Did it have a Ford or Mazda engine? I thought the little Fords were Mazda drive trains. Basically A Mazda with Ford badges.

reliability and resale are good reasons

Resale? If trends continue, you can buy any 4x4 truck for trade in value, run up 50k miles on it and sell it for the same ammount 3-5years later.

In 2008, I bought a '05 f-150 fx4 ext cab, with 63k miles on it for a little less than 10k. I sold it like an idiot after about 25k miles and got my money out of it. That same truck today with 100k more miles than when I bought it, would sell for 13-15k.

In 2010 I bought a '04 duramax 4x4 ext cab with 130k miles on it for 8500. It was the basic edition. I kept it about two years, put 45k ish miles on it and sold it for 10.2k. Wanna guess how much that same truck would sell for today? with 100k more on the odometer?

Hyper inflation is very real over the last 5 or so years on used truck prices. My point is, I wouldn't point to resale value as a feather in the hat during current times.

as far as reliability goes, I'm not convinced that today's toyotas are of the same quality as older models. Maybe I just had a bad experience, but buying a 1 owner '06 4-runner sr5 4x4, with a 99% carfax and religious maintenance. Then having damn near $4k worth of problems out of it, has convinced me that toyota is not all its cracked up to be.

Toyota trucks been holding value and getting top resale $ a lot longer than the last 5 years. I've been rodeoin' with Toyotas a looooooong time.

Toyota

The Toyota Tacoma is the number one resale value vehicle in the world, above any other model, period. It's almost not worth it to buy a 3 or 4 year old used one because you save very little.

I think they were passed last year for a while by........you guessed it, another Toyota, the FJ Cruiser. When Toyota announced they were ending production they took off like a rocket. Last few months buying one for sticker price was a deal. Many dealers were getting well over sticker price.

Now they've stopped making regular cab Tacos. I have a black '06 in the yard.

I didn't bold it because it's nonsensical to me. Yes you generally work more on any American vehicle but it's not "in the shop all the time". And yes my old wore out chevy is "like a caddy" compared to yota 10 years newer. Compare a yota and a GM or ford of equal years and it's laughable.

I'm not denying they are dependable. I even think they are nice looking trucks but the fact is whether you are anyone else driving them will admit it or not, you ARE uncomfortable. You ain't hitting the cruise on the interstate in a taco and kicking back, stretching out and relaxing while the miles click off. You are cramped, twisting around moving and working your azz off looking for your exit the whole time. I know I've had small trucks and even they were bigger than tacos.

It had Ford Motor Co stamped on the engine. Idk about the rest of the truck, running gear, etc.

Please stop embarrassing yourselves by comparing a damn toyota to a z71. It makes you all sound queer. A "taco" may not require much wrenching but niether have the GM trucks I've owned. But ain't NO WAY IN HELL a yota or Nissan even compares. If think so, your kidding yourself and you're a stinky face liar head!

I've got 2 dogs in this fight. Pardon the pun, but I have two trucks to mention here. I had a 2002 Ranger 2wd 4.0 liter that I bought new that was a great, and I mean great little truck. I traded it off recently for a 2008 4 door Taco. It looked a little rough, as a few of You can verify, but it was as dependable as anything on the road.

The Ranger had 209,7?? miles on it when I handed the keys to the new owner and the only issue I had during 13 years and nearly 210,000 miles was an electrical thingy that caused the dash lights and radio to go crazy every now and then. Other than that, only maintenance items. No alternators, no AC compressors, no brake boosters, no injectors, no valve cover gaskets, nothing, nothing but tires, wiper blades, batteries, etc.

The Taco has nearly 150,000 miles on it and I didn't hesitate a second to pull the trigger after an initial check over and test drive despite the miles. I have had it for less than 2 months, but so far, what's not to like. If I wanted a Caddy, I would have bought a Caddy. It is a Taco. It is what it was designed to be, and so far, it's doing a fine job of being a midsized 4wd truck that can haul people and small loads very efficiently and dependably. I don't like backing my boat with it though, as compared to the Ranger.

For what its worth, my old 1990 F-250 has over 340,000 miles on the 7.3 international motor in it. New water pump, alternator, and radiator is all ever been done to it. ALthough its got to have some glow plugs before next winter. Now this ole truck will get you 20 miles a gallon empty, 14-15 loaded pulling 20,000 lbs. Now, it aint no yota, but I like it...

But the 92 Yota, i use has been tuff. It has '84 model running gear under it..

Well, I reckon that is why I said during current times. As in this discussion is about current trucks and not your old reliable Toyotas of 20 years ago. Like I said, I never for a minute doubt that for a long time, Toyota has made the most dependable truck out there. I'm just not convinced that the newer ones are up to the same standard.

