The Toyota Hilux and Tacoma are two heavyweights in the pickup truck class on multiple levels: first, if you’re buying a new one, it’s likely to be among the best pickup truck you can buy, both for build quality and user-friendliness as a daily driver. If you’re more into the vintage truck scene, a clean Hilux or Tacoma is a very sound investment, especially if you’re fortunate enough to buy one off of a longtime owner who has never heard of Bring A Trailer. This 1994 Toyota Pickup (known as the Hilux everywhere else) features an extremely desirable assortment of options and is also in survivor-grade condition. Find it here on eBay where it’s already headed to the moon.
The seller certainly hit the jackpot with this truck, finding an extra cab with the 3.0L V6 paired to a 5-speed manual transmission. In addition, it’s incredibly clean condition with just over 70,000 miles and apparently senior-owned since new. The colors are perfect for the time period and this Pickup even retains its factory decals on the sides of the cab in excellent condition. Sitting on factory alloy wheels with all sorts of OEM details still intact, from the mud flaps to the chrome bumpers, this Toyota looks absolutely incredible for an unrestored example.
Rust is always a problem with these, both in the body and the frame, but the seller claims there are no concerns in this regard because it has lived in the northwestern United States since new. He claims the roads don’t get salted there in the winter, but I’m not entirely sure that’s still true; regardless, if it were rusty, we’d see plenty of tell-tale signs. The manual transmission and 3.0L V6 combo is not exactly common, so it just pushes this truck’s unicorn status even higher. To top it all off, the interior is in mint condition, with barely any signs of wear and the only deviation from stock an aftermarket head unit.
The 3VZ-E engine may not have been as legendary as the 22R, but like almost all Toyota engines from this time period, it’s largely bulletproof. Good for 150 horsepower and around 180 lb.-ft. of torque, it won’t knock your socks off but it will keep up with traffic just fine. There’s little doubt that it’s been well maintained, and the seller points out that this Toyota even retains all of its original VIN tags, along with a clean, non-rotten frame. 1990s-era Toyota trucks are a great choice for both a modern classic you can use and a vehicle that likely isn’t done appreciating – a rare win-win.
One of my favorite colors from Toyota, and its a stick!!! And no rust!!! These are truly great little trucks, which makes me even miss smaller trucks like this even more so. This looks like it was just driven off the lot. The SR5 package added a lot to these, especially those rims. If memory serves you could easily run 31’10.5 15s on these, maybe even from the factory. ( not 100 percent on that). I would actually be happy with the 4 cylinder, but I think their V6 engines held up really well too. Very nice truck!!!
You said it, Driveinstile. This was made when Toyota was still hungering for a bigger piece of the pie and this one exemplifies their drive by setting the bar for import trucks to reach. Stout engine, tough transmissions, solid built.
They went on to one-up to a bigger truck with the Tundra and offered their version of a V8, of which they gave an original owner a new one in exchange for his Texas built 2007 to dissect and examine after he’d traversed one million miles in the course of 9 years.
It appears by what is happening today however they missed something in the examination so this one is a smart buy if someone has to have a good dependable easy to maintain truck!
Nice presentation 👏
Super nice pick up! Older Toyota and Datsuns were the best!
Currently own a Toyota 1995 T100, 4cyl, AC, Automatic, single cab with an 8′ bed. 205K miles and still running strong. Uses no oil, drips no fluids at all. Even the dash has no cracks and the seats are as new. I keep wanting a newer truck, but this T100 has not left me stranded yet. And that low bed height with 14″ tires makes loading motorcycles easy. I firmly believe that America needs another low cost small pickup. Guess there’s not enough profit margin in them, especially since only old geezers and boomers like us would be the only ones buying them. 🤣
Stirring up some more ghosts. A gal I had a fling with years ago had a truck like this. The details on that are irrelevant, but the truck sure deserves honorable mention. Sales figures by year are sketchy, but it is known Toyota sold over 1.5 million 2nd gen pickups. Oh, they rusted terribly in the salt, but were such good trucks, many overlooked that, and bought another, and another, and so on. It truly made a dent in the US pickup sales I don’t think we ever recovered from. It’s a very unusual find.
I had one of these from 1994 to 2007 and the next owner still has it. It’s not bulletproof (needed two head gaskets in its life) and the part you don’t often hear is it is PAINFULLY underpowered.
Jeff, where is it?
I had an 83 ford ranger V6 in high school. A mechanic ( Toyota pickup owner and enthusiast) said Toyota redesigned the ford v6 for these trucks.
I since had an 87 4Runner (22re) and a 94 hilux (5spd, 4×4, 22re).
Great truck. Best deer hunting truck I’ve ever had. Drive fire roads in the sierras and narrow trails almost where quads would only fit.
Beautiful truck.
In New England the frame rust was so common that Toyota recalled, told my friend “Do not drive it to the dealership, we will have it towed, and we will give you a check for $7,000” which was above market then. So, if you are in a rust prone place, do not buy this, since I bet Toyota’s offer has long expired. (They had a campaign to replace the dash pad on my 2005 4Runner since they cracked if left in the sun, but that offer was only good through 2021 or so, and mine has not cracked yet.