Deciding on 80's/90's 4x4 pickup..
 

Hi all, looking for general advice regarding efficiency and reliability of 22r and 22re engines in 80's and early 90's trucks. Just sold my 3.0 4Runner, and although the engine ran fine, I'm happy to get rid of the sluggishness and low mileage. I'm now on the hunt for a small truck that will get me mpg's in the 20's and also be reliable and good for all-around use. Basically, I do a lot of highway miles but also get on a lot of nasty Forest roads and climb big hills to high elevation (I live in Flagstaff and go to the desert a lot). Will probably run 31" BFG tires on whatever I get, not interested in rock crawling at all though. Mid to late 80's pickups, early 90's pickups, and 1st gen tacos, 1st gen 4runners, all with 4 cylinders, seem to be what I want. Which engine/model combos are most fuel efficient? I hear bad things about 22r's dealing with altitude? Seems most of these models get turned into crawlers, how reliable are these as daily drivers? Any other advice is appreciated...

The 22R engine is a carbed engine so it suffers from altitude the same any carbed engine does. If you're handy you could always carry a set of high altitude jets with you and swap them when needed, or just re-jet for a happy middle ground that you find acceptable.

The 22RE is a fuel injected engine, so naturally you won't deal with any issues related to altitude, so that's a plus for the RE. I prefer carbed personally because it's easier for me to repair, but YMMV.

As far as the year, I would actually look at 85 and earlier. 1985 is the last year Toyota made these trucks with solid axles, so if that's a plus for you I would say grab a 1985. That way you could get the 22RE engine, and you would have the option for a Xtra cab (6 inches of space in cab that many people like) which I believe was first available in 1985.

If the solid axles are something you don't care about then you could go as new as you like, for me its a happy place between what I pay and what I get but it's all up to you.

As for reliability, I've been told that the 22R engine is bullet proof.