DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Mathew At Crissy Field Center

Q: Hi Mathew. Welcome to Defend Your Ride San Francisco. What can you tell us about yourself?

A: I live and work in San Francisco and I grew up in the Bay Area.

Q: What brings you here today?

A: Climbing. I climb down here in Crissy Field. I go to Planet Granite, the climbing gym here, but I climb all over. I go to Yosemite. I go out of state. Utah's a good place.

Q: Well climber Mathew, it's time to Defend Your Ride! What can you tell us about yours? Don't leave out the juicy bits!

A: It's a Toyota Tacoma 2002. It has an extended cab, so four seats. I actually like it. The reason I got it was because it's a truck. I guess 10 years ago, I felt I would be doing stuff that needed a truck. It's convenient to be able to throw things in the back.

The one big thing that happened, I had to have the transmission entirely rebuilt because of one bad part! It was very expensive and out of warranty. Whatever this one part was, ruined it. That was the one thing that I got stuck with. It ended up being very expensive.

The first week I had the car, I pulled up to a gas station and this construction guys said, "That's an awesome truck." He tells me, "I do construction and I put 200,00 miles on it and not a single problem." I'm at 65,000 and I have this issue. Part of the reason I chose this was because it rated high on reliability for a couple of years in a row.

Q: Oh, tough luck! Are you at least using the back as much as you thought you would?

A: Really just getting around. I don't commute because I commute within the city, so I ride my bike or take the bus. It's really just recreational, I guess. Just getting around or out of the city. I don't really use it much for anything besides that.

Q: Back to happier times. You mentioned you like to rock climb. Is there a favorite rock climbing place that you've driven to with this truck?

A: I go down to Yosemite a lot. Last New Year's Eve, I went to Joshua tree, where we were suppose to go rock climbing. It was high of 40s, so there wasn't a lot of rock climbing. It was fun, but it was too cold for climbing. I also took it to climb Mt Whitney and part of it was off road, not real off road because it doesn't have four-wheel drive, but it was all of these backroads and there were a couple we were like, "Hmmm, I think we can get my truck across this? Well, let's find out!"

Q: And you did it?

A: I think there was one we thought I couldn't, so we decided to back up. I think that's the most adventurous of the trips I've taken!

Q: It sounds like despite the transmission problems you've had in your Toyota Tacoma, you've managed to have at least a few good adventures. Is there anything else you'd like to share with us about your truck?

A: I'd say one thing about the manufacturer, and I don't know why they have don't this. If you look at the new Tacomas, they are huge! The size range goes Tacoma and then Tundra. The Tacomas now are the size of Tundras being sold when I bought my Tacoma. They've just gotten huge. I don't know why. If I were to pull up to a Tacoma now, it's way bigger. It's kind of too bad they've gotten so much bigger. It's hard to find these sizes any more.