen a few 2WD 3rd Gens with the base SR trim in my area (most are fleet trucks), but to date, my uncle's 2017 Sport is the only 2WD model I've ever seen in person with a trim level higher than SR. Also, keep in mind that my uncle lives in Myrtle Beach, where people tend to not buy 4WD vehicles unless they actually plan on off-roading in them. Fully loaded Honda CRVs, Nissan Rogues, and Toyota RAV4s with front-wheel drive are the norm down there!

 

This truck threw me through a loop; I thought it was a 2020 model because it has a New Jersey "New Car Dealer" inspection sticker in the lower left corner of the windshield that expires in May 2025...

In New Jersey, all new vehicles sold in-state are exempt from emissions testing for the first five years; I do believe that brand new vehicles bought outside the state and then immediately registered in NJ also get this exemption. According to Carfax, this truck is a 2017 model, and if was sold new in Jersey, it would have an inspection sticker that expired in 2022; I did not notice this until just now, but on the upper left corner of the tailgate, there is a dealer emblem saying this truck came from a dealer in South Carolina. Carfax confirms that it was sold new at Stokes Brown Toyota in Bluffton; It also spent the first few months of its in Alabama, but was titled as a corporate vehicle in New Jersey. By January 2018, with just 310 miles on the clock, it was sold a dealer in Paterson, New Jersey; Despite the fact that the truck was titled as a corporate vehicle in 2017, the January 2018 data shows that whoever bought it in New Jersey was the first owner...?

What's even stranger is that despite not having any 4x4 badging and being sold new in South Carolina, this is a 4x4; I was hoping I'd finally found another 2WD model! As of January 2021, this truck was a little more than halfway between 34,K and 35K miles, which is fairly low for a 4-year old Tacoma (I'm guessing it was trucked up to New Jersey, because it's geographically impossible for it to have 310 miles on it if it was driven from South Carolina).

The Carfax report calls it a "2017 TOYOTA TACOMA DBL CAB/SR/SR5/TRD", and those are obviously aftermarket TRD stickers on the bedsides; Given the lack of chrome SR5 emblems, and the fact that it's rolling on steel wheels, I'd guess it's SR...


April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey




Also, note the dual exhausts; I get the feeling that the owner is in the process of building a budget TRD, and that if I see this truck at Raceway Park again it'll sporting aftermarket wheels with beefier tires...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it would also appear that this truck has a lift kit...?

 

2018 DCSB TRD Off-Road, with my favorite wheels (I even like them better than the PRO wheels)!


April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

This 2018 AC, with its steel wheels and black bumpers, is clearly a base SR model; The Carfax report also confirms that it is RWD (Also a 2.7L)! As I stated above, my uncle's 2017 TRD Sport is the only 2WD 3rd Gen with a higher trim level than SR that I've ever seen in person. Also, this truck has less than 17K miles as of this post; I actually did meet the owner when he pulled up, and he was an older guy, so it kinda makes sense...

On another note, it does not say "Loan or lien reported" when the truck was first titled, which means he likely paid cash for this truck; On top of that, the current value of this truck over $25K, for a base model 2WD!


April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

Brand spanking new 2021 AC TRD Off-Road in Army Green (one of my favorite colors); I was practically drooling the moment I laid eyes on this truck! Also, note the license plate frame; I don't think it's any coincidence that an Army veteran bought truck in this color...




April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

The owner even has the aluminium cap I like.

 

Another brand spanking new 2021 TRD Off-Road (Gotta love the ability to run a license plate through Carfax)! DCLBs are nowhere near as common as DCSBs, so I will continue to photograph them regardless of trim level and color! Also, note in the second picture that the Chevy Silverado to the left of the Taco has New York plates as well; Obviously, I see more NJ plates than any other plate because of where Raceway Park is located, but New York outnumbers even Pennsylvania when it comes to vehicles with out-of-state plates in the spectator lot (I thought that given the venue's central location within NJ, it would be an even tossup between NY and PA; After NY and PA, Maryland is the third most common out-of-state plate I see at Raceway Park)...


