Ever since the frame recall, the prices have been ludicrous for Tacomas. 1G with the 2/3RZ engines will run forever with little-no maintenance-- multiple people

Ever since the frame recall, the prices have been ludicrous for Tacomas. 1G with the 2/3RZ engines will run forever with little-no maintenance-- multiple people in my family have ones approaching 400k miles. They're utilitarian, rough ride quality, noisy-- but they're trucks (& can get 27mpg highway). Unfortunately, Toyota has kept moving further upmarket and keeps making larger & larger trucks (a $60k Tacoma?) that aren't really as appealing as 4/5th gen pickups or 1g Tacomas. Around the mid 2000's, something seems to have changed with Toyota-- maybe more emphasis on design & listening to what fat Americans want (wider seats, heavier duty suspensions, more ground clearance to go to Starbucks) vs building high quality functional vehicles. They're still better than others, but it seems that they've had more issues with quality, at least in the models that I've researched.