Instrumented Test
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Fairly McFly for an off-road guy.
It is fitting that our 2015 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Series arrived wearing California license plates, because for a huge swath of the late-boomer/early Gen-X population and beyond, the Tacoma and its Hilux precursor have been an integral component of the California scene. It is no coincidence that Marty McFly lusts soon after a butched-out Toyota Pickup in Back to the Future, despite having free access to a flying DeLorean capable of time travel.
As the de facto vehicle of decision for the intense-sports nation, a Toyota truck on mega-tires could be found wherever off-roaders, surfers, hang gliders, and other Golden State outdoorsy-sorts ventured. This wasn’t lost on Toyota, whose TRD division has produced many special versions of the off-road-focused pickup trucks over the years, the newest iteration of which is the 2015 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Series double cab tested here.
Inferno is the New Black
Judged solely by its zesty and trendy red-orange Inferno exterior paint (Attitude Black Metallic and Super White are the only added color options), you may well not guess that the 2015 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Series double-cab pickup is a decidedly old-school affair. But from the separate essential and fob—no push-button start off here—to the manual seats, it is clear that any space in TRD’s spending budget for the Tacoma Pro Series was reserved for enhancing the truck’s off-road capabilities. Dubbed “Taco Supreme” by TRD, our Tacoma Pro Series double-cab short-bed test truck came equipped with 16-inch beadlock-style aluminum wheels with 265/70 BFG All Terrain AT K/O tires, proudly displaying the most recent version of the familiar chunky off-road tread pattern that is older than the Tacoma itself. The TRD-tuned Bilstein off-road shocks and springs and the attendant lift they provide, plus the retro “TOYOTA” grille logo, combine to deliver an aggro profile that hews pretty closely to the appear of McFly’s dream rig from some 30 years ago. (Nicely, minus the light bar and with 2 additional doors.)
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Brace for Re-entry
Though makers have made wonderful strides in creating off-road-focused rides behave much more politely on pavement, the Taco TRD Pro’s on-road manners continue the old-school vibe. The tires howl at speeds above 20 mph, cornering is regarded as an afterthought, and braking needs making reservations with the challenging, schizophrenic pedal effectively in advance of your desired stopping time and location. Even light applications of the brake pedal lead to the front brakes to grab and the Tacoma’s nose to dive push a bit harder, and the rears lock up with startling predictability, their hold stutter-stepped by the frenzied ABS. That initial enthusiasm, unfortunately, does not translate into good on-road braking functionality, the stop from 70 mph consuming 200 feet. Grip is equally antediluvian, our driver recording a max of .66 g on our 300-foot skidpad.
Motivation is provided by Toyota’s confirmed-but-coarse-sounding 236-hp 4.-liter V-6 mated to a 5-speed automatic (a 6-speed manual will chop $ 980 off our Tacoma double cab’s $ 38,300 MSRP). The zero-to-60 run clocks in at 7.3 seconds, the Taco clearing the quarter-mile traps in 15.9 seconds at 87 mph. Pressing on by way of the whine of off-road tires and the drone of the TRD cat-back exhaust, we attained a governed Vmax of 109 mph. No high-speed touring machine, the Tacoma is a lot more suited to a driving style comfortable with a lot of leeway in braking, accelerating, cornering, and pretty much any other dynamic trait. But the truck’s resilient suspension is completely in its element wheeling over urban fixtures such as parking curbs, speed bumps, and potholes.
Nation Roads
Point the Taco down a bumpy gravel road, even so, and its on-road shortcomings fade away. Although its ultimate efficiency capabilities could be less than, say, those of Ford’s Raptor, the Tacoma’s lengthy-travel suspension nonetheless renders St. Bernard–sized craters insignificant, floating over them with little shock becoming delivered to the chassis. Smoother gravel roads have a shrinking effect on the 127.4-inch wheelbase (140.6 inches with the longbed), imbuing self-assurance exactly where previously there was apprehension. Engaging 4-wheel-higher range by way of the dash-mounted manage and disabling the traction handle had us sliding sideways and accelerating out of corners like a really big, quite orange Subaru WRX. (There’s a explanation Toyota staged the Tacoma TRD Pro’s first drive in the Nevada desert.)
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These very same suspension elements and tires that recoil at the believed of street driving come into their own more than the rough stuff, encouraging sideways behavior and fast winding and unwinding of the steering wheel. The braking’s overt grabbiness is mitigated by loose surfaces, and the truth that the automatic transmission offers only 5 forward ratios becomes irrelevant, ultimately providing us a taste of the Waku-Doki—a Japanese expression for “heart pumping, adrenaline racing”—phrase that Toyota utilised as a theme when building the TRD Pro vehicles. (There are also TRD Pro versions of the 4Runner and Tundra.) When it comes time to climb, crawl, or tug, you can quit the truck and choose 4-wheel-low range, making good use of all 266 lb-ft of grunt the engine produces at 4000 rpm. Even with all the off-highway diversions, we managed 17 mpg in combined driving, which falls virtually in the middle of the EPA’s city/highway ratings of 16/19 mpg.
Forget for a moment that the Tacoma is not dressed out in soft-touch surfaces, woodgrain trim, or the newest in infotainment technologies. And disregard the truth that back-seat room is tight and the knees-as-high-as-hips go-kart driving position hasn’t been altered in 30 years. In a personal-use marketplace exactly where “truck-like” is typically a derisive descriptor, the old-college Toyota Tacoma stands out as the proud nail that refuses to be hammered into carlike conformity. As a outcome, and specifically in TRD Pro Series guise, this Tacoma appeals to any person with a Toyota tiny truck in their previous. Above all, it’s an honest automobile, something that adventurous off-road folks of any age can appreciate, regardless of the state they grew up in.
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2015 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Series Tested: It Likes It Rough
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