2023 Toyota Tacoma

There is exactly one mid-sized truck you can still get with two things together – a V6 engine and a manual transmission. The others are either four-cylinder only (Ford Ranger) or automatic-only (Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon, Nissan Frontier). 

And that’s just two of the reasons why the Tacoma is the best-selling mid-sized truck on the market. 

But – be hipped – those two things may not be around for much longer. A redesigned Tacoma is headed our way for 2024 and it’s not unlikely the ’24 Taco will no longer offer either of the two things so many have loved about it up to now.

Because the government regulatory apparat is making it very hard to offer them anymore.

What It Is

The Tacoma is Toyota’s mid-sized pick-up truck. It’s available in extended (Access) cab or crew (Double) cab configurations and with either a five or six foot bed. It also offers both a standard 2.7 liter four cylinder engine as well as an optional 3.5 liter V6 – the latter available with a manual transmission.      

Interestingly, the V6 is the only engine that’’s available with the manual. The four cylinder engine comes only with a six speed automatic transmission. 

Prices start at $27,250 for the base SR trim Access Cab extended cab) with a six foot bed, the 2.7 liter four cylinder engine (paired with the mandatory six speed automatic) and 2WD.

You can add 4WD – without adding the V6 (and the extra cost).

With 4WD (and the 2.7 liter four) the SR’s asking price is $30,325. You can also add the V6 – without being up-sold into one of the more expensive trims. The V6-equipped SR lists for $29,510 with 2WD and $32,975 with 4WD.

The Access Cab version of the Taco is not available with the short (five foot) bed, however. If you want that, you’ll have to get the Double (crew) Cab – which is also available with the six foot bed (optionally).  

But, you cannot get the manual/V6 combo with the six foot bed.

The Double Cab stickers for $28,080 to start – with the five-foot bed, 2WD and the 2.7 liter/six-speed automatic combo. 

A top-of-the-line Taco with the Double Cab, TRD Pro off-road package (locking rear differential, Bilstein heavy-duty shocks, Multi-Terrain monitor and 16 inch wheel/tire package) 4WD, V6 and six speed automatic lists for $49,390. 

You can get the same thing – with a six speed manual – for $46,685.   

What’s new for 2023

V6-equipped Tacos can be ordered with an SX or Chrome (Double Cab models only) appearance package. The SX includes black fender flares and matching 16-inch black wheels; the Chrome trim features 18 inch chromed wheels, exhaust tip, door handles and tailgate – as well as a leather-wrapped gearshift knob. 

What’s Good

A manual, if you’d like one – and with the V6.

Multiple cab/bed configurations.

Standard four is available with 4WD.

What’s Not So Good

Manual isn’t available with the four.

Regular cab isn’t offered.

2023 is probably the last year you’ll be able to get a Taco with a manual – and maybe a V6, too.

Under The Hood

The Taco’s standard engine is a 2.7 liter four that makes 159 horsepower, paired with a six speed automatic transmission. In italics not so much because it’s an automatic but rather because Toyota does offer a manual  . . . but only with the optional 3.5 liter, 278 horsepower V6.   

In the past, it was usually the reverse.

The base engine in a truck especially typically came standard with a manual, chiefly because manuals cost less than automatics and because the usually smaller/less powerful base engine performed better with a manual – including better gas mileage.

Which matters to people who want to save rather than spend money.

It’s very nice, of course, that Toyota still offers a manual (six speed, too) with the V6 – especially given that no one else does, if a V6 is even available. But the Taco’s V6 has plenty of power; pairing it with a manual is more about having fun with it than making the most of it.

The four would be more economical if it were available with the manual. Both to buy – and to drive. Assuming one knows how to. And – aye – there’s the rub. A car company can tout city/highway MPG numbers achieved by programming an automatic to shift just so (and just when) for optimal results . . . on the tests that determine advertised city/highway numbers, as well as compliance with the regulatory apparat’s edicts.

On paper, the Taco with the 2.7 engine, the automatic (and 2WD) rates  20 city, 23 highway. But in real-world driving, the MPGs you see – with an automatic – are often less than touted because your right foot will over-ride the programming, in order to get the vehicle going.

The same vehicle with a manual might not tout MPG numbers as high, but in real-world driving will often do better, assuming the person shifting knows what he’s doing. And even leaving MPGs aside, it’s undeniable that a manual costs less to buy than an automatic – erasing the usually picayune and purely putative MPG cost savings promised by the automatic. Manuals also help make the most of a small engine, that does’t make much power – an intangible that’s hard to put a price on.

The good news is that Toyota doesn’t upsell you into the V6 in order to get 4WD. You can get that with either engine. You can also use regular 87 octane with either engine, because neither engine requires premium to deliver on its advertised horsepower or MPG numbers.

Also, neither engine is a direct-injected engine. This is no small thing – if you care about long-term durability/long-term low-maintenance.

Both the 2.7 four and the optional 3.5 V6 are still fed by simpler electronic fuel injection. This is very unlikely to be the case with whatever powers the pending 2024 Taco because Toyota, like every other car company, is probably going to have to “DI” the engines in the new Taco in order to appease the regulatory apparat. DI offers no meaningful benefit to the vehicle owner; the mileage gains are small – and the added cost/complexity of the system is high. But DI – in which fuel is directly injected into the cylinder under extremely high pressure (typically, around 3,000 PSI) allows micro-fine-tuning of combustion to fractionally increase operating efficiency; this has become necessary for regulatory compliance reasons.

You can pull up to 3,500 lbs. with a four cylinder Taco. V6-equipped Tacos can pull almost twice that – 6,800 lbs. This figure puts the Taco in between the Chevy Colorado – which has the highest maximum tow rating in the class (7,700 lbs.) when equipped with its optional diesel engine  and just ahead of the Nissan Frontier – which maxes out at 6,700 lbs. The Ford Ranger can pull up to 7,500 lbs. – even though it’s the only truck in the class that comes only with a four cylinder engine.

Every Taco comes standard with a Class IV hitch, 4-7 PIN connector and engine/power steering/ATF (automatic-equipped models) coolers.

On The Road

Driving the Taco is like driving a half-ton truck  . . . from the ’90s or earlier.

It is a hefty feeling but not huge-feeling truck. More substantial, certainly, than compact-sized trucks like my ’02 Nissan Frontier that no one makes anymore – but not dissimilar in terms of its footprint in the garage or how much of a footprint it needs to fit into a car-sized parking spot. It is about half-a-foot (no joke) less wide than a current half-ton (e.g., 74 inches vs. more than 81 inches for the current Chevy Silverado 1500) and that is perhaps the biggest difference in feel between a current mid-sized truck like the Taco – that is dimensionally about the same size as a ’90s-era half ton – and the current half-tons, which are dimensionally comparable to ’90s-era 2500s.

You ride higher up, but not so high you need a ladder to to get up. From behind the wheel, you have a better sense of the road because the hood isn’t too broad and the road isn’t so far away. “Advanced driver assistance technology” isn’t needed to avoid bumping into things. Unfortunately, several such “technologies” are standard; however, they can be turned off  – with the exception of the traction/stability control, which comes back on after you’ve turned it off if your speed exceeds 30 MPH.

Probably, this can be defeated, too.

There is no ASS – automated stop/start “technology,” an annoyance that is almost impossible to avoid buying, if you want to buy anything new. Except for this truck – and that absence by itself almost makes it worth buying a new Taco.

Another thing that sets this truck apart is its door glass to door metal ratio. Some of the trucks in this class have more metal relative to glass, which makes narrows almost to a slit and makes it seem as though you’re in a pillbox rather than a pick-up. The Taco’s glass is taller because the door sides aren’t. It is much easier to see using your eyes for that reason – rather than cameras and “advanced driver assistance technology.”

This is a truck, in sum, that’s both easy to live with and almost half-ton-capable, which my little ’02 isn’t. The double cab Taco V6 they sent me to evaluate can pull a 6,000 lb. camper/trailer with capacity to spare – without being a behemoth. Maybe you need more capability – insofar as pulling – in which case a half-ton may be needed. But the Taco still has the edge – in capability – when the trail is narrow.

Try getting a current wide-load half-ton in between a pair of inconveniently spaced trees on a narrow off-road trail.

The Taco goes where others must stop. It is legendary for its off-road tenacity, which is as much a function of it being the right size as well as having the right equipment. You can have all the right equipment – heavy-duty steel frame, two-speed transfer case, skid plates, favorable angles of approach/departure – but it won’t matter if your vehicle is the wrong size for the available space.

