The 2023 Tacoma can take on various lifestyles with it’s relative wide variety of configurations. Today I will talk access cab or double cab, 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder, base or loaded, short bed or long bed, and a little more.
If you’re interested in the toyota tacoma you know that there are many different configurations for the little truck so today i’m going to drive two trucks from the opposite sides of the taco spectrum to help you figure out what spec is best if you enjoy fun detailed car content without fluff consider subscribing and hitting the bell for notifications i normally
Won’t wear sunglasses for a video but i’m going to lose vision first let me acquaint you with what we’re comparing today so this is an sr two-wheel drive four-cylinder base truck it doesn’t have the utility package which gets rid of a few things like the rear seats that actually knocks off some in the price so we’re going to come in right around 29 000 for the
Sticker whereas this is a trd off-road with the advanced package and it has most of the features available for the tacoma trd off-roads have a ton of different packages they’re going to start around 38 but you can option them out to be like 45 even 46 grand and just like a tacoma over rocks parking lot curbs the price will climb with ease if you start adding the
Wide variety of accessories like black badging trd exhaust pro grill and lift and so on not to mention the fairly common 5k markups on these things hell most lightly used ones are going over the original msrp right now you’ll likely have to do some digging and waiting to get one at sticker and if you’re looking for a new toyota these tacos came from the friendly
People at royal south toyota in bloomington indiana royal south is heavily invested in the community and usually has a diverse set of inventory new and used check them out disclaimer these trucks are 2022 models but there were no mechanical changes for 23 and i will share only information on the new year the base engine available in the tacoma sr and sr5 is the
2.7 liter inline four this particular variant has been around for quite some time in fact i have it in my own 2009 toyota tacoma and i can personally attest it is a very sturdy little engine even though it is a four cylinder it doesn’t really want to rev makes a respectable amount of low down torque which means that you have okay low end power you have the problem
With this power plant is the transmission here we will have it exclusively hooked up to a six-speed automatic whereas when this generation first debuted you had the choice of a five-speed manual which is the exact setup that i have and it’s still slow i have mine with four wheel drive so it’s also lugging around 4 000 pounds but it’s okay even with my setup
So long as you’re in the right gear it dies off quickly after making its peak 159 horsepower at just 5200 rpms so long as it doesn’t shift early it feels fine on the city and highway unless high elevation comes into the mix leaving me with one piece of advice use ect power this transmission just really doesn’t want to downshift when you’re getting under throttle
Unless you have it in ect power which stands for electronically controlled transmission think of it like a sport mode and i’m glad that that’s there i’m also glad that toyota gives you a sequential shift mode so if you want to go through the gears manually or you just want to tell it hey you know don’t shift past fourth gear you can something that would definitely
Be necessary if you were to attempt to get close to towing the 3 500 pound max from this truck and technically this will actually haul the most out of any toyota tacoma thanks to it having the same suspension yet carrying less weight so it will satisfy the work needs of many but what about your thirst for speed let’s try a quick 0 to 60 to find out for this test
I’ll have ac off i’ll have an ect power and traction control will be disabled this is going to be very embarrassing but science foreign so we came up with a 0-60 time about 11 seconds flat that number tells the story well but i stand by saying this provides enough oomph for most usage response is fine if you’re in ect power and is it adequate for highway travel
Until around 75 where it begins to feel severely labored you have to think twice before pulling out in a small window but that isn’t the appeal of this engine and i’m actually still glad that they make it because as a work truck you’re going to really value something that has low running cost so it does get a little bit better gas mileage in the city but what i
Found with my own four-cylinder tacoma is that its gas mileage actually fares a lot better than you know most v6s when it comes to very short trips but it still won’t top the six cylinder on the highway another part of running cost is maintenance and this holds an edge since it is more simple with a longer history than the dual injection v6 and has easier access
Under the hood one thing i’ve actually grown to accept over the years with my tacoma is the seating position at first it’s kind of awkward because it’s a shorter cab so you almost sit in it more like a car except the steering wheel sits kind of far away from you and that’s the thing that as a taller driver definitely takes some getting used to but even here at six
Foot three i can find a comfortable driving position because i do have a adjustable lumbar support plus you get a power seat with height adjustment in the sr5 however one thing i know a lot of you are curious about how is the back seat so i’ve been daily in access cab and look it ain’t glamorous but if i shift my butt over a little bit to the side i can shut the
Door so that’s pretty good if in a pinch you have to transport several people over six foot tall this would still work and we’re assuming that they don’t have super meaty thighs i wouldn’t really advise this as a primary family vehicle by any means although you do have child seat latches back here and while the double cab of the tacoma is definitely better they’re
Still not exactly an abundance of space i just have more support and dignity than i did before as you take this thing around corners that have imperfections in them it really shugs along through them it’s just not all that composed the steering is slow it does feel numb it’s not super precise but the way they have weighted it helps it avoid feeling too unnatural
Making the tacoma an easy truck to drive even around town it’s confident but clumsy like that one drunk guy who suddenly thinks he can impress any woman in the tri-state area body roll and brake dive honestly compared to a toyota 4runner it’s not too bad now on this broken pavement i think that if you’re looking for a a truckish truck the current generation toyota
Tacoma is exactly that it just does kind of jitter about it feels like you know whatever you throw at it it still takes it in stride you know nothing’s really crashing through the cabin and that’s a pro to getting a body on frame traditional truck leaf springs in the back it feels stout just not too refined however the v6 models have a more settled ride now in my
Fully decked out trd off-road over the same uneven broken road this is honestly a little bit more comfortable smoother i have the trd off-road suspension on here and that’s going to be just a touch softer it’s still going to have that solid rear axle kind of jitteriness there around that has the bouncy truck feel but it does still feel more buttoned down this
Wasn’t placebo the four cylinders are sprung differently from the v6 models the dampening also receives a different tune by trim the trd sport has a firmer setup the off-road uses softer bilsteins and the limited sr5 and sr have the same setup that sit in between do take into account sidewall differences as well i can’t comment on the trd pro because i haven’t
Driven it but i would expect that to be able to take more abuse due to its trd tuned off-road suspension that comes with fox internal bypass coilovers and rear shocks with a remote reservoir you’re going to have the the variable 2gr fks v6 which came out around 2016. it’s a direct injected port fuel injected much more sophisticated engine when compared to the 2.7
Liter inline four this is going to make 278 horsepower and it’s also going to be paired up to a six-speed automatic here but as standard it’s going to have a manual transmission that’s going to be available in all the trd trims and unlike the four cylinder you can get the v6 in any trim but where the four-cylinder had more of a traditional truck power band this
Has the power band of a three row crossover and you have to write it out in order to get more serious power from it which is a downside it does okay and this i don’t feel like i would need to use the ecg power button at all times so the transmission just i think does a little bit better job of getting the engine to the required power band here and the extra power
Means that the truck isn’t as hindered by the transmission’s mistakes still compared to the old 4-liter v6 or the turbocharged competition i wish it was more alive in the lower rev range that said this engine should still run laps around the four banger from 0 to 60. that’d be a little bit more gentle in the start there a lot quicker i think it could have been
More demanding there regardless the r60 came up in a respectable 7.7 seconds highway it’s noticeably easier to cruise and pass at higher speeds it also has a taller final drive ratio allowing it to cruise at 70 around 1800 rpms where the four-cylinder will be more like 2 000. wind and tire noise are pronounced but not offensive and actually traction is another
Thing i want to talk about regardless if you get the four cylinder or the six you’re going to have toyota’s auto lsd standard what that does is it helps in low traction scenarios kind of fake like it’s a limited slip differential you’re using the brakes does work well it definitely won’t replace a locking differential off-road but it’ll help you get out of some
