How often do you park beside another Tacoma….

Don't usually see too many Tacos at the store, especially 1st gens! Always enjoy it when I do see a 1st gen around though!
I always stop at a local 7-Eleven on my way home from work and here about a year or so ago I pulled in there one day and parked right next to a 1st gen! The guy saw me pull in and as soon as I walked in the door he came up to me and started asking me about my truck! We talked a little and said his was an '04 with 360,000+ miles on it! Mine is an '02 and as of right now it has 150,000+ on it! I did see that same guy driving around every now and then however I haven't seen him around in a while, don't know if he moved out of the area or what. I kinda regret not exchanging phone numbers with him because he seemed very knowledgeable about these trucks, we might could've picked one another's brain when it comes to working on our trucks! Oh well.....
 
Wow ! Trifecta !
So I pull into a Buc-ee's gas station today for some beaver nuggets and a Dr Pepper slushy and immediately noticed a 3rd gen (Limited I think). It has the same factory chromed tipped muffler like mine but what really caught my eye was the Colorado decal on the back window just like me !

I get my beaver nuggets and headover to the longest carwash in Texas and BAM ! There's a 2nd gen 2014 2WD with a "VooDoo Blue" like paint job. Dude says he drives the **** out if it and has 330,00 on it. Freaking awesome !

And then (you can't make this **** up), as I'm taking pictures of the 2nd gen, another 2nd gen (2011 black Sport I think) is litterally going through teh Buc-ee's carwash. His kids scrawled a messege on the side of his pickup which explains teh carwash. What a great freaking Tacoma day gents. :)
 

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I'm wondering what kind of mileage you're going to see from these gen3 tacoma's as they age. They sure gained more weight making the 2.7 4 banger work harder for that high mileage. As for the 6, it's hard to guess what they will do as some are already going down.
 
tacojoel said:
I'm wondering what kind of mileage you're going to see from these gen3 tacoma's as they age. They sure gained more weight making the 2.7 4 banger work harder for that high mileage. As for the 6, it's hard to guess what they will do as some are already going down.
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I wonder as well
 
tacojoel said:
I'm wondering what kind of mileage you're going to see from these gen3 tacoma's as they age. They sure gained more weight making the 2.7 4 banger work harder for that high mileage. As for the 6, it's hard to guess what they will do as some are already going down.
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JayQQ97 said:
I wonder as well
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Yeah mine has the 2.4 it dosen't have much horsepower but it's one tough little engine! Wish it had the manual transmission but I've found from a little online research the 1st gens only had the manual transmission on the 4wd model not sure how true that is!
 
tacojoel said:
The 4 cylinder engines I had back in the toyota 70's, and 80's were tough too, but gutless with the ones that had the automatic transmissions.
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Yeah they are gutless with the automatic! My dad bought this truck new he said the reason he got the automatic is because my mom can't drive a manual,if it hadn't been for that he would've bought the manual! Like I said in the previous post I found from a little research the 1st gen 2wd Taco apparently didn't come with a manual!

I had an '01 Chevy S10 2wd with a 2.2l and a 5-speed! Oh well........I guess that's the difference between the S dime and the Taco, the Taco is a waaaay better track though! Holds up way better and much more reliable!
 
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I'll be the first to admit I used to brag a bit when my 3.5L 6-banger got 24 MPG on the highway but as I started adding weight with a new, heavier bumper, every cargo hold & cubby hole stuffed with supplies and tools, the added weight (Including my fat a$$) reduced my hwy milage to around 17/18 MPG. So I don't talk about gas milage anymore. :rolleyes:
 
TexasBigBlue said:
I'll be the first to admit I used to brag a bit when my 3.5L 6-banger got 24 MPG on the highway but as I started adding weight with a new, heavier bumper, every cargo hold & cubby hole stuffed with supplies and tools, the added weight (Including my fat a$$) reduced my hwy milage to around 17/18 MPG. So I don't talk about gas milage anymore. :rolleyes:
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Lol!
 
Taco Man said:
Yeah they are gutless with the automatic! My dad bought this truck new he said the reason he got the automatic is because my mom can't drive a manual,if it hadn't been for that he would've bought the manual! Like I said in the previous post I found from a little research the 1st gen 2wd Taco apparently didn't come with a manual!

