I use a 95 x-cab, V-6, 5 speed Tacoma as my daily driver, not quite as many miles a week but pretty close. I would say they make a great comuter rig, aside from not the best gas mileage in the world (17-19mpg half highway and half city driving).
As for $10-12k it's really going to depend on the area you are in but I would think a 98-99 x-cab V-6 with less than a 100K could be had if you were patient. A couple of good websites to check out are:
www.ttora.com and
www.customtacos.com they both have forums and a lot of members that could probably get you more area specific pricing.