The 2024 Toyota Tacoma: A Significant Improvement Over Its Predecessor

When it comes to off-road capability, there are few trucks that can rival the reputation of the Toyota Tacoma. The latest iteration of this iconic vehicle is no exception, and for those who have been following the development of this truck, the wait has been well worth it. With a 360-degree approach to design, engineers at Toyota have made significant strides in improving ride quality, handling, and overall driving experience.

One of the standout features of the 2024 Tacoma is its improved ride refinement and comfort. Unlike previous models, which could feel a bit bouncy or harsh over rough terrain, this new truck is designed to provide a more controlled and stable ride. This is largely due to the addition of coil rear suspension, which replaces the traditional leaf spring setup used in older Tacomas. The result is a significant reduction in body roll and pitch, making for a much smoother ride.

In terms of handling, the 2024 Tacoma has made major strides forward as well. The new truck's improved steering and braking systems work in tandem to provide faster and more responsive cornering. Whether driving on paved roads or tackling rough terrain, this truck is remarkably easy to maneuver, thanks to its precise and intuitive steering response.

But what really sets the 2024 Tacoma apart from its predecessor is its impressive off-road capabilities. With a suite of advanced suspension and drivetrain features, including adaptive dampers and a new 8-speed automatic transmission, this truck is well-equipped to tackle even the most challenging terrain. Whether navigating steep inclines, crossing rough streams, or simply crawling over rocks, the 2024 Tacoma proves itself to be a formidable opponent.

One feature that's sure to delight enthusiasts is the availability of a manual transmission option in certain trim levels, including the SR5 with T-Tube shocks. For those who enjoy the thrill of driving a stick shift, this truck provides an impressively easy-to-use gearbox that's sure to put a smile on your face. And let's not forget about the advanced off-road features, such as the available Crawl Control system, which allows drivers to take control of the truck's speed and acceleration over particularly challenging terrain.

But it's not just about raw performance; the 2024 Tacoma also prioritizes comfort and refinement above all else. The interior space is a welcome upgrade from previous models, with more room for passengers and cargo alike. And while some may have been concerned about the truck's new design, we can report that it's grown on us – the subtle curves and clean lines of this latest iteration make for a remarkably cohesive and stylish package.

Of course, one potential drawback to the 2024 Tacoma is its lack of reliability in certain trim levels. As with any new vehicle, there are always questions about how well it will hold up over time. While Toyota has historically been renowned for its bulletproof reliability, there's no guarantee that this latest iteration will follow suit – only time (and maintenance) will tell.

Overall, the 2024 Toyota Tacoma is a significant improvement over its predecessor, offering a better ride, more advanced off-road capabilities, and an overall driving experience that's sure to delight enthusiasts. With its impressive suite of features and refined design, this truck is well-equipped to tackle even the most challenging terrain – and we can't wait to see how it performs in real-world testing.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI'm here in the canyons of California for the launch of the brand new 2024 toy to Tacoma and before Mark gets in this thing and puts his dirty mits all over it and lives with all the flies in this truck I'll walk you through some of the engineering tidbits Sheldon the chief engineer walked through this vehicle with us at its launch in Hawaii so this is going to be more of a general overview this is now on tngf Toyota's Global Truck architecture it's the same platform that the tundra and the land Cru are on versus the tundra which is honestly more relatable this is a more maneuverable shorter wheel-based vehicle it's been designed designed to focus more on maneuverability and suspension articulation versus Towing stability honestly most of that while there are suspension geometry changes comes from the decrease in wheel base the next thing to talk about is this has now gone towards coil springs while the base work truck purely from a cost perspective still gets leavs all the higher trims get a coil rear end or felink which dramatically improves the drivability of this vehicle it handles better it rides better the frame itself is also so far more rigid than the outgoing Tacoma which means less nvh it's a more refined better Driving Experience you get a little bit more leg room in the back and your hip to ankle ratio is far improved which means the seating position is better it's a more comfortable vehicle and despite its increase in overall dimensions it's honestly not that much heavier than the outgoing truck the controversial bit of the new Tacoma is the V6 is no longer with us take a moment and cry a little bit in its place are two corporate four-cylinder options you get the I force Max which we have not driven it's their highest output most expensive engine it's a 4-cylinder turbocharged Hybrid Power Plant supposed to get tremendous fuel economy makes over 400 foot- pounds of torque the