For a short time, we had a 2008 Toyota Tacoma that we purchased second hand from a dealer. It was black with a tan interior and a fiber glass shell and factory bed liner. It ran well and the four cylinder engine was powerful enough and fairly good on fuel economy, but not impressive compared to other vehicles we've owned. It was a nice looking truck and fairly comfortable. It was roomy as it was an extended cab with extra storage compartments behind the seats in the extended cab and in the bed sidewalls. There really was no excess noise to deal with. It was an easy vehicle to drive as it handled well. I can't say much about braking because we never had it heavily loaded in the time we owned it, but it had quick responsive steering, a tight turning circle for a truck, and it would accelerate quickly. There were a couple of things about the truck that irritated me. There was a blind spot created by the rear door post on the driver's side. Also, you couldn't roll the windows down in hot weather without being deafened and buffeted by the air stream so we had to rely on the air conditioner at all times. I can't speak of repair or maintenance costs as we didn't have the vehicle very long. The oil was changed once and that's about it. We discovered the dealer had sold us a truck that was on recall so we had to turn it back in.

I've owned my Tacoma for just over 2 years now and I love it. I previously drove an older Toyota truck and it was running strong at 250,000 miles, so I knew it was a no-brainer to go with another. Mine looks great, drives smooth, is incredibly dependable, and as an added bonus, is much more spacious than previous models!