I have a gen 2 Tacoma. It's reliable and it's easy to do most maintenance yourself. It's not a redneck Cadillac though. Fairly basic interior and mediocre mileage but the reliability is top notch. There's little doubt in my mind I can put 300k miles on my truck without much likelihood of serious problems. I wouldn't be scared of the current gen if you're going new. If a person just needs a grocery getter the Honda Ridgeline (not really 4WD) is going to be a smoother daily driver because it's basically a car.