1st gen Daily Drivers

Out of curiosity, how many 1st gen owners daily drive their tundras?

I currently do until I find a suitable commuter.

 

I do. I had a 2002 Corolla that I drove for many years but I sold it a year ago with 200k for $1,600.I didn't feel safe in that tin can. Once I did the math I realized I was only saving around $500 a year once you factor in insurance and maintenance on a 3rd vehicle.

 

I do. 219,xxx on it right now. I had a SRT8 300c that was the toy. However I fell in love with the Tundra and I hated having a payment. Now the Tundra is my sole mode of transportation!

 

I do but I'm kicking around the idea of buying a commuter. I spend roughly $75/week gassing up the Tundra

 

It depends. I'm currently daily driving it until I get it sorted. I have a 2006 Accord that is technically my daily though.

 

Let's say you could cut that in half and buy a car that gets 30mpg(roughly twice what our trucks get). Assuming you bought a $2,500 car(about the cheapest you could find a decent beater), it would take 67 weeks just to get the savings from gas. Add in insurance and it gets a lot longer.

I think it makes more sense to re-gear for those that have bigger tires. I'd rather put money into the Tundra than an unknown used vehicle. Just my .02

 

Daily drive, short trips drive, long trips drive, vacation drive, tow drive, haul drive, 4wd drive, 2wd drive, for 17 years.

My best Bubby Gumps impression.

I have other cars, but they feel like go-carts compared to the 02’.

 

Same here, at least $75 a week.

For me, it’s more to keep miles and wear and tear off the truck. It’s cheaper to maintain a subi or civic.

 

Daily mine since I bought it in 9/18. Just ordered OME lift, SPC UCAs, various bushings and new oem lower ball joints. (im)patiently awaiting a few Fedex deliveries...

 

we need to see pics of all of that once completed!! Throw it in the sticky, "what have you done to your tundra today", when you get the chance!

 

That makes sense. I'm lucky in that I only put around 11k miles on my truck each year. If I had a long drive I would definitely reconsider.

 

Will do.

 

from my perspective, I save $1800 a year roughly by driving my Accord, whereas insurance costs me $1000 a year. I had the accord before the Tundra, so I can't include the purchase price.

 

True to an extent. My Tundra gets 15mpg, has for 2 years on my commute. It's almost a 50 mile round trip so I burn a little over 3 gallons a day.

I'm looking at a Mitsubishi Mirage, my sister works at the dealer and depending on the time of year I can pick up a brand new one for under 10k out the door.

Right now I'm paying $300 just in gas for the truck. Car payment would be about $200, insurance comes out to about $30 since it's a 3rd car, we only have two drivers and the truck rate drops not using it for commuting, gas would now be $25, assuming 30mpg it's rated 36-43.

Either way I'm still saving $50/month, plus my daughter will be turning 16 in 5 years and I can pass it on to her to beat up with 5 years of warranty left.

Yes it's still a long pay back, but as Casper said I then don't put as much abuse on the Tundra. I've put nearly 30k on it in 2 years.

 

Everything costs money.

Excluding (gas, taxes, and insurance) my total reinvestment this fiscal year will be capped at about $6k which includes new front end rebuild by shop, tires, and various other parts purchased and installed DIY.

$6k equals about 10 monthly payments on a new 3rd Gen Tundra (excluding gas, insurance, and those TAXES! of $2k a year on a new $50k truck!).

$6k over 5 years equals about $100 monthly payment (and no taxes!). Of course there is going to be gas and routine fluid maintenance involved over those 5 years. Hoping nothing breaks which will add to my $100 monthly costs.

Just some other ways to look at things.

Best way to save money is buy a cheap Honda beater. Ride it for a couple years only doing fluid/oil changes. Sell it for close to the purchase price and repeat, a few years later. No mods. No improvements. Nothing but fluids. DIY any repairs.

Go carts are only fun in shopping mall parking driving.

