Hi, folks.
I read through the stickies and the buyer's guide, but this is a question with a slightly-different focus.
The wife and I are considering buying our neighbor's well-used (and well-maintained) 2002 Tacoma 4dr, 4WD truck. It's a V6 with the automatic, the timing belt was changed 20K ago with the water pump, and it's been otherwise well-maintained. It's in good condition, no signs of rust, no accidents, etc. It's in the $6,500 range asking price. I know the fuel economy is pretty lousy, but that's typical for the generation/type of vehicle.
My only real concern is the mileage. I'm a Toyota fan, but 200K is a lot of miles, particularly thinking of the transmission (never serviced) and the transfer case (not sure about that, though I can find out). Also, I know some of the Japanese makers have paint issues, this one is silver and seems okay, but just curious about that as well.
So what kind of issues are common to expect? Or is it really pretty much bulletproof, just keep fixing and maintaining? I'm a car guy from way back and usually do my own maintenance, but I don't want to have to do a lot of it.
Also: this won't be a daily driver, though we might use it for a cross-country trip to pick up some things from a family estate (I'd prefer to talk my wife into simply paying for shipping, because the gas cost will kill us, but you know how those kinds of discussions go!).
I'd appreciate any and all responses.
Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg
I read through the stickies and the buyer's guide, but this is a question with a slightly-different focus.
The wife and I are considering buying our neighbor's well-used (and well-maintained) 2002 Tacoma 4dr, 4WD truck. It's a V6 with the automatic, the timing belt was changed 20K ago with the water pump, and it's been otherwise well-maintained. It's in good condition, no signs of rust, no accidents, etc. It's in the $6,500 range asking price. I know the fuel economy is pretty lousy, but that's typical for the generation/type of vehicle.
My only real concern is the mileage. I'm a Toyota fan, but 200K is a lot of miles, particularly thinking of the transmission (never serviced) and the transfer case (not sure about that, though I can find out). Also, I know some of the Japanese makers have paint issues, this one is silver and seems okay, but just curious about that as well.
So what kind of issues are common to expect? Or is it really pretty much bulletproof, just keep fixing and maintaining? I'm a car guy from way back and usually do my own maintenance, but I don't want to have to do a lot of it.
Also: this won't be a daily driver, though we might use it for a cross-country trip to pick up some things from a family estate (I'd prefer to talk my wife into simply paying for shipping, because the gas cost will kill us, but you know how those kinds of discussions go!).
I'd appreciate any and all responses.
Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg
