Sounds like you are doing it...seems like a good move. I figure a used vehicle with a known history is a totally different animal than a random used vehicle anyway, and if its a good deal then its a no-brainer. I'm no fanboy of these and I think the reputation for reliability is overblown, leftover from the pre-tacoma and gen1 days, but most seem to be good trucks. We had early and moid-90's toyota trucks that were great, and both got replaced with gen2 tacomas. Between the two we found some common themes in needing work on them, although we each had other issues too. In no particular order:
A/C went out on both of ours at about 60,000 miles. Other friends also had theirs go out.
leaf springs are simply a poor design. We both had recall fixes on leaf springs early-on, and then proceeded to break several sets of them. My 06 I went through 4 sets of leaf springs. My wifes 3 sets. I have numerous friends who drive tacomas and most had leaf spring issues at some point. Note, I mean we BROKE leaf springs, I am not talking about the squeak.
frame rust was definitely an issue, although we live in Northern new england where the vehicle is caked in frozen salt-slush for 6 months out of the year. Toyota replaced both our frames under their recall....still havent worked out the math on that, but appreciated that. Brake lines, etc were extra.
I had the front differential go bad on mine--broken gear or something, had to replace it.
We both had rust issues on the steering rack that needed replaced
My wifes needed head gasket seal replaced at about 130,000 miles
Mine needed the steering column u joint replaced at about 120000 miles
I want to say there was another relatively major issue with one, but cant recall what it was. In short, they are pretty reliable vehicles, but the "just gas/oil it and it'll go forever" thing is a myth as far as my experience has borne out. Luckily the Ac, leaf springs are pretty cheap fixes in the scheme of things, and it seems most folks dont have the other major issues. I certainly would not avoid them, any company kicks out a turd once in a while and toyota seems to do so less than some others.
My vehicle I sold at 160,000 miles after I got a bigger boat and needed a larger tow vehicle. My wifes had to be towed away at a little over 200k miles. She replaced it with a newer tacoma which she likes.