volume engine is the 24 it's turbocharged it's another four-cylinder while it makes far more torque than the outgoing V6 makes about the same horsepower the big difference is how it delivers its power the torque comes in at 1,700 RPM which is substantially lower than it used to in the V6 it's honestly only about 10 to 12% more fuel efficient the big difference is these engines have now been paired to far more capable gearboxes Gan is the old six-speed in its place it's toy is Corporate 8speed while it's different for the Tacoma the shifts themselves are far smoother it's not something you think about and the six-speed manual it's largely the same but it feels a little bit better to use the big question people have is reliability Toyota claims that 50% of the parts on these corporate engines and drivetrain components are different mainly because the QDR or the quality durability cycle for trucks is commercial which is about 50% more difficult to pass so things like cooling oiling solution bearing Parts WEA or not that means this thing is going to be any more as reliable as a V6 as yet to be seen but with that said it's time for Mark to walk you through the interior and exterior check that door God it stinks in here so this is this is Jack right he's like hey man we got a we got I got a big surprise for you I'm like oh what could be more important than being on my yacht with all my female fans well I have my answer I'm in a new to Toyota Tacoma and it's got me so hot and bothered I got the stutters today people have been waiting for this and Jack talked about the technical stuff you know it's very very important to Toyota to have this truck right and on the interior space what I will speak to is they were really really curious is it better how do you how do you think it feels we put so much work here and it's one of those where you get in it and you know that it's working because you don't have to think about the way you utilize it the storage is better like door storage for example We complain about this on a lot of Toyota or luxus products where you can't fit a bottle in the door well if you can't fit a bottle in the door then you got serious problems here there's storage for your phone wallet knickknacks tools like the dashboard has a cubby like the center layout of the center stack is really good you put your phone in here it's not going to fly out like a projectile and incapacitate your passenger I mean everything is physical as well like steering wheel controls are still the traditional matad buttons like they they haven't thrown away the things that made the old Tacoma great and just took the lessons that people complained about for the past 75 years and improved them so you're not going to Fumble you're not going to be pissed off using this thing and the big thing is the comfort and it it says a lot when you get it and you don't think about the fact that like oh I need to keep adjusting my seat or I need to keeping with the steering wheel or messing with it to feel like everything works well I can put this in the gear I can set my seat once I can set the lumbar support once and I'm good to go you can drive it for a long period of time and that combined with the refinement of the updates of this makes a huge difference now clearly technology has been put more to the Forefront here you have uh a different camera system obviously on the upper trim levels and you know if you're big on screens they got you covered there too because this thing is bigger than my grandpa's TV back from the 1970s it is so big it's so massive that you know I'm sure if you get in here you're going to be blown away by it but everything else really aside from that is zero gimmicks it really is a great interior space for a truck and I think people will really appreciate it but it's time to get into the nitty-gritty of how this thing drives and then take it briefly Offroad Mark you know what time it is tell me what time it is it's Taco Time it's not even Tuesday Mark we're in the allnew Tacoma it's got a 4cylinder this is an automatic we are in the SR5 grade we've had the pleasure of driving various trim levels throughout the day we've spoken to the engineers I guess my first question for you Mark is how do you feel about the four-cylinder because that's the most controversial part about this entire truck I mean to be fair like you're you're choosing the old truck because of the six-cylinder was Bulletproof the transmission was bulletproof there's nothing to do the the big complaint was fuel economy and it was slow so this fixes all of that aside from we don't know reliability wise how it's going to hold up turbocharge fort poer it doesn't sound great but the first thing that you're going to notice driving this is the trans tuning is light gear ahead it responds quick to downshifts upshifts it doesn't lag delay it seems to find the right gear faster it doesn't gear hunt it doesn't gear hunt like if you're towing with this thing you know it's going to get in the right gear quicker uh it's not going to need to drop down as far to get the power going and then of course the four cylinder is a lot more responsive you don't have have to deal with like the sluggishness of the old truck so the only thing really to complain about is you know it still sounds like a Ry asked for cylinder despite their noise cancellation algorithms that they put through you know the car uh but I don't really think people are going to care about that uh because the performance is so much