I love my Tacoma. It's brand new, so no problems yet...
The older Tacoma's, toyota trucks get good gas mileage, 18-22mpg. My brother drives a 2002 Extended Cab Tacoma 4x4, with 32" tires and he still gets 20mpg on the highway, not uncommon for those trucks.
My 2005, has a bigger engine, 33" tires, and I drive it pretty hard, and still get 15-16mpg.
Here is a cool video of how great a Toyota truck can hold up to some abuse. Awesome video, here is a link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/downloads/hilux_broadband.ram