Testimonies just like yours are the reason why I bought my 2023 Tacoma TRD Off-Road brand spanking new in Feb. 2023. Loaded to the gills, V-6 24 valve VVT. Lunar Rock color. Paid cash for it.
Fixed the shifting complaints with an OTT Tune, lifted the truck 3" and am driving it EVERYWHERE. Love it. I personally know someone with almost 500k on theirs and it's still their daily driver. His only complaint was having to have the frame replaced (covered by Toyota) due to rust issues. Beyond that, loves his truck and maintains it himself.
AFAIK, this is the last vehicle I'll ever buy myself (I'm 62) and it's my first new vehicle FOR ME in almost 40 years. I'm gonna drive it until I die or the wheels come off, which ever happens first.
Lol. I’m not wishing you bad luck, but from what I know about Tacomas. It’s got a real good chance of Winning that bet as to who goes first. Like I said, mine has been my daily driver since 2012, I put about 60 miles on it every day to and from work and in terms of repairs in the last 13 to 14 years I’ve spent about $4000 total
I will say that you probably took the right approach and loaded it up since the bang for the buck on those accessories will be much better seeing how you will likely have it for decades. For me, I went cheap and just got very much a stock Tacoma, which is still fine, but in hindsight, I wish I put a little bit more into it for a few of the niceties. I didn’t think I was going to get 270,000 miles on it. And the way things are going I won’t be surprised if I got to 500,000.