You definitely did the right thing. They have/had extremely good fuel economy (22 MPG is what I've read)... but they are very slow, and trying to accelerate on a modern freeway might be a hazard. I used to have a Toyota mini in my college days... and it was almost dangerously slow, especially getting on any freeway and properly merging. Was a quite reliable truck though... those things are still in use in a lot of countries.
I would never buy a Toyota Hilux based rig though, namely for the above reasons, as well as parts availability. They are so old, you can't even hit a junkyard to pry off a replacement part, and the 4-6 cylinder engines have long since been sold for scrap, so replacements of that and transmissions are hard to find.
If looking for a small class "C" in that price range, I'd consider looking at used Cruise America rigs. They have been used and abused... but they have a solid repair log behind them, and you know what was fixed before you get the unit.
