What's your story? How'd you end up in a Tacoma?

Time to 4x4 swap that bad puppy

 

My buddy who owns a body shop, really wanted my 87 Suzuki Samurai tin top. Gave him a list of what I wanted, standard cab, V6, auto, 4x4, e-locker. Got a 99 Tacoma bad motor, and a doner limited 4Runner that was a rollover. Straight trade for my sami. 3 months of putting it together damn nice truck.

 

OK I'll bite.

I bought a Brand new 2001 Ranger 4x4 Extended Cab Edge pkg. During the 18 months I owned it the truck spent 12 months at the dealer. I put only 8K mile miles on it in that 18 month but managed to rack up over 15K miles on all the loaners they gave me while my truck was in for service.

The day after I got the truck back from it's last visit to the dealer the 4.0 decided the pistons would be happier outside the motor than in. Still not sure what broke but it went out in spectacular fashion.

After the truck was towed back to the dealer again I mentioned lemon law and the dealer didn't even argue. They made a couple of calls and gave me back every penny I put down or paid. They even reimbursed me for the finance charges on my payments.

4 hrs later I was driving off the lot in my 2003 Access Cab TRD O/R and have never looked back.

 

Just wanted something other than a Ford (wouldn't be caught dead with Chevrolet in the drive way). I like the small truck but wanted four doors. Because the four door ranger is only sold outside the U.S. I settled for the taco. That and it's about the only truck that comes in manual. Yes it may have been second string, but I drove the Hilux all around Afghanistan years ago. I figured if this truck could handle half of what we threw at the hilux I wouldn't be making a poor decision. This is the best truck ever. I have found my new passion and truck manufacturer.

 

No doubt. Being on here is giving me the fever!

 

i have never financed anything. i just bought and sold till i got what i wanted. although i regret my last trade to some point but i traded a 2003 BMW 330CI for the 2001 Taco TRD. I have owned the taco for 3 years, i have never owned a vehicle that long .
not gonna lie the BMW got a lot of pussy.

 

I was always a Back to the Future fan especially McFly's 80's pickup. Since I was about 12 years old I wanted a Toyota Truck. In 11th grade I sideswiped a pole in my Hand me down Buick I was driving and took my bank account and a loan from my parents to buy my 97!

First Picture I ever took of her:



Now:

 

I've got a good story about my Tacoma. EDIT Sorry guys, I didn't see this was a first generation thread until I had already posted. I'll take this down if OP wants.

It started when my ex-wife left me about 5 years ago. I won't get into the why but she was unsure of her future so we decided to stay separated for a while and see what happened. I was upset at what was going on and, as part of our separation, we started unlinking bank accounts, car insurance, etc. We had each cosigned on each others car loans, so to make it easier to separate her from my loan I decided to go buy another car and clear up the loan in the process. My old car was a Ford Focus with less than a year left in payments. I hated it anyways (I only bought it to have a good commuter in the family since she had a 1/2 ton truck) so I was killing two birds with one stone. Anyways, I decided I wanted something sporty that I could have fun with even in the snow so I bought a Nissan Juke. I was also pretty broke so the Juke was my only real option to have boost and stay within my budget especially since the threat of divorce was in the back of my mind. I have to admit the little Juke was fun but after a year and a half I got really tired of the CVT transmission and the small car feel.

Luckily there was a bit of a thawing in the Cold War with my ex-wife at exactly the same time. She happened to work for a Toyota dealership at the time and she really needed a sale to make some targets her boss was in a fuss about with her. I did a little research, found this website, and decided to have a look at a brand new 2013 Tacoma. The moment I got in the truck I was hooked. That being said, I had recently found out my ex was seeing someone else again and I decided to use some leverage to get my truck. After the test drive, alone in her office, I told her I wanted the truck but as she was seeing someone else I wasn't going to buy it "as a friend". She was pretty pissed running back and forth between her manager and I trying to work out a deal. In the end, knowing she needed the sale, I managed to walk away with a Tacoma for way less than I thought I could (with new tires and an extended warranty thrown in, all at 0.9% interest!!)

The best part is right after I picked up the truck I filed divorce paperwork and started the process of removing her from my health insurance, which she regularly maxed out and left me with nothing in the account. It was pretty comical because, while she flew off the handle at me about it, I later learned she had filled out all the divorce paperwork but was holding back on it until her insurance came in with Toyota. Everything worked out for the best I guess you could say. The Tacoma has been my best friend ever since , and my new wife loves the truck to bits .

 

No worries - some great stories in this post

 

What did you bet on?

 

I'm in....