I bought a new 14 TRD Off Road 4dr auto 4x4 for $30,500 plus tax and fees. Somebody a page or so back said they paid $26k+ for an 08 with 45k miles.

That's why I ended up with a new one. 2 years old with 20-30k miles are almost as much as new and a 5-6 yr old with 50-65k miles still bring within $6k of new.

NOTHING ELSE has reale like this. WHY, you ask? I assure you, it's not mass delusion, EVERYBODY isn't drinking the Kool Aid. People pay good money for them because they are reliable mostly and economical as well.

I AVERAGE 19.4 mpg most tanks. This includes 75-80mph down the interstate and a fair amount of in town driving. It will drop to 14-15 if I pull a trailer with any kind of load.

I had an '05 Duramax 2500 that had to have wheel bearings (both sides), tailight wiring, a steering shaft replaced and several other repairs I don't remember inside of 60k miles. RI EFFING DICULOUS.

CHEVY's are generally engineered well, they just screw the pooch buying everything from the lowest bidder. GM didn't make those wheel bearing hub sets, they just bought them from the wrong supplier. A full size GM or Ford (I'd as soon have syphillis as a damn Dodge, I won't say Ram) will ride and pull better than a Toyota Tacoma but can't hang with a Tundra (except on mileage) but you are comparing apples and pineapples.

Compare a Tundra to a F150 or 1500 GM and it's VERY close in ride, pull, etc and the Tundra will last a LONG time. I heard Rebelman and Nighthunter had transmission troubles with their Soterra supplied Tundras but that's the only bad reviews on Toyota reliability I ever heard first hand.

As good as the old 2.4 (22r and re)was the current 2.7 is better, more HO, don't blow head gaskets or have timing chain issues at about 150K miles. Transmissions both manual and auto are stronger and smoother. Trust me on this, latest gen Taco has a pretty bullet proof drive train. I've owned 4X4 Toyotas from '82 to '14 models, prolly 12-15 of them.

I can assure you, they are. I worked for Toyota for 10+ years and have worked countless hours of overtime due to a minute "possibility" of a production issue. If there's is even the slightest chance of a problem, of any kind, shipping stops and nothing leaves the building until it is 100% cleared.

oh Chit.......it just got real

I own a '98 Chevy 2500HD 4X4 I bought new. I keep it around because it has it's place, pulling a goose neck,hauling a ton of fertilizer and such. I'm not arguing the point of size and what each is capable of. I love driving it, long as gas ain't $4 a gallon, if you have horses , ya gotta feed them . The old chevy has 130K miles and I'm certain I've spent more in repairs on it than any Toyota I've owned.

A couple of reasons for me...

1. Mini-Trucks basically came to the US when I was a young kid. THe little Datsuns, Ford Couriers, Toyota Hi-Lux, etc... And I just thought they were cool, especially the 4x4 mini-trucks. I had a Datsun Little Hustler pickup until my first wife wrecked it... Twice!

2. I've had several small trucks since then and I work at an office and mainly use my truck as a truck on the weekends to haul stuff around the house and tools and stuff to the cabin. I like the smaller foot print of trucks like the Ranger. It's easier to get into and out of tight places. Plus I think they re better in the woods.

3. This last time I was shopping for a truck I had a multitude of trucks on the shopping list: Full sized Chevys, Ford, Dodges, Tundras, etc... Plus Tacoma, Ranger and Nissan and even the Dakota V8. However I was shopping to a price point, about $8000. I wanted to keep it to something I could pay cash for. (I don't believe in debt, especially for something like a vehicle.) And I wanted a 4x4 because I had a 4x2 Dakota and a 4x4 Cherokee and I wanted just one vehicle. I couldn't find any of the other trucks with what I wanted in decent condition and found my 2004 Ranger FX4 with everything on my checklist and in excellent condition for way below my price point.

But yeah... You make a good point. For instance:

I got a later model Dodge full sized pick-up for a rental to drive to one of our plants on the coast one week. It was 4x2, 4 door with the 4.7 liter V8 and I drove it there and back, running around the coast, the plant , etc... and checked the mileage at every fill-up by dividing the gallons pumped into the trip odometer reading and that thing averaged 25 mpg for the entire trip. Amazing! That 4.7 had plenty of power too. If I could have got one of those for my price point, I would be driving it today.

Contrast that to my Ranger with the 4.0, 4x4, 31" tires, 4.10 rear end and I'm averaging about 18.5 mpg commuting from Trussville to Inverness, which aint too bad.