better than the old one yeah once once we drive the hybrid variant at a later event I'm curious to see how all that extra torque feels both through the gearbox and honestly the fuel economy is the big thing right this class of vehicle the Colorado is a four popper only this is now a four popper only and the ranger you know yeah you can get the ranger Raptor but I a feeling the vast majority of those will be sold with with the four-cylinder as well it's an interesting time for these trucks from a Dynamics perspective you know we're on the worst kind of road for a big truck really tight technical it's funny that Toyota has us out here driving this road the toe gaze of California but honestly unlike something like a gladiator or the old Tacoma it doesn't feel anywhere as cumbersome it feels far more maneuverable than the tundra we're in the cheapest non-leaf spring variant and the ride quality is still pretty truckish if I'm going to be honest once you get into the billstein equipped vehicles or the fox equipped tierd Pro or Trail Runner the overall ride quality does improve the uh AVS or the Adaptive damper limited it Doo feels softer than this but honestly for 4,000 a little bit over 40 Grand it's a pretty decent sort of like utility truck it's not bad to D drive it doesn't Lane wander the front end's pretty maneuverable it's it's basically the old Tacoma that you know in love with a much better interior package which we've already talked about with a more efficient drivetrain potentially questionable reliability but dynamically in a road like this it's much much better to drive and what it translates to in traffic is a vehicle that's less fatiguing to drive on Long Journeys yeah it doesn't feel as slow like not when I say slow I don't mean like speed-wise I think to your point it's it it shrinks its size down the with with the way they've set up suspension the way they've set up steering and all of that it leads to a far less uh vague Driving Experience to my subjective feel on a longer Journey or on a road like this it isn't going to be as fatiguing because you have extra confidence you're not as worried about what the truck's doing through corners you don't you feel like you don't have to manage the mass as much and then extra maneuverability particularly with the front end is is a is a massive well it doesn't have that like really big disconnected feel front to rear and it doesn't have the the O odd like purposing and side to side motions of the old truck it's just more controlled and more planted and there's less dive there's less squat there's less lateral emotions it it feels much more flat than the old truck and I even out here this is where you really notice it and this is not where most of uh the people are going to be driving this truck but that's why it it's better overall because it's it's a 360 approach like better engine better transmission better uh body control ride control better braking everything is more immediate to it without making it feel uh difficult to maneuver and it's not too sharp where it's like why is this thing so overreactive so even when you're towing you're going to appreciate that or you're hauling things it it's going to feel more maneuverable even that way loaded up yeah the ride quality too just thinking about it from a a regular person perspective it definitely particularly in the SR5 with the T Twin Tube shocks still feels like a truck but at least to my butt this vehicle feels like it is a little bit more isolated in a good way versus the older Tacoma this still feels like an older truck I I I don't think the midsize trucks feel anywhere as good as the full-size trucks to drive yet I mean they are a much lower price point but compared to the older vehicle this is a it's a it's a pretty big step forward well let's put it this way you taking the SR5 one of the lower trim levels that's nonleaf spring yeah and you don't have the best dampers you don't have adaptive dampers here and it's still really good to drive yeah particularly again for the class of vehicle it is but Mark let's go take this bad boy Offroad sounds good so we're in the TRD off-road and we are just completing our off-road Drive Mark in this handsome gentleman with us from Toyota has uh guided us through this so I I don't total their truck how does it feel from the second row sir I mean you know with me looking down at a screen I'm barely getting car sick at all I you know clearly this is hard to judge its capability because we're not driving the other uh Tacoma back to back but what what I will say is much like a street drive it's not a big surprise that the ride refinement and comfort of this car or truck is way better um it feels far less bouncy it feels more controlled more stable uh than to my memory the previous Tacoma how do it feel behind the wheel namely with a manual gearbox honestly I wanted we toy is crazy enough to give journalists a manual in the off-road course and by no means am I particularly brilliant at doing this but it is shockingly easy I mean this guy has been doing this now for how many days 23 oh I'm Sor you've been doing this for 23 years but uh oh uh 3 days three days and all the journal I mean how has it been for them for most of them in the manual uh like you said they uh everybody gets kind of shocked at how easy it is to drive it they're very apprehensive at first and then they they leave very uh surprised yeah honestly if you like the Tacoma and you like the manual transmission element of it there