Toyo Tacoma ?'s

tdatk · 04:30 PM

I'm looking at getting a 4WD for the winter and good fuel milage. Looks like the Tacoma is the best practical truck. Question is what years/motor are the best? I'm looking at 95-99 models.

TIA
Tim

Seahawk · 12-11-2006, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tdatk
I'm looking at getting a 4WD for the winter and good fuel milage. Looks like the Tacoma is the best practical truck. Question is what years/motor are the best? I'm looking at 95-99 models.

TIA
Tim

Tim,

I have a '99 or 2000 Tacoma TRD extended cab, 4 cyl 2.7 I'm in China Lake, Ca this week and I can't remember the exact year!

Lots of pluses with the TRD and 4cyl., mostly reliability and fairly good gas mileage (23 hwy). While it can perform well enough to get out of it's own way, it's not a long way.

Negatives: Smallish front cab (I'm 6'4''), fairly light towing capability and small extended cab (great why my kids were little, but getting cramped).

As with all used anything mechanical, insist on a PPI and records. Some of these trucks get abused. Good luck...my father is driving my last one, a 1990 with HUGE miles on it.

gprsh924 · 12-11-2006, 04:10 PM

my friend has a 99 with the 2.7 in it, has been great for him. he also has it lifted and modded out for offroading. we have really abused it offroad and it has never let us down. really tough truck

pookie · 12-11-2006, 04:44 PM

I think it is toyotanation that is the website of Tacomas. My future brother in law has a 2006 2wd TRD and that thing is nice. 95-99 should have been the V6 which is supposed to be a pretty good motor. They hold their resale pretty good though so even an abused one might have a high price.

One of my favorite trucks by the way.

Good luck.

tdatk · 05:10 PM

Pic added-1999 w/140k miles!

slakjaw · 12-11-2006, 04:54 PM

Wasnt there a head gasket issue with some of the v-6 motors?

DavidI · 12-11-2006, 04:57 PM

I recently bought a 2004 Tacome 4 cylinder 2.7 Double Cab. I absolutely love this truck. It is everything I was looking for and more. You cannot go wrong with a Toyota.

I replaced my 1995 Toyota at 200,000+ miles with no major problems at all, David

Tim Hancock · 12-11-2006, 05:10 PM

I have a '99 4x4 4 cyl and I love it. It has about 80,000 on it now and I have had ZERO mechanical problems. I traded in a 6 cyl '98 POS Dodge Dakota it that I had bought new but it had a bunch of problems that I could not put up with any longer. The Tacoma had 9000 miles on it when I bought it. Even though it is a four cylinder, it only gets about 20-22 mpg. A six cylinder would be nice, but the four does everything I need it to do and I have hauled some VERY heavy loads with it on occasion. It does a decent job of getting me to work on snowy days in the winter (our rural roads drift badly and some days it is impossible to negotiate them with the BMW, the Tacoma just motors right thru them.)

tdatk · 12-11-2006, 05:19 PM

The last Asian truck I had was a 87 Mazda B2600 4x4 and that thing was soooo underpowered it couldn't get out of it's own way,but, it went 180k before I traded it in without any problems except the front tires always wore feathered. I had it aligned probly 6 times over 8 years. Any of that on the Tacoma?

Jims5543 · 12-11-2006, 06:43 PM

Toyotas are all I buy for my fleet trucks. Both of my 4x4's are 4cyl versions and get from 14 - 18 MPG depending on the driver and this is all city driving wiht about 350lbs of gear in the bed at all times. Both are manual tranny models as well.

I love these trucks, both are 2006 models, one has 25K miles the other a tad over 30K. Never a problem other than poor alignments from the factory. We learned that with the first truck and sent the 2nd one in before taking delivery.

I just bought a FJ Cruiser because I trust the brand so much. I only have 5K miles on it so far but they have been problem free which is awesome, especially with a first year truck.

FYI - We have had 99's and when they hit about 150-180K miles we retire them. We put hard miles on our trucks and they are always in adverse conditions and they hold up awesome. There really is nothing bad to say about them.

air-cool-me · 12-11-2006, 11:06 PM

i have a 98... 124,000

love that car...

i pulled the 67 down from washington to arizona on a dolly.. it did just fine!

IROC · IROC's Garage

You really can't go wrong with a Toyota pickup. I've owned an '83, '84, two '87s and now have a 2001 DoubleCab and a 2001 4Runner. Excellent vehicles. The head gasket issue was with the early 3.0 liter V6s (around the 1990 timeframe). I don't think they are a concern any longer.

My current DoubleCab has 71k miles on it and has had *nothing* go wrong with it. New set of tires and front brake pads is all that it has required. 3.4 liter V6. I get about 19 mpg city and maybe 21 or 22 highway.

Mike

pookie · 12-12-2006, 04:28 AM

Can you get a regular cab Taco with the 6 cyl motor? I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't an option on the 4 cyl for the reg cab. Does anyone know for sure?

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

i've had an '88 and a '90 model, both deluxe 4x4 pickups. they don't miss a beat.
ryan

fireant911 · 12-12-2006, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by pookie
Can you get a regular cab Taco with the 6 cyl motor? I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't an option on the 4 cyl for the reg cab. Does anyone know for sure?

pookie,
I took a look at Edmunds.com and that option (regular cab w/six cylinder) does not appear to exist. I have a 2006 Prerunner access cab with the four cylinder and absolutely love it; however, I do very, very minimal hauling.

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2007/toyota/tacoma/truck/compact/index.html

sammyg2 · 12-12-2006, 07:03 AM

Have you guys had any problems with warping brake rotors?
i've read that is in issue with the tacoma and tundra. in fact I had to replace my front rotors on my tundra at 50k because the steering wheel was shaking when i hit the brakes.
I checked, they were in fact warped and it wasn't because of a build up of pad material.

Nostril Cheese · 12-12-2006, 07:05 AM

Had an 85 SR5 with the 22R. Got over 300K on that motor. never one problem with it.

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

i've heard that many have had problems with the v6. i've owned two of the 4-cylinder models. they have a reputation for running forever.
ryan

IROC · IROC's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by sammyg2
Have you guys had any problems with warping brake rotors?
i've read that is in issue with the tacoma and tundra. in fact I had to replace my front rotors on my tundra at 50k because the steering wheel was shaking when i hit the brakes.
I checked, they were in fact warped and it wasn't because of a build up of pad material.

I've experienced what I'll call temporary heat-induced warping. That is going down long grades, etc., the rotors will heat up and warp (leading to the steering wheel shakes) and then they return to normal once they cool off.

This happens on both of my 2001s and was really pronounced on the '87 4Runner I had. On the 4Runner, I checked the runout and the rotors were not warped, but the shook the steering wheel like crazy when the got hot.

Mike

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

i will say that i'm having braking problems. all of a sudden they've gotten very soft on me. guessing master cylinder or brake booster..i've got plenty of fluid.
ryan