What Made You Choose Your Tacoma?

[TreadAuto]

Choosing a new vehicle is a big decision. Maybe you fell in love with the design, needed more room for the family, wanted something fun to drive, or were drawn to the latest tech and features. Everyone has their own reasons for picking a truck, and sometimes the story behind that choice is just as interesting as the vehicle itself.

Now that you've spent some time with your Tacoma, we're curious: what ultimately made you choose it over the other options? And looking back, would you make the same choice again?

Share your story in the comments! We'd love to hear what made your Tacoma the right fit for you. Your experience might even help someone who's still deciding on their next ride.

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[Radley]

I have owned most brands of the mid-size truck. I switched to the Tacoma for reliability. It was a tough decision as my local dealership does not have the best reputation from a sales point-of-view. They lived up to their reputation during the sales process. Anyway, that's behind me now. I made myself a promise to only buy a vehicle that is sold locally. So far, it has been a good truck.

 

[CharlieLed]

Impulse buy...saw a new Tacoma TRDOR in Supersonic red parked in front of the local Costco and had to have it. Went to the dealer that day and drove it home.

 

[ErVikingo]

Saw one in Yellowstone (parking lot of Old Faithful 2 or 3 weeks ago). WIfe said, that looks really cool. Placed an order same day. My Ridgeline was at the shop at the time and had just gotten noticed it was being declared total loss

 

[TrailhunterLox]

I had a 2019 TRD OR and was working on modifying it for offroading, I added an ARB front recovery point, and an ARB rear bumper. Was planning on adding a front steel bumper with winch, but got into a wreck and totaled the truck.
I went with the Trailhunter because it had many of the mods I would have wanted to add if I brought the TRD OR and the trailhunter is designed for the type of driving I do. I do hiking trail maintenance and pull an equipment trailer on minimally maintained service roads that are either muddy or sandy. The long bed allows me to carry more equipment and people out the the work site.
6 weeks in and only limited trail work so far, but it's working well, as long as you turn off all the per-collision systems.
I do wish it had a front steel winch bumper and more storage space.

 

[lauren01]

I had a 2019 TRD OR and was working on modifying it for offroading, I added an ARB front recovery point, and an ARB rear bumper. Was planning on adding a front steel bumper with winch, but got into a wreck and totaled the truck.
I went with the Trailhunter because it had many of the mods I would have wanted to add if I brought the TRD OR and the trailhunter is designed for the type of driving I do. I do hiking trail maintenance and pull an equipment trailer on minimally maintained service roads that are either muddy or sandy. The long bed allows me to carry more equipment and people out the the work site.
6 weeks in and only limited trail work so far, but it's working well, as long as you turn off all the per-collision systems.
I do wish it had a front steel winch bumper and more storage space.

I wish Toyota offered a front steel winch bumper as either factory or port installed.

 

[gmalkmus]

Because it has huge aftermarket support, has a 6 speed manual, and a sweet color. Plus I fit better in the Tacoma than any other midsize truck at 6'5".

 

[gmalkmus]

I have owned most brands of the mid-size truck. I switched to the Tacoma for reliability. It was a tough decision as my local dealership does not have the best reputation from a sales point-of-view. They lived up to their reputation during the sales process. Anyway, that's behind me now. I made myself a promise to only buy a vehicle that is sold locally. So far, it has been a good truck.

Why do you only buy from local dealers? I saved over 4,000 by buying from a dealer that is about 100 miles away.

 

[Will721]

Bought mine after a mountain of research and a long series of breakdowns. Same as the Wifes car. Previous to 2024, I drove an E46 with a diesel truck as a tow pig and a Ramcharger as a project. The wife was driving my second gen Dakota.

In August of 2024, I overhauled the wifes truck with some much needed maintenance. All new tires, brakes, tune up, fluid services, suspension, steering, joints, cvs, wheel bearings, ect. Pretty much everything but the powertrain and driveline were new, but they were serviced. Well, it was short lived before she somehow grenaded everything but the engine. The truck is not rust free by any means, and now needing a new transmission, transfercase, and rear axle it just didn't make sense to fix it. Frankly spending the money I did only 3 months before on thr overhaul didn't. Plus she was constantly asking me for gas money, because she insists on driving 26k mi a year and the truck got 15mpg. She didn't need a truck in the first place, and after doing the math, I realized it would cost me the same money for the payment as it was fuel for her brand new Corolla. Its her first and my second ever Toyota product and I actually really like that little car, and it was the first new vehicle Ive ever bought.