aren't a lot of Cons with this yes the 8-speed it's easier to do this with and it's a much better gearbox than it used to be but the manual is nothing you should be scared of but with that Mark I think it's time for us to wrap up this very long video yeah sounds good Jack I can't wait to get out of the back seat of this thing final thoughts on the 2024 Toyota Tacoma this was a launch program so let me be clear we did not get a lot of time with this truck and we did not drive the hybrid variants hopefully in the future we'll be able to tell you how the trail Hunter and the TRD Pro both drive I will say though this 2024 Tacoma objectively is better in essentially every metric versus the old truck it rides better less nvh makes its way into the cabin it handles better the coil rear end goes a long way improving ride refinement and the drivetrain the 4cylinder turbocharged engine both in automatic and manual are faster and produce better fuel economy and just overall better drivetrains and the interior space is a much more pleasant place to be in you fit if you're a regularized human the seats are far more comfortable it's really just a better truck in every metric the two places it may suffer is well it no longer has the known quantity of bulletproof reliability the best thing about that V6 other than the way it sounded was the fact that you knew it would outlive you if you maintained it correctly that currently is a giant question mark with this four-cylinder truck and the second con which is largely subjective is the way it looks from my understanding at least in the comments not everybody loves the way this new 20124 Tacoma looks and that's fine honestly it's subjective you'll probably grow into it like a new pair of pants with that thanks for watching hope to see you soonI'm here in the canyons of California for the launch of the brand new 2024 toy to Tacoma and before Mark gets in this thing and puts his dirty mits all over it and lives with all the flies in this truck I'll walk you through some of the engineering tidbits Sheldon the chief engineer walked through this vehicle with us at its launch in Hawaii so this is going to be more of a general overview this is now on tngf Toyota's Global Truck architecture it's the same platform that the tundra and the land Cru are on versus the tundra which is honestly more relatable this is a more maneuverable shorter wheel-based vehicle it's been designed designed to focus more on maneuverability and suspension articulation versus Towing stability honestly most of that while there are suspension geometry changes comes from the decrease in wheel base the next thing to talk about is this has now gone towards coil springs while the base work truck purely from a cost perspective still gets leavs all the higher trims get a coil rear end or felink which dramatically improves the drivability of this vehicle it handles better it rides better the frame itself is also so far more rigid than the outgoing Tacoma which means less nvh it's a more refined better Driving Experience you get a little bit more leg room in the back and your hip to ankle ratio is far improved which means the seating position is better it's a more comfortable vehicle and despite its increase in overall dimensions it's honestly not that much heavier than the outgoing truck the controversial bit of the new Tacoma is the V6 is no longer with us take a moment and cry a little bit in its place are two corporate four-cylinder options you get the I force Max which we have not driven it's their highest output most expensive engine it's a 4-cylinder turbocharged Hybrid Power Plant supposed to get tremendous fuel economy makes over 400 foot- pounds of torque the volume engine is the 24 it's turbocharged it's another four-cylinder while it makes far more torque than the outgoing V6 makes about the same horsepower the big difference is how it delivers its power the torque comes in at 1,700 RPM which is substantially lower than it used to in the V6 it's honestly only about 10 to 12% more fuel efficient the big difference is these engines have now been paired to far more capable gearboxes Gan is the old six-speed in its place it's toy is Corporate 8speed while it's different for the Tacoma the shifts themselves are far smoother it's not something you think about and the six-speed manual it's largely the same but it feels a little bit better to use the big question people have is reliability Toyota claims that 50% of the parts on these corporate engines and drivetrain components are different mainly because the QDR or the quality durability cycle for trucks is commercial which is about 50% more difficult to pass so things like cooling oiling solution bearing Parts WEA or not that means this thing is going to be any more as reliable as a V6 as yet to be seen but with that said it's time for Mark to walk you through the interior and exterior check that door God it stinks in here so this is this is Jack right he's like hey man we got a we got I got a big surprise for you I'm like oh what could be more important than being on my yacht with all my female fans well I have my answer I'm in a new to Toyota Tacoma and it's got me so hot and bothered I got the stutters today people have been waiting for this and Jack talked about the technical stuff you know it's very very important to Toyota to have this truck right and on the interior space what I will speak to is they were really really curious is it better how do you how do you think it feels we