2024 Toyota Tacoma, TRD Pro, and Trailhunter Revealed with Vast Array of Choices

I'm Dan Edmonds, and this, at long last, is the new 2024 Toyota Tacoma, which we've been waiting for for, I don't know, like ever. They've done some amazing things. There are a lot of changes in this generation. It's gonna take a while to go through them all. This is the Top Dog TRD Pro, and right off the bat, you can see they've given it the wide stance that it's always needed. These fender flares, the track is wider. Three inches wider than the SR5 and the models further down the range. And it's got a higher stance. It's two inches higher in the front, an inch and a half higher in the rear. Some of that is suspension, and some of it is these 33-inch tires. Those are 18-inch rims. This is really set up to really take on the Ranger Raptor and the ZR2, which, frankly, I wasn't expecting. So the Tacoma TRD Pro looks like a Tacoma, as it should, but what I mean by that, we have the same basic grille shape, the big block letter Toyota grille. There's definite family resemblance, but there's a little bit of new tundra in it, too, with the way the headlights are styled and this little feature here. You may not notice it right away, but there is a light bar integrated right below the Toyota logo, and then two rigid off-road lights here further down that are controlled inside. And that comes on the TRD Pro. We've also got the hood scoop, which is something we've seen before, but what we haven't seen before, these big, chunky fender flares, because this truck has a three-inch wider track than other Tacomas in the lineup, and that is not something that has ever been true of the TRD Pro before. It was always the same basic width and track width of other Tacomas, but now this is equipped so that it has the same kind of stance as a ZR2 or the new Ranger Raptor, and that is gonna unlock a lot of potential that this truck has always had, but has never been able to fully exploit. Of course, we have a TRD Pro badging here. New this year is a black roof. No matter what the color of the truck is, you get a black roof. Of course, it won't look that different if you get a black truck, but there it is. The bed is the same composite bed it's been before, but these lights here are part of an option package. They're not standard on the TRD Pro, but they are on the Trailhunter. And then further back, we get a black rear bumper. It is ARB branded, and there are these ARB tow hooks, and it looks like this is a high-lift jack point just inside the ARB tow hook. And of course, this is tucked up a little bit higher for better off-road clearance. The Trailhunter and TRD Pro share that. And then, of course, look at this. I didn't know what it was until I pushed it, and then this happened. It's a power opening tailgate, but it's not just opening. It also closes, too. So if your hands are full and you can just elbow that, you can open the tailgate without getting your keys out and using the fob or pulling it here, which works, too. If you wanna close it, you can just knee it up a little bit and it'll close. So there's a lot of cool stuff about the lowly tailgate, which is really neat. And then, of course, if I do open it again, the composite bed that the Tacoma's always had has little compartments, little notches for wood to make a platform here. There's movable rails for tie-downs. And if you get the hybrid, which is standard on the TRD Pro and Trailhunter and optional on a couple of others, you get this plug rated at 2,400 watts, not just the normal amount that you would get if you don't have the I-Force Max hybrid powertrain. So a lot more power on board here. And yeah, this is pretty nicely set up, I have to say. So all versions of the 2024 Tacoma are powered by a 2.4 liter turbocharged straight-four engine. Now, that doesn't mean they're all powered by the same engine. They're just all 2.4 liters turbocharged. This in the TRD Pro is the I-Force Max. And you can see from these orange cables that this has a hybrid motor system attached to it. It also has some red stuff over here, which is all very TRD of it. And it makes 326 horsepower, which is, you know, between the Raptor and the Colorado ZR2, but it makes 465 pound-feet of torque, which blows away the current leader up until this point, which would have been the Ranger Raptor. And so 425 pound-feet of torque, or 426, no, shoot, 465. See, it's so big I can't even remember it. That's a lot of torque. And the thing is, last year's six-speed automatic is history. It's now an eight-speed automatic in this truck. Anything with the I-Force Max is gonna have a eight-speed automatic. But if you have the regular I-Force or the base engine, there are instances where you can also have a six-speed manual instead of the eight-speed automatic. So the manual still lives on, and that's awesome. So inside the TRD Pro, you shouldn't be surprised to see there's a lot of red. There's red seats. These are special isometric seats that have shock absorbers built into the back of them that I can't wait to try out. There are red stitching on the dash, red accents behind the Toyota on the simulated carbon fiber dash material here. A red straight-ahead indication on this perforated level steering wheel that feels really nice. Yeah, and then other than that, we have very attractive-looking controls. You know, the surround around the air conditioning vents is a little darker than some of the other models, which tended to have a little trim here. It's a little bit more blacked out in this vehicle. But that just makes the red pop all that much more. So this is the suspension of the new TRD Pro. And the