Have we mentioned how fun it was driving this truck? Sure, the Toyota lacks the Nissan's muscular approach and raw power, but overall, its performance isn't harmed. In fact, we had to take turns trying it out as a daily commuter during our brief test period. It was unanimous among the group-we were bummed to hand it back to Toyota so soon. As I mentioned earlier, the finish is top-notch. This is one area where the auto powerhouse has truly excelled and a reason its vehicles hold their resale value so long. The model we tested, a 4x2 Double Cab PreRunner V6 Long Bed with the TRD Sport Package, had a sticker price of $27,078. The $3345 TRD Sport package #2 included Bilstein shocks and 17-inch alloy wheels mated to P265/65R17 tires, a limited-slip differential, remote keyless entry and all sorts of trim and niceties inside and out. Even more important for our uses, the truck had the "factory" $440 tow hitch installed. Our main snivel was the segregated speedometer/tachometer instrument cluster. The busy display made digital readouts hard to decipher during the daytime. The long shade hoods-for lack of a better name-didn't help as much as I expected in making the dash easier to interpret, either. In fact, they inhibited a quick scan of the instruments, at least for me. The other gripe was the lack of a locking gas cap, and some of the staff complained that the truck didn't come with a locking tailgate. For $27K, we felt it should have been included-it's a must in the sticky-fingered world we live in.
Minor grumbles aside, a midsize truck like this Tacoma is a worthy investment. The bottom line is this truck deserves serious attention from anyone shopping for a new means of hauling ATVs that needs to double as an enjoyable daily commuter-probably why we see so many on the SoCal roads.
You can find out more options and price details even build your own Tacoma at www.toyota.com. Next, we'll try out one of the bigger trucks on the market to find out where and when bigger is better.
We're not going to bore you with all the technical details on the 17 models of Tacoma, but here's the nitty gritty of the truck:
4.0L DOHC V6 with variable valve timing236 hp at 5200 rpm and 266 ft-lb of torque at 4000 rpm0-60 mph in 8.8 sec6500-lb max towing capacitySeats five21-gal. fuel tankEstimated fuel economy of 18 mpg city/22 highway; actual (fully loaded, mixedhighway/city): 1273.5-in. bed length41.5-in. bed width between the wheel wells/56.7 in. total18-in. bed height9.5-in. ground clearance