Anyone here ever owned a Toyota T100?

Chiketkd · #1 04-23-2005, 11:04 PM

My wife and I are about to close on a house in the next 4 weeks with a yard that's just over 1 acre in size. We have big plans for our first home and will need an old beater pick-up to execute them.

I found a local '87 Toyota T100 for $500 that has 360,000 miles on it but has a strong engine and trans in it (4cyl engine). The buyer is somewhat flexible on price and we could probably get it for ~$400.

We don't plan to tow with it, only use it to carry home gardening equipment & furniture in the bed. As it has a 4cyl engine, it gets good gas mileage on the highway.

Anyone think this might be worthwhile? Any input would be greatly appreciated...

-Chike

NapaBavarian · #2 04-24-2005, 05:28 AM

I thought that the T100 was introduced in '93, but the 22RE is a great engine that routinely goes for 400,000 if maintained properly, probably a good choice for moving bulky stuff since it is one of the less over priced toyotas

n00b on demand · #3 04-24-2005, 06:43 AM

IS it auto or stick?

Chiketkd · #4 04-24-2005, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NapaBavarian

I thought that the T100 was introduced in '93, but the 22RE is a great engine that routinely goes for 400,000 if maintained properly, probably a good choice for moving bulky stuff since it is one of the less over priced toyotas

You'e right. I looked at the add again. It just says a 1/2 ton '87 Toyota pickup. It's good to know that the 4 cyl engine is pretty strong in those things...

Thnx.

-Chike

Chiketkd · #5 04-24-2005, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soobiesvx93

IS it auto or stick?

I need to get more details from the buyer. His ad in the paper didn't say. I'll probably go by and look at it sometime...

-Chike

Earthworm · #6 04-25-2005, 12:51 PM

Did anyone see on TopGear when they tried to kill a Toyota truck? They burned, drowned, crashed and dropped the thing and it just kept on running!

n00b on demand · #7 04-25-2005, 01:36 PM

Yeah! That episode was awesome...the toyot hilux

SVXer95 · #8 04-25-2005, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earthworm

Did anyone see on TopGear when they tried to kill a Toyota truck? They burned, drowned, crashed and dropped the thing and it just kept on running!

I have that on my computer at home. They dropped a motorhome on it, ran it into a tree, burned it, hit it with a wrecking ball. Best of all, drowned it in the high tide. The only tools to get it running again was WD-40 and a few wrenches.

SVXer95 · #9 04-25-2005, 01:53 PM

Basically, these things are indestructable. The 22re is a beast too.

That said, at $400 it would be worth it to buy if you used it only for the move. I would say go for it. If you don't like it, you can drive into most wrecking yards and get what you paid for it.

intellibomb · #10 04-25-2005, 01:55 PM

chike,

i say go for it. 400?

thats chump change if it works...

parts are dirt for those things and i can also attest to the durability of them...

my buddy had one with 200K+ (it was an 87 4runner tho, still the 22re) and we drove the sh!t out of that thing... jumped it, smashed it, 4wheeled it, basically beat it to hell. then, after all that out in the middle of nowhere, it would gracefully (i guess

) take us home... no problems. i think he had to replace the diff once becuz the seal broke... cost him like 100$.

i say go for it!

benebob · #11 04-25-2005, 02:46 PM

Personally if you're gonna be putting weight in it I'd shy away unless the body and frame is rust free (which in VA for that price I can pretty much assume it isn't). True the engine will be fine forever but the body rots, the frame rots and when you have 1000lbs in the back and something breaks it isn't pretty or for that matter even close to safe. You'd be much better off finding something, even american that isn't a rust bucket and having a year's worth of payments.

Virtually any truck that is worth it as a vehicle doesn't drop below a grand. If it does. There is something majorly wrong with it.

NapaBavarian · #12 04-25-2005, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earthworm

Did anyone see on TopGear when they tried to kill a Toyota truck? They burned, drowned, crashed and dropped the thing and it just kept on running!

I saw it and wasn't impressed, I watched very carefully to see what they did and the "experiments" that they conducted were very carefully to avoid destroying the truck, give me a hammer and an awl, I can have that thing so dead it'll never run again in 20 minutes

Also, as I recall that was a diesel.

That said they are still great trucks, not sure that they are as far above everyone else as the CA prices sugest and the 3.0 V6 was problem plauged seemingly as bad as the VW waterboxer.

SVXer95 · #13 04-25-2005, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NapaBavarian

I saw it and wasn't impressed, I watched very carefully to see what they did and the "experiments" that they conducted were very carefully to avoid destroying the truck, give me a hammer and an awl, I can have that thing so dead it'll never run again in 20 minutes

Also, as I recall that was a diesel.

That said they are still great trucks, not sure that they are as far above everyone else as the CA prices sugest and the 3.0 V6 was problem plauged seemingly as bad as the VW waterboxer.

You are correct sir. Just watched the episode again, it is a hi-lux 2.4D (diesel)

Chiketkd · #14 04-25-2005, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVXer95

Basically, these things are indestructable. The 22re is a beast too.

That said, at $400 it would be worth it to buy if you used it only for the move. I would say go for it. If you don't like it, you can drive into most wrecking yards and get what you paid for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by intellibomb

chike,

i say go for it. 400?

thats chump change if it works...

parts are dirt for those things and i can also attest to the durability of them...

my buddy had one with 200K+ (it was an 87 4runner tho, still the 22re) and we drove the sh!t out of that thing... jumped it, smashed it, 4wheeled it, basically beat it to hell. then, after all that out in the middle of nowhere, it would gracefully (i guess ) take us home... no problems. i think he had to replace the diff once becuz the seal broke... cost him like 100$.

i say go for it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by benebob

Personally if you're gonna be putting weight in it I'd shy away unless the body and frame is rust free (which in VA for that price I can pretty much assume it isn't). True the engine will be fine forever but the body rots, the frame rots and when you have 1000lbs in the back and something breaks it isn't pretty or for that matter even close to safe. You'd be much better off finding something, even american that isn't a rust bucket and having a year's worth of payments.

Virtually any truck that is worth it as a vehicle doesn't drop below a grand. If it does. There is something majorly wrong with it.

Thanks for the great advice guys. I'll take it all into consideration when discussing things with the owner.

I don't plan to use it just for the move, but if I can get 1-2 years out of it, I'd be happy. Basically, we'll be using it to carry plants from the nursery and crap to the landfill, etc. Nothing excessively heavy (~500lbs).

I'll see what we decide.

-Chike

Beav · #15 04-26-2005, 03:26 PM

We had a handful of them in Denver for shop trucks (we had 22 shops in the area.) Most of the drivers were retired guys that continuously ran into everything imaginable - old people + rush hour traffic on I-25 and through the mousetrap = disaster. Plan on oil leaks, that's a given. Other than that they couldn't kill them.