put so much work here and it's one of those where you get in it and you know that it's working because you don't have to think about the way you utilize it the storage is better like door storage for example We complain about this on a lot of Toyota or luxus products where you can't fit a bottle in the door well if you can't fit a bottle in the door then you got serious problems here there's storage for your phone wallet knickknacks tools like the dashboard has a cubby like the center layout of the center stack is really good you put your phone in here it's not going to fly out like a projectile and incapacitate your passenger I mean everything is physical as well like steering wheel controls are still the traditional matad buttons like they they haven't thrown away the things that made the old Tacoma great and just took the lessons that people complained about for the past 75 years and improved them so you're not going to Fumble you're not going to be pissed off using this thing and the big thing is the comfort and it it says a lot when you get it and you don't think about the fact that like oh I need to keep adjusting my seat or I need to keeping with the steering wheel or messing with it to feel like everything works well I can put this in the gear I can set my seat once I can set the lumbar support once and I'm good to go you can drive it for a long period of time and that combined with the refinement of the updates of this makes a huge difference now clearly technology has been put more to the Forefront here you have uh a different camera system obviously on the upper trim levels and you know if you're big on screens they got you covered there too because this thing is bigger than my grandpa's TV back from the 1970s it is so big it's so massive that you know I'm sure if you get in here you're going to be blown away by it but everything else really aside from that is zero gimmicks it really is a great interior space for a truck and I think people will really appreciate it but it's time to get into the nitty-gritty of how this thing drives and then take it briefly Offroad Mark you know what time it is tell me what time it is it's Taco Time it's not even Tuesday Mark we're in the allnew Tacoma it's got a 4cylinder this is an automatic we are in the SR5 grade we've had the pleasure of driving various trim levels throughout the day we've spoken to the engineers I guess my first question for you Mark is how do you feel about the four-cylinder because that's the most controversial part about this entire truck I mean to be fair like you're you're choosing the old truck because of the six-cylinder was Bulletproof the transmission was bulletproof there's nothing to do the the big complaint was fuel economy and it was slow so this fixes all of that aside from we don't know reliability wise how it's going to hold up turbocharge fort poer it doesn't sound great but the first thing that you're going to notice driving this is the trans tuning is light gear ahead it responds quick to downshifts upshifts it doesn't lag delay it seems to find the right gear faster it doesn't gear hunt it doesn't gear hunt like if you're towing with this thing you know it's going to get in the right gear quicker uh it's not going to need to drop down as far to get the power going and then of course the four cylinder is a lot more responsive you don't have have to deal with like the sluggishness of the old truck so the only thing really to complain about is you know it still sounds like a Ry asked for cylinder despite their noise cancellation algorithms that they put through you know the car uh but I don't really think people are going to care about that uh because the performance is so much better than the old one yeah once once we drive the hybrid variant at a later event I'm curious to see how all that extra torque feels both through the gearbox and honestly the fuel economy is the big thing right this class of vehicle the Colorado is a four popper only this is now a four popper only and the ranger you know yeah you can get the ranger Raptor but I a feeling the vast majority of those will be sold with with the four-cylinder as well it's an interesting time for these trucks from a Dynamics perspective you know we're on the worst kind of road for a big truck really tight technical it's funny that Toyota has us out here driving this road the toe gaze of California but honestly unlike something like a gladiator or the old Tacoma it doesn't feel anywhere as cumbersome it feels far more maneuverable than the tundra we're in the cheapest non-leaf spring variant and the ride quality is still pretty truckish if I'm going to be honest once you get into the billstein equipped vehicles or the fox equipped tierd Pro or Trail Runner the overall ride quality does improve the uh AVS or the Adaptive damper limited it Doo feels softer than this but honestly for 4,000 a little bit over 40 Grand it's a pretty decent sort of like utility truck it's not bad to D drive it doesn't Lane wander the front end's pretty maneuverable it's it's basically the old Tacoma that you know in love with a much better interior package which we've already talked about with a more efficient drivetrain potentially questionable reliability but dynamically in a road like this it's much much better to drive and what it translates to in traffic is a vehicle that's less fatiguing to drive on Long Journeys yeah it doesn't feel as slow like not when I say slow I don't mean like speed-wise I think to your point