April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

Of all the automobile-related events I've been to over the years, the Carlisle Truck Nationals is by far the most widely traveled to event; Prior to the COVID outbreak and inevitable travel restrictions, I'd see a lot people from Ontario at the Truck Nationals! Even at the 2020 show, where there were unfortunately no Canadians present, there were still a good number of trucks on the showfield from quite far away; Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and West Virginia are real common. I've seen a good number of guys and gals from Massachusetts, I see a good number of Virginia plates, and there's this one guy with a customized Chevy S-10 Baja who drives all the way from Michigan! I've also seen New Hampshire, Vermont, and Illinois plates, and couple South Carolina; Every once in a while, you might see a corporate/fleet vehicle that's registered in Texas or somewhere particularly far way, but I generally do not see privately owned personal vehicles from Texas at Carlisle; The fact that people come from Ontario is far more impressive!

 

The 2018 AC above is clearly a base model, but I swear I've seen 3rd Gen SR5s with the standard steel wheels; However, most of the SR5s I see have wheels like the ones seen on the 2018 DCLB seen below...


April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

Once again, I was able to find out a ton of info about another truck by running the license plate through Carfax, and I believe this to be a fairly uncommon configuration; It is a 2016 DCSB with the SR5 trim, which in itself isn't particularly rare, but it is a 2WD model and also a 2.7L (Unfortunately, Carfax doesn't give transmission info)! Also, this is a 2016, but it has nearly as many miles as my 2010! As of January 2021, it had 126,892 miles and I would no be surprised if it has more than my truck at this point (Whoever owns it takes damn good care of it, and I'm guessing based on the Carfax report that they drive a lot for work)!


April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

A quick way to tell a 16/17 from 18-21 is the lack of TSS. There won't be a sensor in the grille nor that enormous black box up in the center of the windshield.

 

Just look at the first digit of the last eight of the VIN.

A 2010
B 2011
C 2012
D 2013
E 2014
F 2015
G 2016
H 2017
J 2018
K 2019
L 2020
dot dot dot...

 

Seriously, I did take a metric shit-ton of pictures; I got all the 1st Gens, but I missed a few 2nd Gens and 3rd Gens...

 

Thankfully has not happened in a few years, but I've had people go full Karen on me the heinous act (sarcasm) of taking pictures of their vehicles in parking lots; I have a bit of a soft spot for Chevy S-10s (and GMC Sonomas; The S-series is second only to Toyota trucks for my favorite compact pickup), and almost five years ago I took pictures of this halfway decent late 1990s GMC Sonoma in the parking lot of my bank. I was in my Tacoma taking pictures with my Nikon SLR from the driver's seat. The owner happened to be walking out of the bank and promptly went batshit crazy, demanding to know why I was taking pictures of his car. Looking back on it, I'm pretty sure he had mental problems. My dad was in the Navy for 25 years and banks at NFCU; As his kid, I am allowed to bank there as well and have been doing so since high school. The GMC Sonoma in question had California plates, and the owner was in the bank, so I'm guessing he was a veteran; Based on how he ended up acting, I would venture to guess that he had PTSD or some other issue, and for that I have sympathy, but it doesn't change the fact that he was an asshole who crossed the line.

How did he cross the line? Demanding to know I was taking pictures of his truck his understandable; I'd been confronted for taking pictures of cars before, but in the past I'd been able to defuse the situation. When I told him that I liked Chevy and GMC S-series trucks, he did not deescalate, and I went on HIGH ALERT. From the beginning, I'd kept my truck in drive because I didn't intend on taking a ton of photos; This ended up working in my favor. At this point, the owner of the GMC started to walk away, then he abruptly spun back around and came back towards my truck; He demanded to see my camera (which was a roughly $800 Nikon SLR and not some cheap point-and-shoot), to which I responded "NO!"

Like I said, I had the truck in drive, so I just floored it; I squealed the tires, and the owner of the GMC yelled "Get the fuck out of here then!" I don't know why the fuck he wanted to see my camera, but I wasn't about to find out. I even made an illegal left turn out of the shopping center parking lot to get away from the guy...

 

Long story short, do you really think that after incidents like that, I'm crazy enough to walk up to someone's vehicle that isn't part of a car show and start peering through the windshield to read the VIN?!?!

Thanks for the info though!

 

2020 DCSB SR V6 4x4


April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

2016 DCLB TRD Off-Road


April 17th, 2021:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

Looks like the owner added those rear bumper caps, the white paint looks to be a shade off too.

 

So definitely an SR?

 

Looks like an SR to me too.