the reliability thing is what keeps these trucks so pricey. it is also for the most part true. they are tuff. if you look up toyota hilux and top gear on youtube you will see what awful things they have done to these trucks and they survive it. as for the bodystyle changes the truck changed to tacoma in mid 95 or so. i cant speak for the 95 and up seeing as i havent owned one. but my 94 even with the 3.0 which is not even the reliable one has 268k miles on it. just beware the rust. the frame rust to be specific. where the rear leaf springs meet the frame is especially vulnerable but the up side is you should be able to see it without lifting the vehicle if its a problem. price varies from place to place and from truck to truck but depending on the model and options 1500 to 3500 is a good starting range for one. again, this is all very subjective. i got mine for 900, and the 2wd ext v6 for 250. and when it was hit while parked i got 2650 form an insurance agency. best of all it still ran good and tracked straight. one other place to keep an eye on is the rear diffs. people try to "cheat" when they replace the rear pinion seal on the diff and just remove the nut and mating plate replace the seal and crank the nut back on. this crushes the crush washer in more than it should be crushed and thus your diff gets noisey and will need to be rebuilt. just something to watch out for.
all in all i have been nothing but happy with my truck. happy hunting.
all in all i have been nothing but happy with my truck. happy hunting.