it's it it shrinks its size down the with with the way they've set up suspension the way they've set up steering and all of that it leads to a far less uh vague Driving Experience to my subjective feel on a longer Journey or on a road like this it isn't going to be as fatiguing because you have extra confidence you're not as worried about what the truck's doing through corners you don't you feel like you don't have to manage the mass as much and then extra maneuverability particularly with the front end is is a is a massive well it doesn't have that like really big disconnected feel front to rear and it doesn't have the the O odd like purposing and side to side motions of the old truck it's just more controlled and more planted and there's less dive there's less squat there's less lateral emotions it it feels much more flat than the old truck and I even out here this is where you really notice it and this is not where most of uh the people are going to be driving this truck but that's why it it's better overall because it's it's a 360 approach like better engine better transmission better uh body control ride control better braking everything is more immediate to it without making it feel uh difficult to maneuver and it's not too sharp where it's like why is this thing so overreactive so even when you're towing you're going to appreciate that or you're hauling things it it's going to feel more maneuverable even that way loaded up yeah the ride quality too just thinking about it from a a regular person perspective it definitely particularly in the SR5 with the T Twin Tube shocks still feels like a truck but at least to my butt this vehicle feels like it is a little bit more isolated in a good way versus the older Tacoma this still feels like an older truck I I I don't think the midsize trucks feel anywhere as good as the full-size trucks to drive yet I mean they are a much lower price point but compared to the older vehicle this is a it's a it's a pretty big step forward well let's put it this way you taking the SR5 one of the lower trim levels that's nonleaf spring yeah and you don't have the best dampers you don't have adaptive dampers here and it's still really good to drive yeah particularly again for the class of vehicle it is but Mark let's go take this bad boy Offroad sounds good so we're in the TRD off-road and we are just completing our off-road Drive Mark in this handsome gentleman with us from Toyota has uh guided us through this so I I don't total their truck how does it feel from the second row sir I mean you know with me looking down at a screen I'm barely getting car sick at all I you know clearly this is hard to judge its capability because we're not driving the other uh Tacoma back to back but what what I will say is much like a street drive it's not a big surprise that the ride refinement and comfort of this car or truck is way better um it feels far less bouncy it feels more controlled more stable uh than to my memory the previous Tacoma how do it feel behind the wheel namely with a manual gearbox honestly I wanted we toy is crazy enough to give journalists a manual in the off-road course and by no means am I particularly brilliant at doing this but it is shockingly easy I mean this guy has been doing this now for how many days 23 oh I'm Sor you've been doing this for 23 years but uh oh uh 3 days three days and all the journal I mean how has it been for them for most of them in the manual uh like you said they uh everybody gets kind of shocked at how easy it is to drive it they're very apprehensive at first and then they they leave very uh surprised yeah honestly if you like the Tacoma and you like the manual transmission element of it there aren't a lot of Cons with this yes the 8-speed it's easier to do this with and it's a much better gearbox than it used to be but the manual is nothing you should be scared of but with that Mark I think it's time for us to wrap up this very long video yeah sounds good Jack I can't wait to get out of the back seat of this thing final thoughts on the 2024 Toyota Tacoma this was a launch program so let me be clear we did not get a lot of time with this truck and we did not drive the hybrid variants hopefully in the future we'll be able to tell you how the trail Hunter and the TRD Pro both drive I will say though this 2024 Tacoma objectively is better in essentially every metric versus the old truck it rides better less nvh makes its way into the cabin it handles better the coil rear end goes a long way improving ride refinement and the drivetrain the 4cylinder turbocharged engine both in automatic and manual are faster and produce better fuel economy and just overall better drivetrains and the interior space is a much more pleasant place to be in you fit if you're a regularized human the seats are far more comfortable it's really just a better truck in every metric the two places it may suffer is well it no longer has the known quantity of bulletproof reliability the best thing about that V6 other than the way it sounded was the fact that you knew it would outlive you if you maintained it correctly that currently is a giant question mark with this four-cylinder truck and the second con which is largely subjective is the way it looks from my understanding at least in the comments not everybody loves the way this new 20124 Tacoma looks and that's fine honestly it's subjective you'll probably grow into it like a new pair of pants with that thanks for watching hope to see you soon\n"