Upgrades you DON'T regret

That is such a perfect list of functional mods that aren’t a waste of money. It should be sent to every new TW member upon their first log in lol

 

Lol... Hey thanks. I'm just cheap and cautious when it comes to these mods. When I first started to explore this site I was ready to purchase every cool item. Then researched everything I was interested in. I came to realize, OEM is quite robust on these vehicles. Also, I had to really justify the mod whether it really added any value overall to me or if it was just junk.

It's really quite impressive that there are so many mods for these immensely popular trucks. Lots of them generally easy to do yourself with lots of info and help here for more involved ones.

 

Which ones did you get?

 

There's lots of choices on Hamazon. I went with the "Drop Stop - The Original Patented Car Seat Gap Filler" $40.00 CDN 4 years ago. $60.00 now.

 

That's a lot of clams!

 

https://buydropstop.com/products/dont-drop-and-drive These? I had to google them cause I had no idea what you were referring to. Kind of a neat idea haha.

 

Us SR owners know what a key is..

 

Lol $25.00 USD, 60 CDN pesos!

 

As a manual owner, a Key is the first level of protection against the code skimmers that can harvest your key code while you sleep, spoof it to the truck and drive away.

Second level protection is that marvelous third pedal that a good portion of people don't know what to do with.

I'll keep my key thank you very much - I won't trade my manual for remote start.

 

https://www.tailgateseal.com/ToyotaTacoma.html Installed this yesterday, and figured out how to print the instructions this morning, after copying and printing the text yesterday and using the illustrations photographed on my smarter Samsung Legend A10e. Nice to be able to enlarge the photos on my phone to see exactly how to cut and place the bulb seal pieces from the 10' length. Extruded Solutions, Inc. manufactures, retails, and ships (USPS free in a week) from West Chicago, IL. Drain holes in the side cubbies were plugged yesterday, too, so intrusion of dust, silt, sand, and more should be reduced under the cap. I plan to have the cap reset and to seal the area under the rail caps (if it wasn't done originally) one of these days.

 

I always laugh when someone says because they have a manual that they are safer against theft. There's no data out there that shows manuals are any less likely to be stolen OTHER THAN there are fewer manuals on the road. Plus, if a thief has gone through the effort to have the means to get past the ign disabling features of modern vehicles chances are pretty damn good they've considered all possibilities and know how to drive a manual.


Regarding proximity keys vs physical keys, yes a proxy key can be spoofed and can be done relatively easily, however to do this means the theft is usually planned and targeted. Most of the time this will happen at home or at work, so simply placing your keys in a EMF bag can stop that. It's also far less likely a thief is going to target a Tacoma. It happens, but it's less likely.
A keyed vehicle, however, is easily hotwired. Just about any no good POS can walk up, punch out your locks, punch/hotwire your ign and be on there way. Chipped keys make this more difficult, but it can still be bypassed by the right shithead.

So while yes, it's easy to spoof a proximity key, you're still reducing your chances of theft by making it far less likely to be stolen at random.

 

Yep. I’ve seen plenty of manual vehicles that have gotten stolen before

 

Fair point. I'd like to think that I am reasonable - so I will agree that there isn't _data_ that proves manuals are less likely to be stolen. I will however state that there are a non-trivial number of reports of failed car thefts and car-jackings due to having a manual trans.

I would be happy to get a grant and spend the next several months researching the subject if anyone is interested...

 

I too, get a chuckle out of the TW mystique that revolves around the manual transmission.
I actually don't know anyone in my family, circle of friends or neighbors that can't drive a stick.

Maybe my 84 year old mom, or possibly that niece off in college...
Let's be honest, it's not some long forgotten art, and it sure ain't hard to learn..

 

Night and day difference. It should have been the first upgrade after bigger tires.

The Red Bull adapter:

 

You wont regret it!

Actually I cant say that for certain, but I will say I'd be very shocked if you DID regret it.

 

you better sleep with one eye open

 

car thieves can drive anything

 

Especially when it's a vehicle you just stole and you give zero f&#ks about the abuse you give the clutch.

 

I know I wouldn’t regret it! I’m glad you can confirm though.

Only thing holding me back is the price. My 33’s are super light so I definitely don’t need to regear right now. If I go up to 34’s I probably would though.