[corrado-correr]

Hello, you may remember me from such threads as Reliable Transportation: 93 Corrado SLC, and the even more ironic and much less reliable Reliable Transportation 2005 A6. I stopped updating the A6 thread mostly because it became depressingly (oppressively?) expensive to maintain it's reliable status. When it was working it was fantastic. When something went wrong I almost never spent less than three figures for whatever it was. In 2020 alone I had $760.52 power steering pump and check valves, $1,862 power steering rack and hoses, and $4,471.15 front suspension rebuild and hood latch replace.

So December 2020, the A6 started throwing ABS faults, and then we had our first cold night and I was reminded that the radio doesn't work when it's cold outside. I decided it was time to make some moves. I looked at a 2017 A6. I thought about making a thread to debate new GTI vs used Golf R. I wondered if I could track down my old 93 Corrado, and then I saw this green Tacoma.


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2021 TRD Sport 4x4, V6 automatic, quad cab, long bed, Army Green, with LED headlights and the technology package. MSRP: $40,907. I ended up with $39,751.06 out the door. Zero down with promotional 1.9% APR.


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I'm into the fact that this could turn out to be legit reliable transportation. The factory LED headlights are great.

So far I've had a woman make me roll down my window to yell at me in traffic that she loved the color, and a neighbor walking his dog tell me he doesn't normally say things like this but he really likes the color. The color is cool, it's like dolphin grey but green.


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The next morning, in my driveway:


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My Dad got me a cargo net for christmas:


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My son wanted to take the new truck off roading. There aren't a lot of options for that in the metro Detroit area, but we did find a very muddy dirt road and some hills to climb on a powerline access road.


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The aftermath of what off roading looks like to a very impressed 4 year old:


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I remember when the Tacoma was a mini truck, it's not very mini any more, unless you park next to...


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Hopefully some real pictures to show off the green color, and whatever comes next in what I hope to be a very long term ownership.

Cheers.

 

[kaz02a4]

🧡 anything green. I'm biased, but still. Great score! Any plans with it (cosmetic, suspension, etc.)?

 

[amusante1002]

Very Cool

 

[chucchinchilla]

Fantastic truck! Also yes I love that color. IIRC that color first became available last year but only on the TRD Pro which meant you had to spend big bucks to get the best color. It appears they've opened up to the mainstream TRD Sport/Off-Road trims which is awesome because that's all you really need. Sure it's $39K but with 1.9% APR, insanely good depreciation, and a bulletproof reputation for reliability, overall this should be a pretty inexpensive vehicle to own.

 

[corrado-correr]

🧡 anything green. I'm biased, but still. Great score! Any plans with it (cosmetic, suspension, etc.)?

I also heart green (see my green Corrado). I would really like to do more TSD rally. I want to build my own rally computer and have some ideas with Raspberry Pi/Arduino combination that would ultimately be built in. I dont know anything about Tacomas really, so other than a bro-dozer light bar (jokes aside that would actually be very useful for TSD)... eventually wheels and tires with dedicated winters? The factory TRD sport suspension feels pretty good to me and matches my high speed dirt road use case pretty well. I'm not interested in a lift.

Sure it's $39K but with 1.9% APR, insanely good depreciation, and a bulletproof reputation for reliability, overall this should be a pretty inexpensive vehicle to own.

Exactly. If you told me I was going to spend $39k on an automotive purchase a year ago I would have laughed at you. The prospect of being able to sell this thing for $25k+ 10 years from now with 200k miles on it helped justified the premium of buying new.

 

[Hufeisen]

Great color 🍻 I was going to say keep us updated but it's a Taco, so it might be monotonous: Gas, oil, tires. Gas, oil, tires. Gas, oil, tires and wipers.

Any plans for it?

 

[6cylVWguy]

That's definitely going to be reliable transportation, so nice choice! And yeah, count me among those who dig the color.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[compy222]

great choice and love the color. in before you start shopping at LFD, Rago, etc. and watch too much Adventure Overland...

 

[fireside]

Looks great!! And a longboi too! That’s a lot of truck for 39k. Considerably less than a full size similarly equipped. Even after 10k off sticker the truck in my sig was 44.5k. Love the color too.

 

[corrado-correr]

Today I swapped out the factory altezza tail lights that come on some of the new 2021 models with a used but like new set of OEM all red's from an SR5. Direct bolt in, no issues.

I still dont have amber turns, but I think it looks so much better.

Before:


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After:


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[marked001]

Very nice. I had similar experiences when I had a quicksand Tacoma. Everywhere I went I'd get compliments on the color. Wish I had waited for the army green Tundras.

 

[corrado-correr]

I installed the 67 Taco Rail, and a Diode Dynamic light bar with Cali Raised switch.


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This last one is a video, if you click on it you can see the difference the driving lights make.


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[corrado-correr]

On Saturday I did a very dusty thing. With my buddy Brian as Navigator I did my first TSD rally in the Tacoma.