I had an '01 Chevy S10 2wd with a 2.2l and a 5-speed! Oh well........I guess that's the difference between the S dime and the Taco, the Taco is a waaaay better track though! Holds up way better and much more reliable!
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I bought automatics after getting tired of replacing clutch's in my manual Toyotas. I did a lot of towing back then racing bikes while pulling a enclosed trailer all over the east, plus going to Quebec snowmobiling.
 
tacojoel said:
I bought automatics after getting tired of replacing clutch's in my manual Toyotas. I did a lot of towing back then racing bikes while pulling a enclosed trailer all over the east, plus going to Quebec snowmobiling.
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I understand I just like shifting gears when I want to shift gears. sometimes you need to wind it up a little when going up a steep hill or on a freeway on ramp etc. can't do that with an auto.

A lot of people shift gears without using the clutch, don't know if that's good or bad on the tranny??!!
 
Taco Man said:
I understand I just like shifting gears when I want to shift gears. sometimes you need to wind it up a little when going up a steep hill or on a freeway on ramp etc. can't do that with an auto.

A lot of people shift gears without using the clutch, don't know if that's good or bad on the tranny??!!
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It's true. I've done it a few times myself. What's really crazy is back in High School I had a friend that had a 72/73/74 Ford Highboy and when he blew the clutch out he had no money for a new one so he just started driving it without a clutch. This was about halfway through the school year and when we graduated he was still driving that pickup truck without a clutch !
 
TexasBigBlue said:
It's true. I've done it a few times myself. What's really crazy is back in High School I had a friend that had a 72/73/74 Ford Highboy and when he blew the clutch out he had no money for a new one so he just started driving it without a clutch. This was about halfway through the school year and when we graduated he was still driving that pickup truck without a clutch !
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Yeah I'm sure it's easy on the clutch because the less you use the clutch the longer it lasts! Don't know if it does anything to the tranny or not! I know the vast majority of truckers do that!
 
Pulled over for lunch at the historic Old West Cafe and couldn't help but notice this good-lookin 3rd gen SR5 Silver Sky Metalic. Not sure what the Vanity plate means but couldn't help but notice the owner is of British decent. God Bless the Queen….
 

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tacojoel said:
The 4 cylinder engines I had back in the toyota 70's, and 80's were tough too, but gutless with the ones that had the automatic transmissions.
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Do you think one of those could climb to 10,000+ feet after they were very well aged?
 
Taco Man said:
I understand I just like shifting gears when I want to shift gears. sometimes you need to wind it up a little when going up a steep hill or on a freeway on ramp etc. can't do that with an auto.

A lot of people shift gears without using the clutch, don't know if that's good or bad on the tranny??!!
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With the automatics I had I just kept my right foot into it, and let the tranny do the work. Those 4 bangers in the day could really be wound up.
JayQQ97 said:
Do you think one of those could climb to 10,000+ feet after they were very well aged?
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Idk what your description of very well aged is, but I have no doubts the 3.5 six will do it if it stays together. On the other hand when I test drove the 2.7 back in 2020 when buying the tacoma, it was pretty gutless going back up the long hill to the dealers lot. It was an auto sr access cab model. I had to scream the engine to keep up with the traffic along in the other lane. This convinced me the 4 cylinder in these gen3 trucks may be ultra reliable, but they made not enough power for a truck this heavy.
 
Spotted this nice looking 1st gen black 2WD at Walmart. I didn't realize just how much larger the 3rd gen's are compared to this little guy. Maybe Toyota should really look at offering a compact pickup truck and go head to head with the Ford Maverick and Kia Santa Cruz….
 

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TexasBigBlue said:
Spotted this nice looking 1st gen black 2WD at Walmart. I didn't realize just how much larger the 3rd gen's are compared to this little guy. Maybe Toyota should really look at offering a compact pickup truck and go head to head with the Ford Maverick and Kia Santa Cruz….
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I've noticed all the Tacos from 2nd gen on bigger than my 1st gen.
 
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