Scott Evans takes the all-new 2024 Toyota Tacoma for a First Drive on the road and off road. Find out why the new Taco is a massively improved pickup that doesn’t lose its essential trucky character.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:01 This thing is new, new, all the way down to the frame.
00:04 And on top of that, you got new engines, cab, bigger bed,
00:08 all the things that were ever on your wishlist
00:10 for the Tacoma.
00:10 Hey y'all, we are here with the hottest new truck
00:14 of the year, the all new Toyota Tacoma.
00:16 And I do mean all new.
00:18 This is not like the last couple of Tacomas
00:20 where they just freshened it up a bit and put it out there.
00:22 Let's talk about those engines
00:23 'cause that old V6 is gone.
00:25 This is a new turbocharged four-cylinder
00:26 that makes up to 278 horsepower.
00:29 And coming a little later is the hybrid model.
00:32 And that thing makes 346 horsepower
00:35 and will come in vehicles like the TRD Pro off-road truck.
00:39 But for today, we've got the TRD Sport.
00:42 The on-road truck is even cooler
00:44 because it has the six-speed manual transmission.
00:47 Yes, that's right.
00:48 You can still get a manual transmission in a pickup truck.
00:51 New looks, you can see it's a bit more inspired
00:56 by the Tundra now, a bit blockier, tougher looking.
00:59 We do gotta talk about this air dam down here
01:03 because everyone's gonna have thoughts about this.
01:05 It's there for aerodynamics.
01:06 It'll get you a bit better fuel economy,
01:08 but it's also only 11 screws to make it go away.
01:12 There's also some cool stuff happening at the back here.
01:18 This truck has two rear suspensions.
01:19 This one is the coil springs for better ride quality,
01:23 better handling, but if you just need to haul stuff
01:25 in your Tacoma, you can still get it with leaf springs.
01:28 All the way around the back here,
01:30 there's cool features like a spot for your high lift jack
01:33 when you're off-road and from the Tundra,
01:35 these exterior releases for the tailgate.
01:39 And now this time, they're on both sides,
01:41 so you don't have to come finding.
01:42 You hit that, gate comes on down,
01:44 and this truck's fully loaded,
01:46 so it's the full power tailgate,
01:47 which means I can also do this.
01:49 And it puts itself away.
01:52 But enough about what's new, let's go drive it.
01:56 (beep)
01:58 Inside of the Tacoma's all new too,
01:59 and you'll see a lot of Tundra influence
02:02 happening in here as well.
02:03 There's a lot of the same blocky styling of the dash,
02:06 and a lot of the same features here,
02:08 including, if you pay for it,
02:09 this enormous screen right in the middle,
02:12 plus digital gauge cluster,
02:14 and all kinds of nice features like wireless phone charger
02:16 and USB-C ports, all those good things.
02:19 But really what's nice and new here
02:23 is it's more comfortable.
02:25 In the old Tacoma, you were basically sitting on the floor
02:27 with your feet straight out in front of you.
02:29 This one isn't like that.
02:30 You get a more normal seating position here,
02:32 and you still got plenty of headroom.
02:34 In the back, the rear seats
02:37 used to basically be straight up and down.
02:38 Now they got a little bit of recline on,
02:40 they're a little more comfortable,
02:41 there's a little more space.
02:42 It's actually a much more comfortable place to be.
02:45 And it rides a bit better too.
02:47 This is a more comfortable ride,
02:48 especially with this optional coil spring
02:51 rear suspension on it.
02:54 You also notice it's quieter in here.
02:59 It's not nearly as loud as it used to be.
03:01 The engine's not working as hard
03:02 and yelling at you as much as it used to be.
03:04 But this engine is, I'd say, a really big improvement here,
03:09 especially the mid-range torque in this.
03:11 That old V6, if we're honest, it was reliable,
03:15 but it wasn't anything special.
03:16 This new turbo motor's got a lot more torque,
03:19 and you really feel it makes the truck
03:20 a lot more drivable here on the road.
03:23 I do think though, what you wanna do
03:24 is just go ahead and put it in sport mode.
03:27 Sounds silly on a truck, but that's what we're calling it.
03:29 It just livens up the throttle,
03:31 makes the truck a bit nicer to drive,
03:33 whether you're driving a stick shift like we are today
03:35 or the automatic.
03:37 And now this stick shift, still truck transmission.
03:40 It's got long throws, but you know what?
03:42 It fits the character of the truck.
03:44 The key thing though is, as much as the Tacoma is improved
03:50 in its driving and handling and riding,
03:53 it's not like driving an SUV.
03:55 It's still got a bit of that truckiness.
03:57 It's still a little rough around the edges.
03:59 It has a little more body roll and a little bit firmer ride.
04:04 It feels more trucky.
04:06 And I think it suits the character of the Tacoma.
04:10 This is going to feel familiar to Tacoma owners
04:13 who love their trucks, but also updated,
04:17 a little newer, a little nicer,
04:18 but without losing that essence of what made
04:21 the old Tacoma so endearing to so many people.
04:24 All right, now we're out here doing real taco stuff.
04:30 And the cool thing about this truck is that
04:33 if you want to be old school and left foot break it
04:35 and do all your own spotting, you can do that
04:38 and you'll have a great time.
04:40 But if you want to just do it the easy way,
04:42 or if you're newer to off-roading,
04:45 all kinds of tools to help you out.
04:47 Like right now, we've got a whole bunch
04:50 of offset moguls in front of us.
04:51 This truck's going to get all twisted up
04:53 and I could do it myself,
04:55 but also I've got the multi-terrain system here
04:57 that'll give me the traction I need
05:00 when we start getting wheels off the ground.
05:01 And I've got the crawl control here
05:03 that's basically off-road cruise control.
05:05 And I'm just going to take my feet off the pedals
05:08 and it's going to drive us through this no problem.
05:10 In fact, at the moment,
05:13 I also have the front sway bar disconnected.
05:15 So the truck is even got more articulation
05:20 to drop into these holes
05:23 without totally throwing us all over the back
05:25 of the truck.
05:26 Now you can see we're moving around a bit,
05:27 but if we had the front end locked up,
05:29 we'd be doing a lot more of this,
05:31 but instead the truck just crawls right through it.
05:33 And remember this isn't even the full boat
05:36 TRD Pro Crazy Off-Road Truck.
05:39 This is the TRD Off-Road model,
05:41 which is some cool parts that make it more off-roady,
05:44 but you can get a lot more extreme than this.
05:46 This is just the first step
05:49 on the off-road ladder for Toyota.
05:50 This duality really is the story of the new Tacoma.
05:56 They've kept the spirit and the character of the Tacoma
06:01 that so many people love,
06:03 but then added a bunch of new features
06:05 and things that people expect from a new car.
06:07 You've got new off-road features, new on-road features,
06:10 new convenience features, all this cool stuff,
06:13 but it still looks like a Tacoma.
06:15 It still drives like a Tacoma.
06:17 It still does all the cool stuff that you want it to,
06:21 but also it's got a more powerful engine,
06:23 even gets better fuel economy.
06:24 What else could you want?
06:26 Manual transmission?
06:28 It's got that too.
06:28 Thanks for watching everybody.
06:35 (upbeat music)
06:37 (upbeat music)
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