I bought a new truck.  After 13 years, it was time.

It had to be done eventually, but it wasn’t a high priority.  We work out at the Planet Fitness in North Olmsted on Tuesdays, so stopped in at West Side Toyota to see what they had.  Maybe I am naive, but they sold me.

The sales guy said they were running a special until the end of the month.  Yeah sure.  If I don’t buy it this week, there will be another special coming up.  The general manager explained that Toyota allocates a new truck to the dealership when one is sold.  During October, corporate has a dealer incentive.  Two trucks are allocated for each vehicle sold.  That sounded plausible.

Since Covid and the trouble Ford had getting computer chips for F-150’s, dealers are not negotiating on pickup trucks.  I knew the prices, and it was a good deal.

I have always had extended cabs.  When I bought my last truck, they was hard to find.  The West Side Toyota only had crew cabs, and the sales guy said that I’d always get a better deal buying a truck that is on the lot.  That seemed plausible also.

Buying off the lot, limits choice.  The optional ceramic exterior coating and interior fabric coating have no value to me, but the truck had those.  They knocked off about 40% on those two things.  It’s a TRD trim level that is a fancier than I’d choose, but the price was right.

In the past, I haven’t traded in my old vehicle.  Three people have expressed an interest in my truck, but the sales guy really wanted it.  They bumped up the offer to the low end of Kelley Blue Book private sale, so I went the lazy way.  I just drove my new truck home.

The sales guy gave me an introductory lesson on how the truck works, but it’s a quantum jump in technology. 

My dad was born in 1919, and he would have understood my 2012 truck.  Power windows, power mirrors, air conditioning and cruise control would have seemed like fancy stuff that Dad would expect on Uncle Nick’s Oldsmobile Toronado.  He’d understand the backup camera.

A 2025 Tacoma is an intermediate step toward self-driving cars.  Even in default mode, the adaptive cruise control adjusts to the car in front, it taps the brakes and provides a warning when getting too close to the car in front and keeps itself in it’s lane.  

It does a bunch of other stuff that I don’t want to learn about.  I want my old truck back. 

I like technology.  Progress is great if somebody else has to do all the learning.