Your First Toyota Truck and your current Truck

2000 and 2010

 

Thanks! It sort of just came to me while munching on a plate of cracklins.

 

My first Tacoma was a 2020 TRD OR with the auto

My current truck is a 2010 regular cab 4wd with the 5 speed manual.


I worked backwards in time. I was tired of car payments and the current market supported my decision quite well. Now I have a paid off truck! Sure it's not as nice and pretty as my previous truck but I love it either way. Maybe one day I'll have a new one again. I'll definitely go with a manual again. I made the wrong choice getting the auto 3rd gen and I hated road trips even before the lift and tires.

 

My three Toyota "Tacoma" trucks 1983, 2001 and 2020

 

Technically not a “truck”, but my first Toyota was/is my ‘99 4Runner Limited. Purchased it early last year after searching for well over a year for the perfect spec and definitely found it. Absolutely love this thing, but wanted something a bit newer to adventure in, thus I ended up with the ‘18 TRD OR 6MT as well.

 

My first Toyota truck (‘93 T100) and newest Toyota Truck (‘20 Taco). I still drive the T100 regularly.

 

First Toyota - 2019 Tacoma, DCSB, TRD Off Road. Coming from a Challenger, this was quite the change but suited my life much better.



Expanding on my hobbies, I wanted a dedicated platform for extended travel into remote areas - something simple, reliable, and relatively easy to maintain/modify. While I originally felt the Tacoma would provide this, I didn't want to risk damage to my only vehicle, as well as racking up miles quickly. This lead me to my second Toyota, a 1995 JDM HDJ81 80 series turbodiesel:





Current garage set up. It's been a great journey so far in learning more about modifying and capability while meeting great people along the way.

 

96 4Runner that served me well:



Traded for a 2010 Tacoma SR5 5sp 4cyl because I still wanted a manual transmission:



It also served me well, but I was towing more often, and up more mountains, and decided I "needed" a v6 so traded again for a 2018 TRD Sport



Might be a color theme running here

 

1995.5 to a 2019 what an all around world of difference (in which there should be) ! 1995.5 not mine.

 

How was your transition from the tundra to the Tacoma?

 

I loved that Tundra, sold it to my son when we moved from TN to CA two years ago. Parking spots are smaller here and I needed less truck (no 34hp tractor to haul anymore). I still miss the power sometimes. The Tacoma will be just fine for me. I owned a Jeep JK in between and wanted a pickup and a Toyota again.

 

I think your single cab is nicer than your trd off-road. Much more what a Toyota truck should be. Nice find

 

Thanks! What I'm excited about is the fact that I actually own the regular cab. I'm sad to have sold my TRD Off road but with the current market, I'm just happy it paid for a new truck! Plus, I've really started to like the two doors. Small truck, small engine, renowned reliability.

 

93 v6 stick. Great truck

My 05

 

• 1993 Xtracab 22RE / 5MT, purchased in late 2010. I had planned on buying new wheels / tires for my STi and realized a Toyota Pickup was almost the same price. I promptly broke my ankle and didn't drive it for 3 months. I then did a quick and dirty rebuild with new fenders, used ARB, wheels, tires, roll bar and drove it for most of 2011. Sometime in that late summer / early fall the timing chain guides broke. I was in an apartment and the local shop wanted essentially a blank check to repair it and I didn't have garage access to attempt it myself. It failed inspection for a bad ball joint and since it was a toy I dumped it. I'm still sad about it sometimes, but I had wanted one since I was a kid.

DSCN0305-edit by Mike M, on Flickr

• 2013 TRD Off-Road AccessCab 4.0 / 5AT, purchased new in late 2012. My first truly new vehicle. Since it was brand new I went a little crazy with it over the years, ARB, lift, wheels, tires, etc. I absolutely loved it and it treated me well until it was totaled by someone who crossed the center line and hit me head on in May 2016.

Pic-1 by Mike M, on Flickr

• 2016 TRD Off-Road DoubleCab 3.5 / 6MT, purchased new in June 2016. The replacement for the 2013. I needed something that could baby and decided to go back to MT. Told myself this one would stay reasonably stock, I wouldn't lift or roll bar it. I had bought a set of black TRD beadlocks "for when the stock tires wore out". Needless to say, that all changed when I decided to say eff it, pulled the stock wheels and tires and swapped the black beadlock for the gray. I'm 99% done spending any money on this one, though.

IMG_3200-edit by Mike M, on Flickr

 

1995 extended cab 4x4 4 banger in black. Gosh dang it was my first and wish it was still around. It’s saw the beach almost every weekend and brought home loads of fish. That was the first of many. Fell in love with Tacoma’s while I college. AC rusted out so got rid of it and moved into a 2001 that was really nothing special.

But now I have what I wanted to build from the beginning.

 

I wish I could find pictures of my first truck. There should be some in this forum but I went by a different name and it’s not any of the ones I thought it would be.

 

1993 Toyota Pick-Up Manual 22RE
Purchased used in 2000 for 4K had 80k miles at the time. My pops and I still use it for projects, like here when we needed gravel. Daily driver until about 2011, then family and drove a Toyota Highlander…full dad mode.


2007 Double Cab SR5 Prerunner 2wd Longbed.

Purchased in 2013 with 100k, drove until 2020. Sold with 180k miles.


Current 2020 Double CabTRD OFF Road 4wd Longbed. Only Toyota Truck I ever purchased new.Toyota trucks are amazing.

 

That 1981 is amazing !