New Baby-Mobile! (aka Andrew's "Man Truck")

We've been talking about needing to get a "new" car for quite some time. Mine is almost 10 years old and Andrew's Tacoma is not exactly family friendly. We didn't know how un-family friendly it was until we went to go install the car seat in the jump seat in the back (it's just a little access cab, not full double or crew cab). We got the car seat in; however, unless the passenger has no legs, it just wasn't going to work. You had to have the passenger seat all the way forward to make the car seat fit. Well...that just wasn't going to work. Andrew's truck was also a standard, which I didn't mind driving around town or in any familiar places; however, I have definitely had several "anxiety moments" at the sheer thought of getting stuck at a light on a hill. Anxiety. Major anxiety. Pretty much the only anxiety I have ever had. Also, even with the 4-wheel drive pulling the boat was always a little bit of a struggle. Last, when we go anywhere, we were loaded down with all or junk and the two pups... not sure where a baby and all its junk would go.

Long story short, we decided to trade in Andrew's truck for 2 reasons. All the functionality issues mentioned above and the fact that my car was paid for. I don't drive much since I work from home, so I wanted to milk the "free" car for as long as possible. Given the uncertainty of how a baby will affect our budget, the last thing I wanted to go was to get in over our heads and have two car notes. Andrew's truck was almost paid for, so we ended up not having to finance that much and were able to get an awesome rate.

We had been pouring over various dealership websites and Ebay Motors for a couple weeks and then finally stumbled upon this truck below right here in Nederland.

It's amazing how few 4WD, 4-door Tundras are out there. We had a plethora of 2WD Tundras to choose from, but hardly any 4WD. The few that were out there were fancier trim packages that were a little more than we wanted to pay. Or, by the time we found the listing and called, they had already sold the truck. Multiple dealerships said that the 4WD Tundras don't stay on the lot long. We lucked out and found this 2008 truck with a little less than 50,000 miles for what seemed like a very fair price (especially after a little negotiation). Andrew's 2006 Tacoma had 120,000 miles on it and he had never had any issues. From day one, we were pretty confident that Toyota was the way to go. This truck already had a custom grill guard and bumper and a small lift. Definitely made for "man truck" material. I don't know all the specs, but it definitely had the power Andrew wanted. He has always wanted a "man truck" and I am so happy that he finally has it. I can tell how much he loves it already! After we bought it, he took it straight to Discount Tire and got some better tires put on. They currently had street-grade tires that were just about bald. I have to give Edgar at Philpott Toyota/Ford some props because this was definitely a positive car buying experience. We got a great deal on our trade-in and were able to negotiate the price down. We actually ended up spending LESS than what we had targeted as our ideal net price range (truck price less trade-in). The "just walk-away price" that we had in our heads when we walked in was actually a couple thousand higher than what we ended up paying. So... in other words, we were happy!

I'll post some new pics of the truck soon with the new tires. He plans on adding a tool box and spray-in bed liner too. I'm fine with my little Pathfinder for now, but I will definitely be ready for a "new" car in the next couple of years. So far, with my 130,000+ miles, it seems to be doing okay. I've had some AC issues on the really, really hot days, but then it seems to work fine on others. We'll probably have a real Baby Mobile after I get rid of my car... hello Suburban! :-)