1st Gen 06 tundra limited. A few questions

I have been thinking about buying one of these trucks, the price seems right, and I love all the features it's packed with. How reliable are the first gens? How is the gas mileage compared to a current Gen Tundra? Any major issues I should be aware of?

And finally I need some opinions. I've been struggling with either looking for a 4x4 tundra that isn't limited, or just getting the limited Rwd that I've been looking at. I don't plan on going off roading, but I live in a rural area and I have getting myself in situations where 4x4 saved the day in other vehicles I have owned. I like to have 4x4 and not need it than to need it and not have it. But for the price of this truck I don't know if not having 4x4 is a deal breaker. https://9apps.ooo/

 

The gas mileage on all of them isn't great. I get about 15mpg driving 50 miles round trip to work, not really highway but maybe a dozen lights in that. Biggest issues to look for are timing belt changes and frame rust.

I wouldn't worry too much about a Limited trim, my DC is an SR5 and as far as I can tell it's missing leather/power/heated seats, rear entertainment, and the temp/compass mirror. Still has heated mirrors and a sunroof.

 

Welcome. These trucks are reliable, but they are at the age where TLC and maintenance is going to be required if you want them to last forever. How comfortable are you working on vehicles?

The major issue on these trucks is frame rust so carefully inspect the frame of any truck you look at. Do yourself a favor and walk away from trucks with rotted frames. Toyota calls for the timing belt to be done at 90k. If you buy a first gen Tundra that has no history of a timing belt change, be prepared to have that done sooner rather than later.

As for gas mileage, it's not great. 16mpg at the most, but closer to 13-14 in real world conditions depending on your foot

The RWD vs. 4x4 question sounds like it's something you'll have to decide for yourself. 2WD trucks might get a little bit better MPG since there is less weight; but if you see yourself needing 4x4 at least once a year, are the potential MPG savings and price difference worth it?

 

Frame rust is an issue if it's from a rust belt state. It's gonna need a timing belt done if it's the original even if low mileage, just for the fact from old age. 2WD truck, no point.

 

Tire chains can be a workaround for 2 wheel drive in many cases. I got stuck in a soft spot this afternoon and the chains saved the day.

 

Don't get hung up on trim. What I chose to do was think about must-have options for me, and that helped me focus my search. For me, even with how little I adjust my seats, power seats and steering wheel controls were a must-have, as was mileage under 120k. It took a few months to find, it was a Limited, the front leather seats have bolster rips, the paint was chalk, but those were all fixable things. I wasn't specifically looking for 4WD but damn glad I found it!

As said above, rust was issue #1 for me, I hunted a car with South/Southwest US maintenance records in Carfax. While I know rust belt states suffer worse, I believed then rust was more common in recall years '00-'03 and tailored my search to '04-'06, which more easily fit my desire for steering wheel controls too. I knew I couldn't fit a double cab in my garage, I could barely fit my previous truck in it, but the access cab has enough room behind the truck to scoot by with the garage door closed.

Gas mileage ... I dunno about others but I use the Road Trip LE app on my phone to track mileage on my vehicles, so I have a damn accurate history going back a couple years on my vehicle. I'd call my driving hybrid, a mix of intown stop/go, and highway. I average about 13.5mpg equally mixed. If I get thru a whole tank city-only, 12mpg is a rough average. My first month owning the truck I was back and forth to Auburn AL several times and averaged 16.21mpg on both of those fill-ups.

Overall, if you get a truck that's well maintained, timing belt replaced every 70-90k miles or every 9-10 years, no major rust, and you don't mind having or using your grease gun and changing fluids, these trucks will run 300-400k miles easy with no issues. I say that as someone who grew up in a GM household and had many GM trucks, seems like once you got over the 200k mark in their pre-GenIII engine trucks, time to rebuild... hasn't been my experience w/Toyota at all.

Good luck with your search!