Sort of trickier situations but of course you can get four-wheel drive on any trim and if you go with the trd off-road or trd pro you’ll have a true locking rear differential an automatic off-road and pro models will also get their trick crawl control that also uses the brakes to help divert power where necessary stick shift off-road and pro buyers get a track
Which has a similar a premise and when it comes to the brakes themselves i found the four cylinder models to be a little bit more spongy whereas the v6 tends to bite a little sharper both use front disc rear drum now the main thing i want to talk about on the exterior are the different ways that you can equip your tacoma a couple notable exterior differences that
You’ll see across the trims are these plastic moldings which will come on the trd off-road and trd pro whereas other trucks will get body painted flares or don’t have this at all and then you will have the big hood scoop on the trd pro and trd sport either way you go you’re going to get toyota’s awesome bed rail system as standard which most will also get bed
Cleats built into them which is a very useful tie down tool i’ve used it myself on my own tacoma many times to move things like mopeds refrigerators lawn mowers it really adds to the versatility and especially the usability of even the shorter beds mine has the six foot and that’s definitely come in handy with moving things like couches however if you just want to
Like camp in the back there are definitely solutions so that you can work with a five foot box instead of a six foot all axis cab trucks will have a six foot two bed something that is optional but rare on the double cab the six foot bed will make moving 4×8 sheet bulky furniture and 10 foot kayaks easier but if you’re smart with ratchet straps and you have the
Self-esteem to stand up to old dudes who make fun of short beds five feet is good that’s also the only box size for trd pro trail edition or double cab trucks with the manual trans in all we’ll still get a composite material back here can take a lot of abuse and it won’t rust the same way you don’t need to get it lined or anything one thing i do love about all
Toyota tacomas is annual parking brake now when it comes to other major features that you’ll get going with the more expensive truck you will upgrade from a 7-inch touchscreen to an 8 inch touchscreen that’s just a little bit better all of them have apple carplay and android auto navigation is of course available here with the advanced package i will have a jbl
Sound system but oddly enough if you go with a manual transmission model you can’t get the jbl even on the trd pro additionally manual transmission models cannot get the proximity smart key that toyota offers which is standard on the trd models otherwise you can opt for things like heated seed source sunroof if you go with the double cab and this can look almost
Upscale in limited form my advice if you want convenience would be to go at least for an sr5 v6 which gets a couple extra features over the four banger along with that extra power boost i’d also advise the slick looking led lights that are offered and usually included in the tech packages that also have blind spot monitoring and no outfit does the tacoma come with
Luxurious appointments but all have a durable that somewhat modern look and feel i haven’t watched actually frond and yeah gas mileage will not be good but it will comply which is actually a reason why i was really trying to buy one of these last year when i had a real job because i also have a little drift car and this would be perfect for having to tow that
A couple times a year i also wanted the manual transmission so that’s again a six-speed it’s gonna have a little bit more aggressive gearing than this so gas mileage does take a small hit shifter’s a bit rubbery the clutch can be a little bit more communicative but me personally if you know how to drive a manual transmission and you don’t mind trying to find one
I would recommend getting one while you can and that’s one of my favorite parts of this gen tacoma there are a wide variety of outfits with different purposes you want a tough as nails work truck for under 30 grand here you go go anywhere work and play vehicle no problem and while i can’t say it pulls off the luxury vibe near as well as the new tundra there’s an
Option for those who hold refinement to a higher priority and the different packages and bed sizes mean that you can mix and match certain attributes if you’d like all the while knowing that this truck will last however long you need it to as long as you take care of the frame in certain regards there’s plenty of room to improve still the next gen has a high bar
To clear thanks for watching if you enjoyed the video leave a like to help me make a fool of the youtube algorithm subscribe and hit the bell for more and thank you to my very loyal patrons i’ll catch you in the next one
Transcribed from video
Which 2023 Toyota Tacoma is the Best? (0-60 & Comparison) By Realistick