Video: 2024 Toyota Tacoma Review: Taco Fans Are Gonna Be Thrilled

It might be the oldest, but it's still the best selling. But we've come here to sunny Southern California to drive the new 24 Tacoma and drive it we have. A bunch of different trim levels, the different variations of that new turbocharge powertrain on-Road, off-Road, we have some opinions. Let me tell you, let me go walk you through the new 24 Tacoma. (upbeat music) So when we say all new Tacoma, we mean all new Tacoma. It sits on a new chassis. It's got a new platform. It uses a box ladder frame that it shares with the Sequoia and the larger Tundra pickup, which means it's probably a little bit overbuilt, but they're using more aluminum and lightweight materials in the thing. So it's really not that much heavier than the outgoing model. From a styling standpoint, obviously it's still a Toyota, but it is definitely chunkier. Lots of good family resemblance to other Toyota products in the showroom, like the larger Tundra and the Sequoia. The front end, obviously big and blocky and you've got these high up headlights, but down below you've got some kind of an air shield. And then it looked weird, especially on a vehicle like this. The on-road models all have these. The off-road ones don't because, well, let's face it, as soon as you came across the first obstacle, that thing will get ripped right off. Toyota has left in a few of the distinctions that make the Tacoma kind of special, such as the fact that you can get it in either a single cab or a crew cab still. Now Toyota calls this one an extra cab. It's a two seat pickup. It has some storage areas behind those two seats, but it only has two doors, which is something you don't see very often anymore. Both GM and Ford are going away from that cab style. You can also get this in a crew cab obviously, which in Toyota speak is called a double cab. But both of those body styles are available in a number of different trim levels and different bed lengths as well. So Toyota is really giving us customers a lot more choice in terms of body style than either Ford or General Motors. The bed has gotten some attention from Toyota as well. On some models there's a little clipper button next to these taillights that you push and it has a power open and power close. This one doesn't have that, but the tailgate is super light and it is damped. The interior of the thing is made from something called SMC, sheet molded compound, which to you and me is just basically plastic. But this is a larger and deeper bed than we had before. It's higher than it was before, so it's got better volume. But what you're most interested in probably is how the new Tacoma rides, handles, drives. It's got that new turbocharged engine. Well, we've driven a number of different trim levels, so let's go for a ride. This model is the SR5 model, which is one step above the SR and this is basically the contractor special when you're a really good contractor and you're making a decent amount of money. So it has the rear leaf spring suspension, which is a little different in that you definitely feel the ride and handling differences between this and the coil Spring suspension, it's a little bit more bouncy, a little bit less planted, but it is probably a less expensive thing to make. Powering this one is the 2.4 liter turbocharged four cylinder, but in this configuration it makes 278 horsepower and 317 pounds feet of torque, which frankly is plenty because this one is also the extra cab model. It is the shorter, smaller two seat cab two door. Now this interior is not production spec. There are plastics in here that are very obviously pre-production. But this does give us a little bit of an idea as to what an SR5 spec is going to look like in terms of the screens. They are digital screens, but they are smaller than you're gonna find in some of the other more well-equipped specs like this one. This is an eight inch touch screen, not the larger ones that you get in the higher trends, but it's still running a version of Toyota Audio Multimedia system. So used to still be fairly familiar to anybody who's used a lot of their new systems. You know, acceleration is quite good. This may not have quite the same kind of power and torque that you get from the 2.7 liter turbo that you find in every single GMC Canyon. And there's the optional engine on a Chevrolet Colorado. That thing makes 310 horsepower and 430 pounds feet of torque, which basically means it outguns this engine by a hundred pounds feet of torque and that's the standard engine in every GMC Canyon. So I mean, Toyota's got a plenty powerful engine here, but on paper it's already outgunned. In practicality out on the street, it may not matter quite as much. The engine really does sound good. It has this really great turbo whoosh and it's combined with a pretty throaty exhaust growl. It sounds like a bigger engine than it actually is. Of course, I do wonder how much of that is tuned sound into the cabin and how much is actually coming out of the exhaust pipes. The brakes are certainly an upgrade over the last model as well. You've got four wheel disks everywhere instead of the rear drums that you had as standard equipment on the last Tacoma. Braking feel is certainly a lot better. This model is the TRD Sport, which is gonna be one of the more volume models that Toyota will be selling in the Tacoma. And this one is unique in that it has a stick shift, a six speed manual transmission, which is an exceptional rarity these days in terms of a mid-sized truck or any pickup for that matter. But what that means is that you have to have four wheel drive 'cause the stick shift only comes with four wheel drive and it also changes the power output of the engine. This one makes 270 horsepower and 310 pounds feet of torque from the turbocharge 2.4 liter, which is still pretty good. The thing is very torquey, I mean through the hills and canyons here, you could pretty much leave it in third and it pulls right through without a problem. The stick shift itself is a long throw stick. The clutch is extremely light and the pickup point is right off the floor, but it's not a penalty box. It still works really well. It's that sports car style thing and you know why does Toyota even offer a manual transmission in this thing? Well, demand. There's still a lot of Toyota Tacoma owners that love that manual transmission in their truck and so they want it whether for off-roading or they like it better for towing. I think it's like something to do with their hands, but I mean you downshift, give it some beans, and it's got enough torque to really get you moving. Yeah, not bad at all. And of course this being the TRD sport, you've got a slightly better interior than you have with some of the other models. You have a much larger screen for the digital gauges and it looks pretty good. There's a lot going on in there. It's very busy. There's a lot of gauges and reconfigurable things. So finding what you want at a glance, it might take a minute, but this is extraordinary. It's a 14 inch touchscreen running the Toyota Audio Multimedia system and it is enormous and the fact that it is this big and right here, it's easy to find what you want. Right now it's running Apple CarPlay but it works decently well. Toyota Audio Multimedia in itself is not terribly impressive quite frankly it doesn't seem to have the same level of functionality as Apple CarPlay, but you can run it if you like or you can run CarPlay or Android Auto. