tacoma admirer

I have a corolla at the moment and will eventually get myself a tacoma.
I am not a big truck fan but I will need one to haul things that cannot
fit in a corolla. Tacomas are the only trucks that I have seen that are
small and yet sporty enough that grabs my attention. I am looking at
the double cab.

I have noticed a few posts from the past that talk about the
hollowness of the tailgate and a couple of guys have had steel installed
on the inside. Is this really true of the tailgate?

btw, does the gas mileage affect anyones billfold much? My car gets
about 30-35mpg and I know the tacomas get17-20. Yikes.

John

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 10:04:05 -0500, [email]DEADn@webtv.net[/email] found these unused words
floating about:
[color=blue]
>I have a corolla at the moment and will eventually get myself a tacoma.
>I am not a big truck fan but I will need one to haul things that cannot
>fit in a corolla. Tacomas are the only trucks that I have seen that are
>small and yet sporty enough that grabs my attention. I am looking at
>the double cab.[/color]

IMNSHO, toyblota has ruined the Tacoma by upsizing it.
[color=blue]
> I have noticed a few posts from the past that talk about the
>hollowness of the tailgate and a couple of guys have had steel installed
>on the inside. Is this really true of the tailgate?[/color]

Yep, just a few bent sheets of steel 'spacers' to separate the inside
(removable) panel from the outer.
[color=blue]
>btw, does the gas mileage affect anyones billfold much? My car gets
>about 30-35mpg and I know the tacomas get17-20. Yikes.[/color]

That's a function of YOU and your driving style. My 2002 gets around 22 at
70 on the highway - loaded for camping! Got 16, pulling a 3000# loaded
trailer up over the Sierras (bed and cab packed too!).
[color=blue]
>John[/color]

I want to pay my corrolla off and my wifes corrolla off before I
attempt to get a tacoma. That will be about a year and a few months.

In the meantime I continue to look at them and wonder about how much
of a used one to get. I cannot afford a new one at $24k plus. OUCH. I
would like a double cab with a black tarp and the cage like thing that
sits at the tailgate. I also wonder if it would be worth it to put
wide tires on it for the sporty look?

What type of tacoma is best for just leisure and also hauling things in
the bed? I know there is the prerunner, the off road prerunner and
seems like a couple of other ones. I have no plans to drive one in
the mud or roughing it hard.

John

Here is my list of trucks since ohhhh, 1982

1975 GMC Sierra Classic - My first truck. 350 Automatic, 4bbl carbs, full
load - my early contribution to global warming
1977 Toyota Long Box - put about a 300k kms on that one
1983 Toyota SR5 Mojave (Damn I loved that truck - best truck till now - put
260k kms on that bad boy)
1990 Toyota Long Box - Very utilitarian - I tried to soup it up with a
sunroof, cool stereo and bucket seats, but it never really changed it into
the chick-magnet I lusted after.
1998 Ford Ranger 4WD Long Box. See, here I took a sabbatical from Toyota.
They priced themselves badly out of the market with the underpowered POS
1995-2004 Taco. I really loved the Ranger styling in '98.

Man what a piece of crap that truck was. Thank God I realized it after
owning it for a year and traded it off for a nice...
1998 Mazda 2WD ext cab. Oddly, the same chassis and components as the Ford,
but a world away in reliability. Too bad that no matter how much I tried to
deny it, it was still a Mazda.
1998 Nissan 4WD ext cab. Very nice fancy truck (Leather seats! My dog
loved those!). Too bad it burned oil and went through fuel like a 747.
2005 Taco. There is the truck that a thinking-man dreamed up. Wide cab,
comfy seats, biiiig rear seating area, 4 doors, reasonably priced, awesome
fuel economy, gads of power, cool 110V power outlet in the box (I've never
used it, wish they put it in the cab - but man its cool to know its there)
all around an awesome truck.

Take it from a humble expert who has been around trucks a while. Go get
yourself a post 2004 Taco. I bought my 05 Tacoma in Feb of 2005. It is the
SR5 Taco Extended cab 2.7l 2WD. Without a doubt, this is by far the best
pickup truck I have owned - ever - no sh*t. btw, I also have been
involved in purchasing / leasing and renting of small trucks for 25 years -
I am in engineering and that's all we use.

Bob

<DEADn@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:1076-43DEA990-1253@storefull-3117.bay.webtv.net...[color=blue]
>I want to pay my corrolla off and my wifes corrolla off before I
> attempt to get a tacoma. That will be about a year and a few months.
>
> In the meantime I continue to look at them and wonder about how much
> of a used one to get. I cannot afford a new one at $24k plus. OUCH. I
> would like a double cab with a black tarp and the cage like thing that
> sits at the tailgate. I also wonder if it would be worth it to put
> wide tires on it for the sporty look?
>
> What type of tacoma is best for just leisure and also hauling things in
> the bed? I know there is the prerunner, the off road prerunner and
> seems like a couple of other ones. I have no plans to drive one in
> the mud or roughing it hard.
>
> John
>[/color]