What's your biggest driving factor to getting a new truck?

I know from the years of browsing this forum (I don't post much), that many of you do in fact keep your trucks for a long time. Some like new trucks more than others, but in the end, everyone has their own reasons for upgrading.

So, I'm curious as to what reasoning most of you use when deciding to purchase a new truck? Maintenance costs out pacing payments? Tired of the current vehicle? Newer model with upgraded features? Mileage?

I'm thinking of upgrading my 05 Tacoma right now. I have 152k miles on it, but nothing major wrong other than cosmetic scratches, and general wear. My wife and I are having our first child toward the end of this year, and an AC doesn't provide the best option for kid hauling. We do have a 2012 4runner that will serve for most kid duties, but I will still be using the truck daily with the kid as well.

With that being said, it's one of the few reasons I have for justifying a new purchase. I would like more cab and bed space for hauling, and we will most likely purchase a TT once the kid is a few years old, but that 's down the road.

I'm cheap, and don't like vehicle payments, although financially it won't make a huge impact. I think I need a push in one direction or the other (my wife says I should upgrade, btw).

 

I dont think its worth it to upgrade from an 05 to a newer taco, theres just not much change.

The main reason i would get a different truck is for more comfort. The floorboard is just way too high for it to be comfortable on really long rides. Otherwise she's a great machine wouldnt change a thing

 

reliability

 

There are so many reasons for a new vehicle, everyone has different reasons to why or why not to buy. The reason why I got the Tacoma is because I wanted a bed & hitch for smaller stuff, a truck that has 5 seats and the potential to last me for 20 years and can go places but still fits into a garage. I wanted this to be my last vehicle purchase until I retire in 18 years at the age of 50...Let's see if that all works out

 

My 99 taco rusted away. The bought it back from me. Didn't have a choice really. I have an 08 now. I'll upgrade in a few years because I want nicer interior. Updated engine and Trans. Better mileage. More modern technology

 

I would most likely be going fullsize if I change. I agree, though, if I were staying with an AC Tacoma, I would keep this thing forever.

 

Reliability and power.

Hence why I am in a first gen.

 

When the bill to repair it for another sticker comes to more than the value of the truck, that's what always had been my incentive.
However, with my '99 it was that Toyota wanted to pay me roughly $10,000 more than I'd paid for it 3 years previously that was the biggest motivating factor.
Not sure what it'll be with my current '10.

 

For me, it needs to be a Tacoma.

(too many reasons to list)

 

I traded an 07 dcsb sr5 in January for a 15 acor. The 07 had a list of things needing repair to the tune of $1200 roughly (carrier bearing, clutch, u joints, wheel bearing, few other things) I have complained about the short bed on my old one since I bought it, so when I decided to trade in I went for an a/c with a 6 foot bed. No kids for us, just a dog, in the end I got almost 2k over blue book for my trade,..almost 2k off the sticker price of the new one, kept my 6 speed and put the repair bill back in my pocket, and my payments went up a whole 25 bucks a month. Yes my loan went from ~10k back to ~30k, but I put about 1000 miles a month on my truck, by the time its paid off it should have maybe 60k miles on it. I think my trading worked out pretty well, not to mention I got the locker I always wanted in the 07

 

Because you can't make so many sweet parts for another brand? Haha

 

4runner getting old
and
want more carrying capacity than 4runner

 

My incentive for a new truck is putting two kids and a wife in an access cab would be some Houdini shit. Currently if my daughter is in her car seat on the s
Passenger side then no one else can fit in the truck. I'm 6'2 and so there really is no room behind me either. So I'm looking for a DCSB

 

I almost traded my Tacoma in for a Ram the other day so I could make parts for them.

(JUST KIDDING!!)

 

The only reason I bought a new Tacoma instead of a used one was resale. I didn't see a point in paying only a few thousand less for one a couple years old and 50,000 miles verses a new one with 6 miles on it. If these things didn't hold their value so well it would have been an easier decision.

As for getting a Tacoma in the first place, I had a rather beat up 98 Honda Passport that had seen better days and a Volvo C30 that thought snow was funny and couldn't drive in it. I sold both and bought something that could cope with the weather, do tow duty, and provide some driving entertainment (not like the Volvo was though).

 

I moved from 1992 RCLB 4x4 to my 2015 DCSB TRD OR because it was going to be time for "family camping" as opposed to "just me camping" from the past few years and a "roughing it couple" from the years before that. My truck is solely for camping, we've got DDs that are more efficient. I was hesitant to spend so much money on a dedicated vehicle for recreation, but the reality is the fixed costs of keeping the 1992 around (storage, insurance and maintenance) were about the same as for the new truck. The new truck cost will be amortized over hopefully twenty years of ownership and use. It will be just a much more useful platform for recreation now that we have a daughter. Basically, our needs changed. For our situation the acquisition cost while painful was not the only cost to be accounted for.

I sold a 13 year old Honda and bought a new Honda because of that once. I liked some of the additional safety features of the new one but otherwise it was just as good as the old one. But the old one had broken A/C and I lived in a desert. A/C repair was going to be really annoying and paying someone to do it was more than the KBB. So I decided it was time for a replacement. That replacement is going on 8 years old now, hope to keep it another 7 or 8. Likely will replace it with something nearly identical then.

Never been an issue for me.

This hasn't as yet made me sell a vehicle, but it has impacted my decision on whether to buy new or used. The vehicles we like have always had very high resale and we tend to like to purchase lower level trim packages without many options. We value safety and reliability over everything else. That has meant the used market hasn't made sense for us usually. Hard to find base level used vehicles, most are lease returns with extra crap on them that raises the price to that of a new lower trimmed vehicle. In the past decade the improvements in safety features has been substantial as well and so often that meant a new vehicle brought features important to us over a three year old used vehicle.

No. Usually the mileage difference has to be dramatic in order to recoup the transaction costs of getting a new/different vehicle. We pay attention to mileage as a factor in deciding what to buy, but I wouldn't swap out a vehicle to improve it.

I think if it is just you and the kid in the AC then that can work. Putting your wife in there too will be annoying. In our family we have one vehicle that fits the three of us with car seat very comfortably and we have one car that in a pinch fits all three but really we only ever drive it with two people in it. This works just fine for us. Depending on your living/commuting situation you might be just fine with your AC + 4runner.

Down the road matters. If you were planning on buying a TT in just a few years then I think I'd just wait to purchase that - or possibly advance the purchase date if you feel you need to and it is financially practical. Personally I would never purchase a vehicle I plan on ditching within just a few years. There certainly are circumstances in which that might make sense to do though.

Your wife sounds like a nice partner! But decide for yourself what you think makes sense with your family and vehicle plans. To be honest having a kid is so ridiculously life altering that it might make a little sense to just wait and see what your needs are. And keep in mind that first year is just wild, by age two or so things will both feel and be a whole lot different than just after you were new parents (unless of course you then have a second one).

Congrats on future parent status and best wishes too.

 

Op, getting into a bigger truck makes sense with two kids and having an accesscab, especially since resale value is still high on our trucks. I would consider trading in on doublecab if you love your tacoma or considering a tundra.

 

I thought you loved your Tacoma? You're always posting about how much you love it....

 

I always assumed their relationship was more like this:

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