It’s honestly not a bad truck. I had a Lariat one for a week as a rental. The impressive thing about it is the 10 speed auto. Going on the freeway cruising at 80, and the RPM is somewhere just a tick below 2000 rpm. Comfortable and plenty of power, and the gas mileage was impressive, actually.

Oh yea, I’ve been doing my research and marking the sites that I know I’ll need later. I live not far from Sacramento, and there are a couple of junkyards and recycling places that specializes in Toyotas, and they have a ton of parts on hand.

It’s a transportation, and if that’s the mindset that you have about cars, then it’s perfect. I happen to be a car nerd, and ever since I got rid of my awful college car (1987 Pontiac Grand Am, a hand me down that I paid nothing for), I told myself my days of driving boring ass cars are over. Since then, all of my…

That’s what I meant. there was a time when BMWs lasted a long time, and so did Mercedes. Now they care about the cars holding up for the duration of the lease. That’s it. My 89 325is had some small issues, but it was drivable, and I took care of those issues one by one. Valve cover gaskets were easy, and I did that on…

Yup. You can’t get rid of something that has been that faithful to you day after day. Hell, most marriages don’t even last that long.

With all that, I bet the Tacoma still runs beautifully. Swap in a new frame and it’ll be as good as new.

My oldest son (he’ll be 11 on Thursday) is eyeing the 3rd gen. I told him there’s no way he’d get it, as it’s my project, and I’ve done most of the work on it myself. He’ll get a sensible and reliable transportation as his first car, most likely an Accord or Civic, with a manual. He has to learn how to drive a manual,…

I’m on the west coast, and the truck has been on the west coast since it rolled off the lot. No rust to be found, but I am thinking about coating it just to be safe. I want to preserve this truck for as long as I can, as it’s my daily, and kind of a very-drivable project. 

Those Tacomas, man. Anything short of a nuclear bomb is not gonna kill it. I have a 20-year old 3rd gen 4Runner, which is basically the frame and drive train as your Tacoma. It just lasts and lasts, and I love mine. Perfect size and quite comfortable for long trips, just a little slow, even with the 5VZ 3.4 V6.

It’s not always economic driven, but mostly is, you’re right.

You misunderstood my original post. Bike frame design remains pretty much the same, but the geometry definitely has changed, for the better, with better welds, better materials, and more R&D confirming how to configure the frame to the level of desired rigidity. But, the design has been similar throughout with very…

Bike designs are, for the most part, the same for the past 3 decades. The improvements have been in the accessories and drive train, as well peripheral equipment like brakes. The frame retains the same shape, although that’s probably a chromoly frame, so heavy as hell by today’s standards.

More issues than a 22 year old stripper. Tempting, but crack pipe.

Correct. Though Ford and other big companies don’t put out a product without thorough market research and data gathering. People somehow now equate to picups having to be as luxurious as a Lexus, or they will consider the alternatives. Small (or midsize, rather) pickup prices have gotten out of hand the moment they…

F150s are outselling Rangers because Ford is foolish with pricing them so close together. There was a time when the price gap for a F150 and a Ranger is big enough to make you choose wisely. Now, it’s the “more bang for your buck” option.

My other problem with modern trucks in general, and every manufacturer is guilty…

I wouldn’t complain, and I owned a 2000 Ranger for awhile. Loved it. It had the 4.0 V6 with a manual. Hand cranked windows, manual seats. It did have A/C and a CD player. I wish I had kept it. It had 184k miles on it when I got rid of it, and it was still a solid workhorse.

This would be an industry game changer for Ford if they can have this in North America. Too many people, myself included, are yearning for the days of true compact pickups, like the first gen Tacomas and last gen Rangers. They are great trucks and would serve 90% of truck owners well. Some of us are sensible and…

The price has dropped to $3200, as of 8:02 PST

Fucking Legend.

In a 4Runner, you can roll both front windows down, and the hatch window. The hot air gets floated out in about 5 seconds, and you can actually feel the car cooling off as you drive off. It’s a great feature. This would also work with pickups with a rear opening window.