 

I purchased my '02 in '03. and made it my dedicated work truck about 7 years ago. My daily driver cars were two different Camry and an Acura RL, my '07 Tundra became my daily driver about a year and a half ago.

 

I'd go broke paying for gas if I did that. The truck is for truck stuff.

My daily is a lifted, sway bar deleted, custom bumper subaru outback.

 

And yes...my tundra is going to get the same treatment once I get the basics taken care of (brakes, seals, exhaust, etc) I plan to flatbed it, heavy duty lumber rack, rock sliders...and of course bumper.

 

Mine is technically my daily in that it's the only personal I own for me (wife has the 4Runner but that doesn't count for me for obvious reasons lol), but for every mile I put on it, I put close to 50 on my work truck. So far I'm on track to have put around 5,000 miles on it by the time the 1 year anniversary of the buy date rolls around in July.

 

I swear if those 2nd AND THIRD GEN guys come in here imma beat em with a stick.

I'll answer the question with mileage. 314k when I joined 9/18, 317k as of 3/19. I've been driving a lot with it lately. I have a work truck I drive every day. If I get this new job I applied for, it's about 30 miles a day I'll be adding.

 

I daily drove mine for 7 years. I got tired of spending 300-400 a month on gas and bought a fun hatch to drive daily. Now I drive the truck at least twice a week.

I did a cost benefit analysis before I bought my hatch and new I wasn't going to save a lot after offsetting the initial cost, and considering the maintenance and repairs. The savings are realized when you lower the maintenance frequency on the truck, but even then you are maintaining two vehicles which can never really be cheaper.

Buying 4 spark plugs rather than 8 is nice. Buying new tires for $500 rather than $1100 is nice. Buying a 5qt jug of oil and having some left over instead of buying two of those jugs and having half of one left over is nice. Spending $40 on a tank of gas knowing I'll drive about 400 miles before my next fill up, versus spending $90 on a tank and repeating in 400 miles isn't bad. The real kicker though, the real incentive is, when people ask if I still have my truck I reply that "this is my car now"... which isn't a lie. That way they won't ask me to help them move.

 

I daily my truck. It has about 203K right now. No issues so far.

 

Just during the weekend, have a work truck during the week.

 

I daily my 01 w/ 180k - great trucks.

 

It's my daily. I commute a 30km (18 mile) round trip to and from work. I average about $160 per month in fuel between commuting and random trips.

For general booting around town and road trips where we don't need the 4wd or load capacity we drive The Woman's Corolla S. Way easier on fuel. I'd love to drive the Tundra full time, but with the rapidly increasing fuel prices and taxes in Canada, it's not feasible.

 

My 01 Tundra is my daily driver. College Life + 60 miles minimum round trip + driving after for work and chores = about $50 every 2-3 days...that's my only con, getting 16.5 mpg from most fillups...Otherwise I love driving my tundra because I live in the country and there is always a need for 4WD! I just need to stop the "unneeded" mods (haha yeah right, like there is a choice), those are the real money suckers. 151XXX on it right now and it drives great. Looking forward to the next hundred thousands of miles, hopefully money wont be as big as an issue in a couple years.

 

I've had mine since new in 2001. It makes a great light duty truck, for when you need a truck. Lousy commuter vehicle, ride is mediocre, fuel economy is abysmal, no modern gagets, in short, a good vehicle for light towing, work, dump runs, etc. When I was commuting I had an Asian econobox that would easily top 40 mpg, and had all the cool electronics expected in the 21st century. Since I don't need to drive much anymore I use the truck when needed and ride one of my motorcycles any time else. It would make me crazy to burn through all that fuel just to get me to work. I don't want to have to buy a new truck either, way to much money for a vehicle nowadays, so riding a bike, second econobox, keeps the Tundra mileage down, still only at 90,000 miles on it. They can bury me in it. Chunk.

 

Ouch. What MPG do you think you're getting?

 

15 mpg no matter how I drive on my normal commute.