Everyone Loves Tacos: Early Tacomas Are Small Trucks Making a Big Splash in the Market

I’ll come right out and say it—automobiles have gotten too big, and trucks are the worst offenders. Even some of the more diminutive pickups in showrooms today would have seemed quite hefty just 20 years ago. And while I may be a biased long-time small car fan who’s frequently terrified by towering trucks on the road, I’m not alone in this sentiment. When looking at our data for the smaller Toyota trucks of a generation ago (the 1990s-2000s), which do most truck things just as well as and some even better than today’s bloated crop, the market seems to agree.

It’s hard to believe, but there was a time when the average pickup truck didn’t make a H1 Hummer blush, and when “mid-size” actually meant something. Enter the 1995-2004 Toyota Tacoma, the first-generation of this now-famous little truck. Built to replace the legendary and creatively-named Toyota Pickup, the Tacoma was available with a 3.4L V-6 and two all-new four-cylinders (in 2.4- and 2.7-liter forms) that replaced the indestructible but outdated 22R-E engine that preceded them.

While calling this truck “small” would be a bit of a stretch in the grand scheme of things, it has a genuinely tiny footprint by today’s pickup standards. In its largest and most usable form—the four-door Double Cab—it’s 70 inches wide and 203 inches long. That’s five inches narrower and only seven inches longer than the smallest truck you can currently buy in the US—the Hyundai Santa Cruz. The two-door short-bed Tacoma measures only 175 inches long, seven inches shorter than a new Corolla sedan.

The first Tacoma was small enough to technically be classified as a “compact” pickup, though as trends went bigger and heavier, subsequent “Tacos” got bigger and moved into the “mid-size” category. Over the years, Toyota’s littlest pickup grew and grew, adding about five inches in length each new generation. The fourth-generation Tacoma, released last year, maxes out at 226-inches long and 80-inches wide—nearly two feet longer and 10 inches wider than the original Tacoma Double Cab and just a few inches short of the largest first-generation Toyota Tundra’s which was a true full-size pickup.

Despite the Tacoma’s progression in size, there is still clearly an appetite for truly small pickups. We do not yet have Tacoma values in the Hagerty Price Guide, but insurance quote values for the first generation Tacoma have been increasing rapidly in recent years. Since 2021, their average quote value has increased 30 percent, from $9290 to $12,040. That makes it one of the fastest-appreciating Toyotas in our insurance book. In fact, the Tacoma is the third-fastest-appreciating Toyota truck behind the often-overlooked FJ55 Land Cruiser and the 1993-98 Toyota T100, at 45 percent and 43 percent, respectively.

Speaking of the T100, if you don’t remember it or its cyborg-y name, it was Toyota’s first attempt at a full-size pickup, preceding the first Tundra, which arrived in 2000. But unlike the Tundra, it never came with a V-8. The largest of the three engines was the 3.4-liter 5VZ-FE V-6 shared with the contemporary 4Runner and Tacoma. The T100 is a regular cab with an eight-foot bed or an extended cab with a 6.25-foot bed, both 209 inches long and four inches shorter than the current Tacoma, even in its shortest form. Like the first-gen Tacoma, these more reasonably-sized T100s face increasing demand, but they are still rather affordable. The average insured value on Hagerty policies is only $8675—not bad for a bulletproof full-size pickup. It lacks the name recognition of the Tacoma and Tundra, so values reflect that. The 1995-2004 Tacoma and 2000-06 Tundra both hold more than a 20-percent premium over the T100, with average insured values of $10,750 and $10,576, respectively.

If you are in the market for a first-gen Tacoma, finding one won’t be difficult. Toyota sold nearly 1.5 million of them just in the U.S. However, finding one in good condition could be tough depending where you live. While the Tacoma’s fully-boxed frame makes it a beast off-road, it’s also the truck’s Achilles’ heel. Due to inadequate drainage, moisture often got trapped inside the frame, leading to severe rust. Toyota eventually recalled all affected Tacomas and either replaced the frame or bought the truck back at 1.5x its KBB value, though not every truck was fixed. In areas of the country that salt their roads, this problem was made exponentially worse. But out in the Mountain West, where our relationship to water mirrors the natives of Arrakis, good Tacomas aren’t hard to find and the model is very popular. If you are worried about frame rust, Toyota used an open C-section frame on the second-generation Tacoma that mitigated this issue.

Don’t be surprised if you end up paying more than you were expecting for a 20 to 30-year-old truck, though, especially when you look at the mileage. For example, $10,700 might not seem too bad for this 1998 Tacoma Regular Cab 4×4, until you see that its been driven over 300,000 miles.

But don’t let mileage scare you. Because they are so usable, most of these trucks have seen a lot of road, and like most Toyotas, they just don’t die. This means low mileage examples are rare and you will end up paying a premium for one. It’s no surprise that low-mileage Tacomas often result in jaw-dropping record sales, like this 27k-mile 2000 XtraCab 4×4 that sold for $44,100 after fees. A little over a year later, this top-trim 2004 Tacoma XtraCab SR5 V6 TRD 4×4 five-speed with 58k-miles beat the record at $47,250 after fees.

Although most of the record sales are set by the Xtracab, the four-door Double Cab carries the greatest premium. The average insured value for the standard two-door regular cab is $10,200. Xtracabs hold a 10-percent premium at $11,400, with Double Cabs commanding a 27-percent premium at $14,000. Why doesn’t a Double Cab hold the auction record? Logan Calkins, our resident Toyota truck expert, theorizes that because the four-doors are so useable, low-mileage ones may simply just not exist. I’m inclined to agree.

These early Tacomas were built to be used. When you think about it, isn’t that one of the main appeals of a truck? To go on adventures and get stuff done? Small vintage pickups aren’t for everybody, but neither are the gargantuan new ones, and a thriving market for smaller and older models proves it. If you often find yourself hauling mountain bikes up steep, washed-out forest roads, or playing backcountry chairlift on Loveland Pass and living the real fantasy truck commercials are selling you, then a truck is great. But size matters, and the smaller, the better.

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