A word or three on speed.

The Taco’s not as quick – even with the optional V6 – as rivals that come standard with stronger V6s (like the Nissan Frontier) or that offer them (Chevy Colorado) and even four-cylinder-only rivals like the Ford Ranger, which offer more power courtesy of boost. But none of the others let you play the way the manual-equipped Taco does, with a shifter rather than a gear selector – and a clutch rather than “sport” and “normal” settings for the automatic transmission.

And the six speed automatic that you can choose if you prefer not to shift for yourself doesn’t shift as much (or as often) as the eight, nine and ten speed automatics that are your only options in rival pick-ups. It is apt to be a more long-term reliable transmission for that reason, as well.

At The Curb

A Double Cab Taco is 127.4 inches long. A 1990 Ford F-150 regular cab with a short bed was 194.1 inches long. That’s also about a foot less-long than an Access Cab Taco, which is 212.3 inches long.

That’s a measure of the difference between half-ton trucks and mid-sized trucks today. And – by the way – that ’90 F-150 (with its standard 4.9 liter inline six) was only rated to pull a maximum of 7,500 lbs.

And – also by the way – a new half-ton crew cab with a short bed – Toyota’s just-redesigned Tundra, for instance – stretches out to 233.6 inches.

So, if  you’d like a “half-ton” pick-up the way they used to make ’em, here you go!

Well, with one exception. Unlike the ’90 F-150 and other trucks back in the day, you cannot get a Taco (or any other truck in this class) in regular cab configuration. It’s becoming hard to find a half-ton that’s available in that configuration (e.g., the new Tundra, which is no longer available that way; ditto the Ram 1500 and the Nissan Titan).

The Taco offers Access Cab and Double Cab configurations – the former coming only with the six foot long bed and the latter offering either the six foot or a five-foot short bed that can be made effectively longer using a bed extender that flips over the lowered tailgate.

Neither bed is eight feet long, which you’d get (or could get) in a half-ton truck both then and now. But, the Taco’s bed walls are not the Walls of Jericho – insurmountable without divine intervention (or a step ladder). You won’t need neither to get at whatever you put in the bed – just as used to be true of most half-tons before they got super-sized. If the Taco’s bed (which is made of composite, so doesn’t need a bed liner to keep it from rusting out) were wide enough to allow for a 4×8 sheet to be laid flat it would arguably be a more usable truck than the current crop of jacked-up half-tons.

As an aside, there is one mid-sized “truck” in the Taco’s class that can carry a 4×8 sheet flat in its bed. That one being the Honda Ridgeline (reviewed here). But, it’s not really a truck. And that’s why it can carry a 4×8 sheet flat. Not a slam – just a fact. The Ridge is more of an alternative to a traditionally designed mid-sized truck.

Inside the Taco will not find a digital/LCD gauge cluster – or an electric parking brake. The Taco is among the last trucks that still comes standard with analog gauges and a manual, pull-up emergency brake. Italics to emphasize the difference. An “e-brake” is on – or off. You cannot modulate its application. It is also electronic – and so, involves electronics. A pull-up emergency brake is mechanical – and gives you control.

There is a small (7 inch) secondary touchscreen that houses the audio system but there are manual knob controls for adjusting the station and volume. It looks – and functions – more like an aftermarket unit installed in an older truck, like the one I put in my ’02 Frontier. And that’s a compliment. The Taco’s cabin is comfortably no-nonsense, as a truck’s cabin ought to be.

The Rest

Toyota offers some unusual features you might be interested in – such as a factory-installed armored/key-combo’d lock built into the center console that is just the place to safely secure a pistol. Every Taco comes standard three USB ports and Wi-Fi.

If you’d like a bit more height (and ground clearance) you can get it by ordering the Trail Edition, which includes a 1 inch suspension lift and also adds additional lockable storage in the bed and a 120V power point.

The TRD Off-Road package adds heavy-duty Bilstein shocks and removes the front air dam that comes standard in other Tacos, to increase the truck’s angle of approach when off-roading. You also get an off-road-programmed traction control system with multiple terrain settings and a rock crawl mode.

The Bottom Line

This may be your last chance to buy a new Taco with a stick – and a V6. So if you’d like either – or both – be aware that the clock’s ticking.

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