I started out with a 1980 toyota 4x4 20r 4spd. I bought that truck the day before I turned 17. I saved for almost 2 years to buy that truck. Since then I have owned and built at least one of every generation toyota 4x4. I am in an 01 DC right now and it all started with that '80 pos that just wouldn't die or give up.

 

I have a 2015 Silverado as my work truck and I have the same issue. However, at 60-70, theres a bad shuddering type of vibration. Doesn't happen consistently, just off and on.

 

Had a 2000 Ford Ranger that I really liked.
At 190,000 I lost compression in a cylinder due to the exhaust valves sinking into the heads.
I replaced the heads including all head bolts and gaskets for ~400 but in the middle of it, I got scared having never done that before and decided I needed to buy a new truck.

Kids were getting too big for the access cab Ranger so I wanted a 4 door. If Ford had sold the 4-door Ranger in the US, I probably would have ended up with another one.

With Tacoma being the only real option, that's what I ended up with.
After a few years, and some mods, it finally feels like "my" truck now and I'm very happy with it.

 

I was driving a Honda Civic and got into Scuba diving. Monterey, CA is 90 miles away. You can only fit gear for one or two people in the car so if I have two dive buddies we'd need two cars.
I wanted something bigger and that I could sleep in for road trips and going mountain biking in the Sierra. At first I'd been looking Subaru Foresters. After much thinking and research I decided the Tacoma was the way to go. After a year of looking I finally found a 2003 4X4 TRD Off Road.
It's the 1st vehicle I've ever owned I feel attached to. A funny thing is that my brother bought the same truck, just a different color, also with a camper shell with out us talking about it.

 

13 would have been wonderful for that F-250.

 

I had a '09 Taco DC 4x4 that I was sort of "meh" about...my buddy had a growing family and was looking to possibly trade up from his '02 Access Cab 4x4 V6....needless to say we ended up swapping vehicles...went from a truck with 45k miles to 135K miles...Body Armor/Sliders and some other goodies later, she is now at 175K+ miles and is still going strong...a great offroader and daily commuter.

 

My story,

well, back in my teen days I didnt care for the 1st gen tacomas. I had a gay neighbor that drove a 1st gen, so it made it look even gayer (not sure if "gayer" is a word) and i just thought gays drove tacomas. when I started working with a co-worker of mine he mentioned how he had a 2nd gen tacoma and wished he had never sold it. he had told me it was one of the best trucks hes ever owned. when we would be driving to our job site we would always be looking at tacomas on the freeway and talk about them. i would follow pages on instagram and look at these awesome looking 2nd gen builds and just the capability they have off road. I then found this site and would read post but was never a member. I then realized ive been in love with the 2nd gen tacoma but i did not have 1. I then told myself i have to get one but which one? after doing some research and going to the dealer. i came off the lot with a 2014 tacoma trd sport 4x4 dcsb.


note: i have nothing againts gays or 1st gen tacos, i was young and dumb back then.

 

Bought a 2000 Silverado brand new. It stranded me 4 times in two years. It even stopped running during the test drive while I was trying to sell it. I had a broken leg at the time and had to hobble home to get help. What a POS! I found a used 1999 black xtra cab Prerunner with 30k and bought it. It was dirty when I signed the papers and didn't really look that good. When I came back to pick it up the next day it had been detailed and buffed. Walked right past it and asked the sales guy where it was. He pointed at it and I was stunned it looked awesome. Everybody who saw it wanted it. I traded it in with 176k and it was still running good. My wife wanted me to get a newer truck so I got used 07. Again everybody who's seen it wants it.

 

Mines a 2nd gen but this is a cool thread....

First I got hired in sales for a large Toyota dealer. Working in sales you learn how good and how far ahead Toyotas are.

I always loved the DCSB but needed the 4.0 for towing so I leased 2 4 Runners and loved them. But the 2010 4 Runner did not lease well but the Tacoma leased great so I got a 2010 DCSB Sport and never looked back... I bought it out and started upgrading and now it's awesome.. It's hard to believe how much nicer the Tacoma is with just a few upgrades....

Now I'm on the fence about getting the 2016, waiting for the engine specs...

 

I owned a 2002 Tundra 2wd , I knew I would be moving from AZ to back east somewhere in a year so I needed a 4wd for snow , So I did research on Tacoma 4wds on you tube ...... Enough said . They are bullet proof and will go through the roughest terrain and snow while leaving other brands behind . Found out after I bought my Tacoma that they have one of the highest resale values , Another perk . should I say more ???? No , I think I made my point . God I love my truck .