loved my 01 and 02 taco sold the 02 with just under 200k on it ran 100% perfect didnt even have to change the WP

my 01 was just as good

i am loving the look of the new body style but are they as good build quality reliability etc?

:third:

I've never actually owned a G1 tacoma, but I have observed at least one MAJOR improvement in the G2's vs the G1's... if you look at the front end in the older ones, specifically, the ball joints that hold the spindle to the LCA, you will note that on the G1's, the LCA is HANGING from the spindle, trying to pull the ball OUT OF the cup. I have seen, in a few places, pictures of G1's where that ball joint simply let go -- makes a pretty good mess, and very dangerous when this happens.

The G2's are opposite from this. The LCA is SITTING ON the spindle, pushing the ball INTO the cup. It can never get pulled out.

Note that the LCAs are transferring the entire weight of the front end of the truck to the spindles. So that means that the whole weight of the truck is trying to pull the balls out of the sockets.

The rest of it, really can't say much. The newer engines are phenomenal. VVT-i gives them the same power curve as a comparable DIESEL engine, just stretched out and flattened a little bit. You wouldn't believe how hard you can work these. Even the 2.7 -- totally ignoring the printed trailer capacity, I've pulled loads over 6000 pounds (the 4.0's maximum hauling limit is 6500) up some very steep hills without any kind of problem. Not a race winner, but no issue with hard work. Just to note, my 2.7 is 4x4, identical in every respect to the 4.0 except the actual engine and tranny. I wouldn't try this with a base 2.7 4x2, which has smaller wheels, smaller brakes, and a much higher gear ratio.

Looking the vehicle over as a competent engineer, it seems to be very well built -- reinforced C-frame from the cab back, fully boxed ahead of the cab. Fairly simple and solid design mechanically. The engines and transmissions (at least in the case of the 2.7's, have heard of a few 4.0's grenading -- something about the oil pump), I've heard, are virtually indestructible (and have that indestructible feel to them...). Note that the 2TR-FE engine (2.7), along with transmission, are still manufactured in Japan and shipped over in crates. The 4.0's are manufactured in Alabama.

It all depends on how you used the gen 1.

2TR-FE is used on Coaster in certain market (5300kg).

???? - ???? - ???COASTER - ???? (http://www.ftms.com.cn/vehicles/coaster/specs.php)

???? - ???? - ???COASTER - ???? (http://www.ftms.com.cn/vehicles/coaster/specs.php)

strange link !

wonder how many folks here can read japanese or chinese or whatever it is ?

The newer body sytle is nice and it is more powerful. I havent seen any problems with them really. They are great trucks. They are just significantly larger than the gen 1's and that was a deal breaker for me at the time. I wheeled my 01 taco and it worked out great, but the 05+ taco's are too big for where I went so I bought 4wheelers. Now I have a giant tundra to tow them with so your mileage may vary.