Senior nomads are coming off the road - buying land (spouse, crying)
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Ya, true for many vehicles... might have to wait a year or more to actually buy one.
In the low budget realm I did see that the cheapest Tacomas could be bought for ~$26k. With a light and aero camper that would probably be <20 mpg, but with great reliability and longevity. You'd have more space in the bed area, but less in the cab vs the Maverick. With some upgrades like a regear, locker, mild lift and bigger tires, the Tacoma would be quite capable offroad... way better than the Maverick.
The newer Tacomas are almost all the 4 door, short bed model. The bed on those is 4.5 feet. The access cab with the little flip up seats in the rear have the longer 5.5 foot bed (we have one). For many people the shorter one won't be big enough to sleep in comfortably. My old Tacoma (Pre 2000) was an access cab, but it had a longer bed that was at least a full 6 feet.
My '84 pickup (which I lived in for 13 years) with the extracab had the same length bed, a little over 6'. I'm 6' tall and it was acceptable for sleeping. Compared to the '84 the new Tacomas are wider and the extracab part is bigger. They are a lot heavier also, 3,900 lb vs 2,500 lb... which is part of the reason why you won't get the 30 mpg I did...
I stand corrected! I just measured our bed and it is 6'1", I thought it was a bit shorter than my old one. I really thought I remembered measuring at the dealership and getting 5.5 feet. I was probably using that tiny measuring tape from my purse. LOL We had to get our truck slightly used from Carmax because all the local Toyota dealers had almost no new access cab trucks, and none coming for a really long time. Carmax was great, we could search for the exact model, options, and color online, and they would ship it from anywhere in the US for a very modest amount (like $100).
Sleeping in the back with a 60" bed wouldn't work for too many fellas. Maybe if they sleep on the diagonal.
My first Toyota was a 2 wheel drive and it was super light. My second was a 4 wheel drive 1991, and the mileage was definitely not as good as the first due to the extra weight. The new 2020 one is a 2 wheel drive, but is much heavier than my 2 old wheel drive from 1989. I can't say exactly what DH gets for mileage, but something around 17 mpg is what I'm thinking it is.
Last edited by TheShadow; 07-16-2022 at 08:50 AM..
The newer Tacomas are almost all the 4 door, short bed model. The bed on those is 4.5 feet. The access cab with the little flip up seats in the rear have the longer 5.5 foot bed (we have one). For many people the shorter one won't be big enough to sleep in comfortably. My old Tacoma (Pre 2000) was an access cab, but it had a longer bed that was at least a full 6 feet.
My son has one. He's had it since he was a senior in high school and he's in his mid-30s. He loves that truck - it just keeps running and running. He has several other vehicles that he tricks out and either keeps or sells.
Sleeping in the back with a 60" bed wouldn't work for too many fellas. Maybe if they sleep on the diagonal.
....I can't say exactly what DH gets for mileage, but something around 17 mpg is what I'm thinking it is.
I did a layout for a camper on the Maverick which has a 54" long bed. I'd want a sleeping berth over the cab, which is easy enough to do. I'd extend this past the back of the cab a bit (inside the camper), so it's >6'. There'd still be enough room in the back for a couple people to sit.
The Maverick would be a decent rig to live in I think. Cab space is good for the size. If you remove the right side seats, you could even sleep in there if you wanted. I'd be skeptical of its durability and reliability though... and then there's the fact that you can't buy them.
17mpg is pretty awful for a Tacoma. I get that in my Tundra with a 5.7l v8, 4wd, big tires, and a lift. I drive like grandma though...
Speaking of traveling on the road especially in places of weak/no cell signals. I've been fascinated on cell phone signal boosters... Maybe I just like gadgets
But I remember driving on a portion of I-40 where there are no cell signals, somewhere in Texas and Oklahoma. A cell booster may come in handy in case of emergency.
Here in California, there are places with weak or no cell signals as well, places like in the canyons or desert.
But they are not cheap, the cheapest one is around $500 but the phone has to be "docked". Then there are internal wireless antena but I've read reviews saying that they don't work well beyond a couple of fee away from the antenna.
Don't know if any of you have look into this and what are your thoughts?
Bob Wells's friend Jim in Denver does talks at the RYR's or he used to. He knows aboutr all the kind of stuff. Most of the full time nomads have at least 2 carriers, Jim in Denver has 3. He uses boosters too for when he's in the Rockies and other places. Some of the material in his talks went over my head, but if I put my mind to it and needed it (which I might) I could figure it out.
This was at the 2018 RTR, which I attended. This isn't the talk he did, just a short conversation. I'll try to find the talk later when I have time. It was pretty in-depth. Of course, this was 4-1/2 years ago and there are better options now, but this has some good information. Jim is the go to guy. He had to start charging for his advice because he was inundated with requests.
Looks like the vehicle cell phone boosters are still up around $400-500. Worth it for people who work regular/career fulltime from the road.
As an alternative to buying your own land and fixing it up to live on, some entrepreneurs have decided to start a "Van Village," where you can pay a fee to have access to their grounds and facilities. You still sleep in your van, but there are common shared areas so you can use a real full sized kitchen and use a flush toilet.
There's a company called Kift that right now has 4 houses spread out in 4 western states that you can stay at for $850 a month. They have some houses in scenic locations.
When I retire in a few years, I plan to build a low-tech campervan that I can maintain myself. I hope to be able to buy some property where I can park my van and enjoy the scenery and wildlife. I hope I can talk my wildlife photographer friends into joining me so we can get a better property than I could on my own.
I follow some full timers on YouTube and they mention "decision fatigue," where it gets tiring when you have to find a safe place to park every night. I can see how that can get to be a chore, so having some kind of home base to chill at could be attractive. At least Bob Wells doesn't have to worry about 14 day limitations, having obnoxious neighbors or getting that knock on your door at 2am on his land.
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