We recently purchased this 2004 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab 2wd SR5 in Big Bear Lake, CA. With 275,000 miles, bad clear coat and a blown transmission; it was time to retire this trusty work horse. Our customer replaced it with a new 4 Wheel Drive SUV for the winters on the mountain.
These 3.4 V6 Toyota engines are bulletproof and reliable. You just need to change the timing belt every 100k miles and the radiator every 150k and you’re good to go. Sharing the same platform with the 1996-2002 Toyota 4runner (an Overlander’s dream). This truck went through 3 design changes from 1996-1997, 1998-2000 and then finally 2000-2004, being the best looking version. These trucks don’t last too long in the Rust belt because Toyota did such a poor job of rust proofing the frame. There was a short lived recall where you could get a new frame from Toyota but even if you had this done 15 years ago the frame is now rotted out again. If you find one of these from the Midwest or North East, run, run far away.
