I bought a new truck this week, but my old 2002 truck ran fine at only 250,000 miles. I am almost 60 years old, and for the last couple of years I have been noticing little age-related things like occasional loss of concentration or having to work a bit to remember a word. Ok, an obscure word, but a word none the less. My doctor said I have "age appropriate arthritis", which I resent even though it is true.
My 2002 Toyota Tundra was and is a great truck, and it is not its fault it had only two airbags and no other contributors to safety except excellent visibility. The new truck, a 2018 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4WD, has eight airbags and equally excellent visibility. It does not stop there; the 2018 models introduced advanced electronic features to help avoid collisions. I was backing out of the driveway early this morning in the dark, and a beeper came on to tell me there was a car passing behind me. A person in front of me on the road today suddenly hit the brakes so as to come to a stop, and the truck beeped and automatically applied the brakes. Oh my! There is also lane departure warning in case I have a stroke and veer out of my lane, and a cruise control that slows the truck when the vehicle in front of it slows. Then there is "pedestrian detection", the idea of which is to stop the vehicle before hitting a pedestrian, more likely a deer in West Texas.
Of course there have been other electronic "improvements" in nearly 17 years, and I am coping with them. The LCD screen is an annoyance, and I have to download an app from Toyota to get functionality with my cell phone. Radio means an LCD screen and buttons on the steering wheel. Oh, and no key, just a fob and a push button. The manual for the electronic features is 297 pages in length, and the regular manual for the rest of the truck is 700 pages. But I can adapt, I hope.
I have always thought that there was no reason to buy a new vehicle until the old one was worn out. My old truck was definitely not worn out, but now that I have the new one I am wondering why I waited so long. In the end, a quantum jump in safety provides an additional level of peace of mind. Especially for those of us who might be on the edge of getting old. The new truck even has more cup holders, so I can keep my bottle of Geritol handy.
