2021 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road review: A properly rugged midsize truck

For sixteen a long time, the Toyota Tacoma has sat atop the midsize pickup truck product sales charts many thanks in portion to its sterling popularity and outstanding resale value. Even as the midsize truck class has grown in latest a long time to to include things like a reborn Ford Ranger and new Jeep Gladiator, the Toyota carries on to rule the roost with a Tacoma lineup that encompasses extra than thirty configurations all supplying great appears to be, plenty of utility and suitable on- and off-street capabilities. And after paying a 7 days with what is now a six-calendar year-old truck, I am reminded all over again of all the points that lead to the Tacoma’s long lasting appeal. 

Rugged appears to be

Even though the present-technology Tacoma is having old, it truly is nonetheless an appealing rig. The blockier appears to be are even extra beefed up on my TRD Off-Street tester with a incredibly neat Army Environmentally friendly paint position and contrasting black fender trim. Toss in slick sixteen-inch wheels wrapped in meaty Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Experience tires, black tube ways and TRD skid plates, and this truck appears to be extra than completely ready to enjoy in the dust.

Inside of the Taco, the squared-off dash carries on the rugged layout theme, and a great deal of the cabin is constructed from acres of tough, nicely grained plastics that are simple to cleanse and ought to seem great for a long time to come. Really don’t fear, it truly is not all tough plastic all the time, with crucial touchpoints like the steering wheel and change knob wrapped in leather-based and armrests coated in padded vinyl. The entrance seat cushions are business and their minimum bolstering enables them to accommodate a range of body kinds.

As a shorter 5-foot, six-inch person, I have zero problems with room or finding a comfortable seating position behind the Tacoma’s wheel, nevertheless, I can see why my taller co-employees have had troubles here. You can find not a ton of headroom in possibly row and rear legroom in my Double Taxi tester isn’t really palatial. Once more, if 4 or five Jon Wongs require to go someplace, they are going to be high-quality. 4 or five Craig Coles or Andrew Kroks, nevertheless, is going to be a diverse and much less comfortable story.

Storage room is admirable with substantial door pockets, middle console cubbies, a good-sized middle armrest console, mammoth glove box compartment and a pair of concealed bins beneath the rear seat’s reduced cushions. Of system, there is certainly the 5-foot-lengthy mattress out back, equipped with a molded liner and tie-down bedrail that’ll absolutely come in useful for house advancement provide or flat pack home furniture runs.

Adequate tech

Most Tacoma types feature an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment method. Base Tacoma SR types are the only kinds that do not have this display and as a substitute get a seven-inch device, while goodies this sort of as Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Amazon Alexa are at last conventional throughout the board. In addition, my tester comes with a JBL audio set up, navigation, Wi-Fi hotspot and Bluetooth.

The TRD Off-Road’s eight-inch touchscreen does consider a noticeable 2nd to switch concerning menu screens and estimate navigation routes. The menu layouts on their own are uncomplicated to function by, but significantly from visually riveting. My favored aspect of the method is that Toyota maintains the actual physical shortcut buttons that flank both sides of the display to simply get to the most utilised menus like the house, audio and map screens.

To juice up any clever units, the TRD Off-Street has a 12-volt outlet and wireless demand pad at the base of the middle console, while there are USB-A and USB-C ports in the middle armrest. However, backseat passengers do not have any power ports in simple reach.

On the basic safety tech entrance, the Toyota Protection Sense suite of features is conventional difficulty on all Tacomas. That consists of automated unexpected emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise regulate, lane-departure warning and vehicle substantial beams. Blind-place monitoring and rear cross-targeted traffic alerts are readily available as solutions and put in on my TRD Off-Street.

Rides like a truck

Toyota offers two engines in the Tacoma, with a base two.seven-liter I4 churning out 159 horsepower and one hundred eighty pound-feet of torque furnishing enough power. The TRD Off-Street and other bigger trims come with a three.5-liter V6 creating 278 hp and 265 lb-ft. The V6 offers enough grunt off the line but feels the most energetic from roughly three,five hundred rpm on up, creating simple sufficient function of expressway merging and passing. And when it truly is time to do true function, my take a look at truck can pull up to six,400 lbs with a payload ranking of 1,one hundred fifty five lbs.

Traditionalists will be delighted to know that Tacomas can be had with a six-pace handbook transmission, but my tester is outfitted with an optional six-pace automated that allows return a significantly-from-stunning EPA-approximated 18 mpg in the town and 22 mpg on the freeway. In true planet testing, I noticed 19 mpg.

For the most portion, the gearbox returns fluid, rapid-sufficient and properly-timed shifts fitting for a pickup. Even so, often a rogue, clunky downshift occurs when slowing down and having back on the throttle just before coming to a total prevent.

The emphasize to the Tacoma TRD Off-Street is all the hardware to make it tackle greater, properly, off-street. That checklist consists of portion-time 4-wheel-drive (two-wheel-drive is also readily available), a locking rear differential, specially tuned suspension with Bilstein shocks, Goodyear tires, hill-start out guide and Crawl Control which is essentially small-pace off-street cruise regulate to allow motorists aim on steering by rock road blocks. 

However, the extent of my off-roading includes rolling on unpaved loads, but I can say that it isn’t really fifty percent undesirable on street. Confident, points get choppy over bumps just before the body recovers and about corners the Tacoma doesn’t significantly flop about. The steering is direct (for a truck), the brakes are sturdy and grabby at initially and there is certainly some tire sound to talk off, but all explained to, the Tacoma is  wholly sensible for every day drives. If on-street trip high quality is a leading precedence, possibly do not purchase the TRD Off-Street trim. Or possibly go purchase a Honda Ridgeline as a substitute.

How I would spec it

As a great deal as I love the appears to be of the Tacoma TRD Pro and the neat factor of recognizing it can go nearly any where off street, the $forty five,000 base selling price tag connected to the king-of-the-hill product is steep. As a substitute, I would adhere with an Army Environmentally friendly TRD Off-Street Double Taxi with 4-wheel drive and a 5-foot mattress like my take a look at truck. I would even maintain the automated transmission considering the fact that it’d be a every day driver, with a selling price that starts at $38,705 which include place. 

From there, I’ll toss on a $two,790 Top quality Audio and Navigation package that also consists of the Technological innovation Offer for must-haves this sort of as blind-place monitoring, rear cross-targeted traffic warn, nicer audio method and LED headlights to change the conventional Tacoma halogen set up. To further more gown the outdoors and increase perform, I want the $469 oval tube ways, $499 TRD entrance skid plate, $160 black emblem overlays and $129 mudguards. And at last, inside of I’ll pony up $169 for all-weather rubber flooring mats, bringing my Tacoma’s base line to $42,921. Far from low-cost, but it truly is more affordable than the $46,894 truck pictured here.

Correct to its roots

Though some on the Roadshow team continue to be baffled at the Tacoma’s recognition, I consider I have a great being familiar with of why it truly is so prosperous. Apart from reliability and resale, the Tacoma is a uncomplicated and straightforward truck. It appears to be like a truck, drives like a truck and offers respectable towing and hauling capabilities, while packing sufficient creature comforts to make it livable. Practically nothing extra. Practically nothing much less.