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are available wirelessly, but they also seem to only be available wirelessly. There doesn't seem to be a hard connection with a cable at least that we found anyway. So this is the nice top trim Limited model where it's got all the various fancy, luxurious features. It also has an adaptive suspension so it rides the nicest out of all of the Tacomas we've sampled today. It has the 2.4 liter turbocharged engine and the eight speed transmission. And because it has the four wheel drive and the eight speed automatic transmission, it is making 278 horsepower and 370 pounds feet of torque, which again seems perfectly fine for this vehicle, makes it move out smartly. Plenty of acceleration. You got a bunch of different drive modes here as well, including Sport S and Sport S plus. And that does change the heft of the steering a little bit. But this isn't a sports car, so driving it on these twisty roads, it's not really its natural environment. But the Limited also has a couple of other interesting features. It's got this interior trim that really does look good. Some nicer leather on the seats, the great big 14 inch touchscreen. And there are a few features that we haven't seen on the Tacoma that it has for the 24 model year, like this rear view camera mirror, which is not a new thing for the industry anymore, but is new to Tacoma and kind of neat. They've got a wireless camera that you can mount on the back of a trailer that'll actually tie into the vehicle wirelessly and display the view behind the trailer right here on the rear view camera. So that is pretty neat. This one also has the upgraded JBL sound system and what that means is that the center channel speaker that's currently mounted in the dash actually pops out and becomes a Bluetooth speaker that you can take with you or put behind you if you're having a tailgate party kinda thing. Couple other really interesting neat features in the Limited, you have a heads up display which disappears when I turn my head, when I have polarized sunglasses on, so that's not great. But this one also has optional folding running boards, which is something that I haven't seen in any other mid-size truck, but does help getting in and out of the thing. But if this powertrain is not powerful enough for you, there is another one coming. It's the i-Force MAX Hybrid powertrain and it's gonna produce a 326 horsepower and 465 pounds feet of torque, which is gonna make that powertrain the torqueiest you can get in a mid-size truck. That's not coming until next spring, but for right now we have the 2.4 liter making 278 horsepower, 317 pound feet of torque, which frankly is plenty for this vehicle. So of course it wouldn't be a Tacoma without going off road. And there are several off-road trims that help you do that. This one is a TRD off-Road. You have a TRD sport, which is mostly for on-Road stuff, TRD off-Road, which is your first really highly capable off-road one. There's also the TRD pre-runner, but that's a very special package only available in a two-door with a extra cap. Now this one has the manual transmission, which is something pretty novel in a mid-size pickup these days. And that of course means that your engine is detuned a little bit to 270 horsepower and 310 pounds feet of torque. But that's not a big deal, especially out here on the trails. Now you've also got a lot of off-road equipment, different terrain select modes that you can choose from. Changes everything from throttle mapping and an automatic transmission and shift points, things like that. But you've also got in this model, a lot of off-road cameras, which you do kind of need because the new Tacoma feels a little bit bigger than the old one. So seeing over that hood when you come up to an obstacle, well it could be a bit of a challenge, not with these cameras, these cameras basically help you see just about anything all around the vehicle, left side, right side, forward. You've also got a lot of really interesting things like an inclinometers, angle of attack and that kind of stuff. So it is really meant to help you go off road like a champ. New for the Tacoma is a sway bar disconnect, which does generally help with off-road articulation and getting over obstacles while keeping all four wheels planted into the dirt, which is what you really want if you can because that's called traction. This model also has a selectable locking rear differential, which is also useful for going up slippery loose surfaces, but it's not something you're gonna use necessarily every day and certainly not on dry pavement. I mean Toyota pickups have always gone off road really well and it looks just set to continue with this next generation. Nothing that I've come across can stop it yet. And this, this isn't even the top off-road model, that's still coming next year. That's the TRD Pro and the new Trail Hunter model. Now the equivalent of those, think Chevrolet Colorado's ZR2 Bison, potentially Ford Ranger Raptor. We'll see if it has the goods to go up against some of those heavyweights like that. So yeah, this has been one hell of an improvement for the Tacoma. It's quieter, it's more refined, it's quicker, it's got better off-road ability, it's got better technology, it even looks better and it starts at about $31,000 for an entry-level SR model. So altogether, this has been really one incredible improvement for the Tacoma and it's probably enough for it to keep that sales leader position. If you'd like to learn more about the new 2024 Toyota Tacoma or any of the new Toyota truck lineup, you can look everything up on cars.com. (upbeat music)