Finally got a new vehicle
Well, I decided it was time to buy a real truck and stop my insane fishing excursions in a sedan so I bought a new 2009 Toyota Tacoma. I needed a reliable vehicle and something I could trust 60 miles south of the nearest road on Padre Island. Toyota has a great reputation for rock solid reliability. I’d rather pay a little more up front and have a reliable vehicle than pay a tow truck a few thousand bucks to tow me back to civilization. (yes, it can thousands for a beach tow)
If you look closely, you can see the front of the skid plate.
I opted for a quad-cab and a long bed so I’d have roughly the same sized bed as a standard cab with a standard bed. Toyota’s listings indicated that fuel economy is not a function of truck length, probably because of the same wind profile between configurations. The bed is also made of thick plastic, so probably doesn’t add much more weight.
The truck also has 4×4 with a limited-slip rear differential. If I still manage to ever get it stuck, I’ve got a couple 2×6 boards in back and a jack to unstick it. One thing I did right away was to replace the stock Dunlap AT20s with a set of Cooper General Grabber AT2’s from Delta Tire and Wheel. In my opinion Toyota should have provided a better stock tire.
One of the cool toys this truck has in a rear-mounted wide-angle camera in the tailgate. The video display is embedded in the rear-view mirror, and when turned off, looks just like a regular mirror.
September 14th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Very nice truck. It’s about time you got one. You’ve been wanting a new vehicle for a long, long time.