Fast forward nearly one year (June 2025)and I was daily driving my 05 diesel Ram because the Dakota was actually my primary vehicle when we met. I had just picked up an E46 that needed clutch work as a gas saver, and a Ramcharger which I was just tinkering with on the weekends. The diesel started giving me problems so I fixed up the E46 and started driving it daily. Meanwhile I replaced the entire fuel system in the diesel, new tires, and fixing things to get it ready for the winter snow storms. Even installed a remote start system. Drove it for a few weeks straight just to make sure it was good and reliable and...it broke down. So back to the e46 I went. Well, a month later it decided the coolant needed to be on the side of the highway instead of inside the engine. Which left me with the Ramcharger, which didn't run or drive and infact only had an engine set loosely in the truck 3 months before. Luckily it was the weekend and after 3 days it was ready-ish for daily driving. Apparently 80s dodge electrics, in a truck that was abandoned in a field, then thrown together over a weekend isn't the recipe for reliable, who knew? So several breakdowns and a ton of work later its actually still running and driving, but Id spent every weekend and frankly most workdays constantly wrenching just to be able to get to work, for nearly two years.

Which lead me to my truck. I no longer really tow enough to need a full size so I began researching midsize trucks (which I prefer anyway). It came down to the Tacoma and Ranger. From there I determined the non-hybrid Tacoma was likely the most reliable and definitely easiest to work on long term (as in 10 years from now). The Rangers ecoboost is cramped and full of Fords dumb ass engineering. The nonhybrid just removes alot of complexity in exchange for a negligible difference in fuel economy, and power which can be replaced with a few bolt ons and a tune. From there it was sub-model selection. The rear locker is a must for me as I regularly am moving equipment and things around the property so I went with an off-road since it would cost the same as the price difference to have one installed.

I found one local that was still in transit but had everything and the color I wanted and here we are. One year later I have no regrets and am just now slowly purging or fixing the other broken vehicles to sell, while adding a few new ones to the fleet:

 

[SoCal]

12% off MSRP

No but seriously, I was originally hunting for a Gen 2 Raptor specifically a 2020, (last year of the gen 2) needed a truck to pulll the new side by side and have always loved the Raptor, but just couldn't seem to find one with under 70k miles for anywhere near the $40k I was allocated by my boss lady.

The Tacoma new design caught my eye and once my friend at Toyota told me to come down and pick one out and she would hook me up, I was down there the next day....the price she gave me was too hard to pass up....at the end of the day it was the logical decision, but I still want a Raptor some day...but love the Tacoma so far!!!

 

[MJB4450]

Why do you only buy from local dealers? I saved over 4,000 by buying from a dealer that is about 100 miles away.

Exactly. I bought mine 150 miles away because they had discounts, with their business model you only deal with one person, they had good Yelp reviews and they had absolutely no add ons (preloads). As a bonus they offered me over KBB for my trade in Grand Cherokee. So I figured I saved at least $6k from the better of the two dealers in my town.

 

[MJB4450]

I've had many trucks in the past. Fords, Rams and Generic Motors. I had been waiting and waiting and waiting for the promised mid size Ram since 2019. I finally gave up. Stellantis was run by idiots. They should use them of an example in business schools on how to commit corporate suicide between that debacle and dropping big sellers like the Challenger and Charger. But they were sucking up to the globalists and pushing EVs that no one wants. And now they're totally screwed. Anyway, after much research and test drives on all the small and mid size I decided on the Tacoma because of the following: dual injected engine, reputation, ease of maintenance, body style, improved interior and the crappiness of the other brands. Given what is available today, I would probably still buy the Tacoma even though there are several things I hate about it, namely the short cycling A/C and cooling fans, the less than paper thin paint, the excessive and utterly annoying nanny systems, the tiny gas tank, the inaccurate gauges and the cheap plastic interior. As far as I'm concerned, there are no good choices, just the least bad one.

 

[Roadstarblue]

I’ve had three Camrys still have one two tacos. In my opinion you just can’t beat a Toyota and my local Toyota dealership was more than fair on all my trades and gave me a really good price.

 

[Klokow]

Tundra was too big for my garage

 

[bitflogger]

Long bed, electric locker, safety rating, liking the package options, and then assuming it might have the reliability and resale our other Toyotas have had. Comparing against competitors and alternatives to be sure.

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