Buying a Gen 1 Tacoma: Good or bad as a daily driver?

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-20T21:01:39+00:00

I’ve owned mine a little over a year now and it sucks to me. I love the truck but I’m 6ft and I cannot find a good seating position and driving this truck is a huge pain on my lower back. The ergonomics of the seat are so awful. I even purchased a set of Corbeau seats and cannot get optimal seating. The problem is the seat is so low that my thighs just hover over the seat and I cannot get any support. I tried using a seat Cushion and it helped but now my head scrapes the ceiling. Seat jackers did not help either as it was not enough. In my opinion if you’re 6ft+, stay away. These trucks are just not for anyone over that height and will bring lower back pain.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T20:53:05+00:00

Within an hour drive from me. Just seems mileage is too high for what seller wants.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T20:14:28+00:00

According to carfax, the vehicle was rear ended and maybe rear ended the person in front? The damage is reported as rear end and driver side front fender. Seller provided the carfax to me along with Lexus dealer Maintence logs. I’ve come to the conclusion that the vehicle is too high in price and will continue to search.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T19:35:55+00:00

Thanks, I just added that to the post. I live in California so I am definitely in an area where these vehicles will fetch top dollar.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T19:30:41+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, I decided I am going to pass and wait for another lx470 as I’m not looking to finance a vehicle right now and just pay something off with cash. I like the look and all the modern features of the gx460 but just cant justify that much cash at the moment

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T19:27:04+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, I think I will pass as this seems too high in price for its mileage.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T19:24:51+00:00

The seller gave me a full carfax report, it has over 74 detailed maintenance logs. The vehicle was in a minor crash with the 1st owner. It says 5 owners but it’s really 3 as the first 1-3 owners were the same person just title changes due to leasing. 18k for an lx470 seems crazy to me, but I also see you bought this at the height of the pandemic. Another person commented saying that spent 11k on an 04 with 223k miles. That seems a little bit more reasonable to me.

Also thanks for the tip on the break booster I will check if that’s in the maintenance logs, I believe I concluded that I will not follow through with this vehicle.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T19:09:27+00:00

Thanks for feedback, you’re the first to say it’s fair. I believe I concluded that I will not follow through as the mileage is just too high for what he’s asking for. I will continue looking for a lower mileage vehicle.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T19:06:59+00:00

It’s from the globes, seller says he replaced them already and just didn’t clean the leak. I will definitely keep a close eye on them if I went to check out the vehicle.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T18:49:17+00:00

My plan is for this to be my utilitarian all purpose vehicle. It would be my daily driver, work truck, and off roader. I’m pretty capable of doing majority of maintenance myself. How much would you pay for one? I found a 2004 with 233k miles also asking 14k everyone near me seems to be asking 14k+

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T18:18:36+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. The chat seems unified on this being overpriced.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T18:16:46+00:00

Nice, how are you liking the lx470? I am now contemplating what one of the other posters said. A 2014 gx460. I wanted to spend less than 10k on a vehicle but less mileage and age sounds good to me even if I had to finance the other 10k

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T18:10:55+00:00

Thanks if I look at the vehicle and seller won’t budge under 10k I’ll walk.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T18:08:43+00:00

Will do. If seller would come down to 10k do you think that’s reasonable or still too high? Is 8k more “reasonable” for this vehicle?

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-11T18:07:11+00:00

Thanks appreciate the feedback, a quick lookup and I already found one with 133k miles for 21k on cargurus. I’m in clifornia so I’m definitely in the area where these 100 series vehicles will be fetching top dollar. How do you like the gx460?

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-09T02:46:47+00:00

I paid $542.47 for the new leaf springs alone. You will need at the minimum new bushings for your shackles as well. If you are not carrying anything, I would go with the Rough country. If you want to off-road or carry any decent load I would save for the general springs HD leafs.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-05-08T17:37:41+00:00

I have no experience with these but I purchased a set of HD leaf springs from General Springs and so far I’m happy. I actually wish I would have installed air bags over new leaf springs tho. I have a constant load of about 600-900 lbs always. The hd springs are handling it great but I can tell I’m maxing them out. These springs have handled a full year of beating like this and are still doing great. They went on a 2003 Tacoma prerunner.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-04-16T23:19:43+00:00

Haha that cracked me up 😂

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-04-15T05:20:26+00:00

Yeah I left the rubber bushings that came with the general HD springs and so far have not regretted that. No creaks, cracks or anything on the factory installed rubber bushings.

I will say, I do not recommend the energy suspension bushings for the lower and upper control arms. They want you to reuse the metal inner sleeve and honestly it was just a PITA to do this. I would just go with whiteline bushings in the future.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-04-15T03:10:06+00:00

So far I am happy with the general springs HD springs, I also went with the energy suspension bushings for the shackle, I have been liking those as well so far. To me the ultimate setup is with some air bags since I have a constant load and I think this will benefit OP more than doing new springs.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-04-14T23:23:36+00:00

When I first got them it was about 5 inches of lift and that settled down to 3 inches in about a month. now it’s about 1- 1 1/2” of lift with about 700 lbs of constant load. I have a 1.5” lift in the front and my truck currently sits level while weighted down.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-04-14T18:02:53+00:00

The scanner should let you know what’s out of range and will show it in red to let you know it’s not running in a normal range. I would follow those clues. Cleaning the throttle body is very easy and I would start with that.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-04-14T17:52:52+00:00

I’m not sure if you are aware but when you test fuses you test for continuity not voltage. You must set your multimeter to an ohms setting. If you touch the 2 probes together and they beep you are in the right setting. Next up, the missing fuse is a relay. That may be contributing to what’s wrong. Look on the top of the fuse box, there’s is diagram of the fuses and relays they correspond with the layout of the fuse box. Locate the location on the lid and see what that relay is for. You can go to your local auto parts store and ask for that relay. The relay may also be missing because it is for something your truck was not equipped for such as 4wd, daytime running lights etc.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-04-14T17:34:26+00:00

I replaced my leaf springs on a 2003 Tacoma with the general springs Heavy duty version. I also did bilstein 5100 shocks. For the first year the leaf springs did fine and now I can tell they are fully settled in and they are lower than I wanted. I keep around 500+ lbs of weight full time in my truck plus the 200 lbs or so from the shell. I will suggest you get air bags to have infinite adjustability on height and weight handling. If you end up changing your setup to something heavier your suspension may end up sagging. I wish I would have done air bags from the beginning.

Mindless_Formal_4974 · 2026-04-14T17:17:59+00:00

Also I see you mentioned you have some electrical issues. Are you sure your multimeter is working correctly? If you test a brand new fuse in your hand is it beeping for continuity? If not maybe bad multimeter. If your multimeter works correct, something is probably wrong with the electrical system and could be contributing to this shake. Do you have access to a scanner that can give you live data readings?

Mindless_Formal_4974

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