Toyota lastly gave the Tacoma pickup truck a glow-up in its fourth generation after eight years, together with an vital powertrain replace: the Tacoma is on the market as a hybrid for the primary time.
First launched for mannequin yr 1995, the Tacoma was geared up with a five-speed handbook or four-speed automated transmission matched with three gasoline engine choices (4 or six cylinders). The Tacoma was 199 inches lengthy and will tow between 3,500 and 5,000 kilos.
The 2024 Tacoma is 14 inches longer from stem to stern than the 1995 truck. It’s constructed on the identical world truck platform because the Tundra (all new for 2022), Sequoia (which launched its third era for mannequin yr 2023) and the redesigned Land Cruiser, unveiled earlier this yr.
And Toyota says the Tacoma’s new i-Drive Max hybrid powertrain, supplied as an possibility on the TRD Sport, TRD Off-Highway, and Restricted trims and commonplace on TRD Professional and Trailhunter variants, is essentially the most highly effective powertrain ever supplied on a Tacoma.
Check out the no-longer-secret recipe behind the 2024 Tacoma, together with the brand new engine/motor mixture.
Extra torque, higher off-road functionality
The brand new Tacoma’s hybrid setup begins with the identical 2.4-liter engine discovered within the gas-only trims. Within the i-Drive Max variations, a 48-horsepower electrical motor sits between the engine and eight-speed transmission. If that configuration sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of Toyota geared up its Grand Highlander (launched earlier this yr) with a 2.4-liter hybrid powertrain, too. The Grand Highlander Hybrid Max is the quickest and quickest within the lineup, offering 362 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque within the SUV.
Within the new Tacoma, the hybrid setup produces 326 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque. That’s greater than double what the unique V6 might present within the 1995 Tacoma; much more impressively, it’s considerably greater than the 265 pound-feet within the outgoing 2023 mannequin with a V6. Nice torque numbers are important for easy off-roading, because the rotation helps the automobile energy up and over hills and boulders.
Some trims of the 2024 Tacoma can be found with a multi-link rear coil suspension, changing the leaf springs from the earlier era. Leaf springs are sturdy and most well-liked for extra heavy-duty hauling, however the coil springs supply extra flexibility and cushion for the journey. They’re a bit dearer, which is why they’re an possibility on the upper grades. The three least costly trims (SR, SR5 XtraCab and TRD PreRunner) will nonetheless come commonplace with leaf springs.
Tacoma followers know that the compact truck was already fairly succesful off-road, climbing rocks and hills like a mountain goat. Nonetheless, after driving a 2021 mannequin again to again with the brand new 2024 hybrid model, I can attest that the extra torque makes a noticeable distinction. On an off-road course close to Malibu, California, I scaled steep ascents and crawled over rock piles, and it’s clear that chief engineer Sheldon Brown and his workforce have smoothed out the perimeters.
And it’s quieter, too
A smoothed-out journey is much more clear on the asphalt. Tackling the twisty curves of Mulholland Drive, the inside of the Tacoma Restricted was hushed, and Brown says applied sciences like energetic noise cancellation guarantee a quiet cabin. This expertise reduces the general noise, vibration, and harshness, generally known as an acronym: NVH. The examine and adjustment of noise and vibration traits has turn out to be an artwork type, and Toyota put further money and time into bettering the in-cabin expertise within the higher trims of the Tacoma.
“We’re additionally utilizing digital sound enhancement, or ESE, to complement what we’re listening to via the exhaust system,” Brown says. “We use specialised software program that’s paired with the exhaust kind: the usual OE exhaust otherwise you may select our efficiency exhaust, which is an possibility. So it not solely sounds good, nevertheless it cancels out any of these noises and vibrations that in any other case may make their approach in.”
Some business analysts have accused Toyota of taking an excessive amount of time to get into the electrification stream, however the truth is that the Japanese firm has been pumping out profitable hybrid powertrains for many years. Now that the Tundra, Sequoia, and Tacoma are all out there with an engine/motor mixture, the 4Runner and Land Cruiser can’t be far behind.