We didn't do particularly well but it was fun and very scenic. In total I did 207 miles majority on sandy (sometimes pretty bumpy) dirt roads. The terrain was by no means challenging but I had to keep it in 4Hi nearly all the time in order to maintain the target average speeds of 45mph, 39mph, and even 25mph in some cases where there were tight turns. The truck did well but it was challenging.

The coarse is designed in a way that a standard passenger car can complete it, that said there was a Saab 9-3 XWD Aero that bottomed out on something near the end and started puking transmission fluid. He still made it to the final check point for the trophy presentation and took 1st place overall - talk about "press on regardless"!

FYI to the TCL Taco Party: The Tacoma did well except for during the last ~20 minutes where it started beeping at us. The beep was coming from the back seat somewhere, it was annoying and very distracting. There were zero warning messages or lights to indicate why it was beeping, this made it even worse (WTF Toyota!). I tried toggling all the systems like BSM, Auto high beams, and Park assist but it didn't do anything to stop the beeping. Eventually we finished the stage and after a minute of driving on pavement the beeping stopped. It's hard to say 100% but I think I've narrowed it down to the auto collision avoidance system, per the owners manual high levels of dust, mud, or water can cause the system to malfunction. We definitely had dust! Disabling the system via one press of the traction control button would have disabled the collision avoidance system and most likely stopped the beeping.

I was looking forward to using the new light bar, but again due to all the dust in the air turning it on hurt more than it helped. It just lit up the dust and then i couldn't see ****. I'm going to try tilting it down a bit more.

During the event it gets pretty intense so there isn't time for many pictures. But here's a few.


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Here's the after shot. Very dusty. The not so bad thing about dust is once you get on the highway it mostly just blows itself off.


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Finally, maybe you guys find this interesting. The vehicle has an app that allows you to connect to it remotely, part of this app is some sort of safe driving score they call your "Drive Pulse". It records the number of fast acceleration, harsh braking, and harsh cornering events in a drive cycle. 100 is good, anything less is not as good. Before this event my average was a 92. Now it's an 80. One cool thing about it is you can go back and review recent trips. Here are the three rally stages:


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In contrast, without even trying or thinking about it, here's the drive home. Perfect 100. Look how safe I am.


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[Iroczgirl]

Looks like fun!

 

[corrado-correr]

I did about ~150miles of relatively high speed (some times sideways) road rally yesterday in SE Michigan. Since the last road rally I've changed out the OEM Firestones for OEM sized Wildpeaks. With the OEM tires I basically had to do the whole event in 4Hi. I've got so much more traction now that I was able to do all of yesterdays event in 2WD with Trac Off.

That said the conditions were absolutely perfect. A ~1hour down pour in the early morning left a damp soft surface on all the dirt roads with no dust. There was minimal washboard, and only a handful of big pot holes or washouts that were easily avoided.


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These tires are awesome.


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[mrothwell]

Man, I've got to say, I don't think I would've picked a Tacoma for rallying purposes, but it looks like it works for you. I hated driving the 2nd gen Tacomas I owned on gravel roads, the back end would kick out over every bump, it really freaked me out.

 

[Sporin]

Looking good! I love my Taco, tell me about the 67 Taco Rail!

 

[corrado-correr]

Looking good! I love my Taco, tell me about the 67 Taco Rail!

It's super solid, and keeps the phone(s) very rigid even over the bumps. I like the smaller balls it comes with over the seemingly giant Ram balls/mounts that would be the alternative. You do have to drill (I think it was three?) small holes in the trim to mount it.

TacoRail® Bases and Packs

The optimal Toyota Tacoma 3rd Gen mounting platform.

www.67d.com

And you can add additional arms.


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[corrado-correr]

Man, I've got to say, I don't think I would've picked a Tacoma for rallying purposes, but it looks like it works for you. I hated driving the 2nd gen Tacomas I owned on gravel roads, the back end would kick out over every bump, it really freaked me out.

I dont have any experience with the second gens, so I cant comment on the differences. My third gen feels really solid on these dirt/gravel roads. It is a double cab long bed - the longest wheel base Tacoma you can buy, which might have something to do with it. It has a tendency for understeer, unless you're really trying to kick the rear out with the throttle. The back end gets a bit light and can skip around a bit over big washboard but I wouldnt say it "kicks out" by any means.

Is it the ideal rally car? Probably not if you consider the dudes taking first place in these events are running what looks to be a lowered Focus RS. It sure is fun though.

 

[Sporin]

It's super solid, and keeps the phone(s) very rigid even over the bumps. I like the smaller balls it comes with over the seemingly giant Ram balls/mounts that would be the alternative. You do have to drill (I think it was three?) small holes in the trim to mount it.

TacoRail® Bases and Packs

The optimal Toyota Tacoma 3rd Gen mounting platform.

www.67d.com

And you can add additional arms.


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Thanks, I'll check it out. Looks like a clean solution for phone, gopro, etc. I had been looking at the one from TacoGarage.