first thing you notice right now is it's got Fox 2 1⁄2-inch QS3 adjustable shocks. Now, there's a little clicker right here that you can turn, and there are three adjustable compression damping settings. And then, of course, we have our red TRD springs, a new aluminum knuckle, and, of course, you know, these are high-angle CV joints, higher angle than last year. You know, I say that this is three inches wider than an SR in terms of track width, but the SR is almost three inches wider than last year's base truck. So we're looking at a truck whose track width is almost six inches wider than it was before. So it's more than the numbers suggest if you compare to the prior generation. Now, the other thing that's interesting about this is they've added a disconnectable front stabilizer bar, and they say that will unlock more articulation to the tune of 10% more than the last truck, which was no slouch. So let's take a look at that. So this is the anti-roll bar on the new Tacoma, and you can see it attaches to the lower control arm with this little link. But back here is the magic. There is a new stabilizer bar disconnect mechanism that's standard on TRD Pro and the Trailhunter, and it's optional on the TRD Off-Road. And the interesting thing is it's electrically actuated with a button inside, but you can release the stabilizer bar and unlock about 10% more articulation, even if the vehicle is twisted up on that obstacle that you're trying to get over. So you don't have to do it on flat ground like you do on a Wrangler Rubicon. This is huge for the new Tacoma, and I can't wait to try it out on our RTI ramp. Big news for the new Tacoma suspension-wise is that it has coil spring rear suspension. It's a five-link setup with two trailing links per side and a lateral panhard rod, but that makes it a five-link coil suspension. But it's interesting because there's still a couple of models at the lower end of the price spectrum that still have leaf springs to keep the price down. So I find that very interesting that they didn't make 100% switch, but at the same time, most models that people are gonna buy, all the crew cabs except for the base SR are gonna have link coil rear suspension like this. Now, the TRD Pro, of course, has some differences. It has the same QS3 Fox adjustable compression shocks that we saw in the front, and it also has Fox IFP, which stands for internal floating piston, hydraulic bump stops that are located within the rear coil springs. And I find that combination of those shocks with the adjustable compression that are pretty righteous in their own right plus the hydraulic bump stop, that's gonna be a potent combination, and I can't wait to drive it. A lot of the suspension stuff is inside baseball and hidden from view, but here's something you can show your friends. It's the new aluminum anodized upper control arm that's on the TRD Pro. Of course, it's red because TRD, just like the spring. The Trailhunter has this as well. It says Trailhunter here. It's a different color, but this is something unique to those new wide track models. So this is a new trim level for this year. It makes eight in all for this new Tacoma. This is the Trailhunter, and the Trailhunter is similar to the TRD Pro in that it has the same wide track suspension and the same iForce Max engine as standard. The stabilizer bar disconnect is standard, but there are a lot of differences too. Visually, you can see that these fender flares are not gloss black. The nose coloration and the logo on the front are different. These are unique Trailhunter wheels. It's the same 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory RT tire, but wrapped on a different wheel. Of course, here is a snorkel. Further back and further up, we have this roof rack, rock rails that are pretty decent sidesteps because there is enough room to get your toe in there. But it's not so much that they hang down and are gonna create problems off-road. And then, of course, we've got this sport bar in the back, which has these MOLLE connectors that you can hang stuff off of. Interestingly enough, you can get this truck with the crew cab and a long bed, which is what we're looking at, actually. This is the six-foot bed paired with a crew cab. It's not something you can get on the TRD Pro, but you can on the Trailhunter. And really, the overriding theme of the Trailhunter is, you know, the TRD Pro is more for high-speed desert use, and this is more for overlanding and off-road adventure. And so it's equipped with that. These lights here on the side of the bed, they're actually part of the Trailhunter package. So in the back, we have the same ARB steel bumper with the high-lift jack points and the ARB tow hooks, the same power tailgate up and down. But here, this is interesting, this is a compressor. So if you air down when you go off-road, you can air up again using this compressor and this hose, which reaches all four tires on the vehicle. So one of the things that's different between the TRD Pro and this Trailhunter is the way the suspension is configured. I mean, it's tuned for a different mission. It's not high-speed, off-road, maximum attack kind of driving. It's more exploring and overlanding, you know, which is reflected in the suspension and the way it's tuned. These are ARB Old Man Emu shock absorbers. They're more about carrying loads and standing up to the kind of washboard road you might see in an overlanding situation, as opposed to flying over whoop-de-doos and crashing over jumps at higher speeds like you might do in a TRD Pro. Different mission, different suspension. It's the same coil spring setup, but you won't see those hydraulic bump stops back here. But you do have the same wide track and the same basic amount of suspension travel that a TRD Pro has. If you're one of those people that hears us talk about off-road this and off-road that, and you just want a truck that's comfortable and you don't really plan to use it off-road very much, if at all, then the Limited is definitely one to consider because it's a truck that's designed and it's really optimized around the idea of a good, smooth ride on pavement. Now, obviously, one thing that is Limited is the approach angle because of this air dam, which helps improve fuel economy. What's not Limited is the use of chrome. It's everywhere. There's a lot of chrome on the grill. There's chrome on the tops of the mirrors, the wheels. These are 18-inch wheels, but they're definitely not 33 inches tall. They're not off-road tires. They're street tires. Interestingly enough, chrome door handles, and when you open it, you get automatically deployed sidesteps, which are pretty cool. In the back, we have, well, the same tailgate that we saw on the other one. With this button, you can push to automatically open to get into the back. And then you can either push that button to close it or just knee it up a little bit, and it will close under power just like that. There's also this nice little sidestep here. And looks like the high-lift jack points are still here, even though this doesn't have the ARB bumper. It doesn't have the tow hooks, but it has those. Of course, we have our tow receiver and seven-pin wiring that goes through the trailer brake controller and the four-pin wiring that doesn't. Up here, there are three shark fins, and when you see a truck that has three shark fins, this is to help with a camera that you can mount to the back of your trailer so that you can see behind you. It's part of a suite of trailer towing options that includes trailer backup guidance and the electronic trailer brake controller. So yeah, this is a pretty nice truck if you don't plan to go off-road much. And it extends to underneath the truck, too, because this has adaptive variable dampers. That's right, they're electronically controlled dampers, so these should have a better chance at reading the road and giving you a smooth ride, no matter what the asphalt looks like. Now, obviously, we have a chrome exhaust tip on this one, and I guess what this shows is on the Trailhunter, the exhausts were here, where they're a little bit more protected off-road. This one's back here where everybody can see it, which means it's a little vulnerable, but this is not the off-road version of the Tacoma. It's the Limited. The interior of the Limited, thankfully, and I say that with all due respect, doesn't have as much chrome as the exterior. Here, it's nice and luxurious. We have this wood finish here, but the metallic-looking elements here are not really shiny. They're a nice gunmetal color that really is attractive. The other thing about the Limited that makes it a better on-road truck, in addition to the adaptive variable dampers, is this transfer case here. This is a full-time four-wheel drive system. In other words, it's in four-wheel drive all the time. It's really all-wheel drive, but it has a lockable center differential, so if you do wanna go off-road and you do want to have that extra connection like you would with the other Tacomas when you're in four-wheel drive, you can lock the center differential. So that's nice because if you're driving around in snow and you don't need four-wheel drive, you're still gonna get all four wheels propelling the vehicle, but you won't have any binding in corners on snow or ice. So this is actually a really nice pavement-based all-wheel drive system that can be basically converted to four-wheel drive by locking the center differential. This is the interior of the Tacoma TRD Sport. And like last year, the TRD Sport has a hood scoop. It has unique shocks that are tuned for good handling. Not necessarily off-roading, but good handling. But it's also one of three models that you can have with a manual transmission. That's right, the six-speed manual returns to the Tacoma lineup. It's on the base SR, and it's on the TRD Off-Road and TRD Sport with the mid-level i-Force engine. You can't get it with the i-Force Max Hybrid, but the standard i-Force engine, you can pair it with a six-speed manual. Now, when you do that, the horsepower and torque drop by seven or eight. Not much, nothing you'd notice, but the eight-speed automatic versions of the same truck with the same engine make just a little bit more power and torque. And here in the Sport, we're looking at a nice-looking interior. Obviously, the seats are different. This looks like the material that Toyota calls Soft-Tex. There's this blue plastic here that's meant to look like anodized aluminum, and I think it looks reasonably like that. A lot of the other switch gear looks similar to the other trucks. So as we move downmarket, we're not seeing a downmarket interior. Certainly when we drive these trucks later on, we'll know a lot more about some of these little details that are just being hinted right now. But yeah, it's nice that you can get the Sport or the TRD Off-Road with a manual and the same horsepower as last year's V6, but quite a bit more torque. Well, that's it for the new 2024 Toyota Tacoma. I have to say that I'm really impressed, and it's obvious that Toyota has not taken their foot off the accelerator. And, you know, we thought that the Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado products were improved, and they were, but Toyota seems to have done them one better.