Small trucks are for people who are not truck people. Truck guys usually end up with Tundras, F-150s, or off-lease Dodge Rams and think anything with a four-cylinder is for wimps. A truck like the Toyota Tacoma is for those who want or need a pickup semi-regularly, but realize they don’t need a cargo ship to sail with a basket of oranges – or don’t need a whole barn for one horse.
This 4-cylinder Tacoma may not be able to pull a JCB excavator up a hill, but it will move patio furniture, that old fridge your brother gave you for the garage, and cart old mattresses to the dump. Trucks are as handy as zip ties and pocket knifes put together, but can make you want to end your life when you open the fuel door. Then again, in this particular Tacoma I got 9.6 L/100km overall, which is quite good for something with a bed and four-wheel drive. That’s better than the mileage you could expect from the full-size Chevrolet and GMC Hybrid pickups. Yes they have a lot more power and towing capacity, but also cost roughly $15,000 more. And traditionally, small import pickups have among the best resale values of any vehicle you can buy. The 4-cylinder Tacoma is a solid option if you don’t need a truck all the time, and are afraid of the running costs that go along with them.
I ended up driving the Tacoma a lot, and the more I did the more comfortable it revealed itself to be. It’s not typically comfortable, it certainly doesn’t look like it, but it gets what matters most, right. For my body type, the seats are well formed and the steering wheel is the perfect distance away. The clutch pedal didn’t ask me to hyper extend my foot to fully depress, yet didn’t require me to lift my leg to get my foot on top. The shift leaver is distanced ideally from the seatback, meaning I didn’t have to lean forward at all while shifting to 1-3-5, and I didn’t have to bend my elbow to go into 2-4-R. I was able to shift with my hand, not my arm.
The current body style is still going strong, from 2005. While almost five years old, it looks as modern as the rest of the trucks out there. I like the Tacoma’s darkened rear taillights and its pleasantly swollen wheel arches. It sits high, but doesn’t look huge. It’s a nice look, for sure, and a great truck to drive, but the interior styling a tad out of date. It’s attractive and well put together, but it doesn’t quite stack up when put beside other 2009 vehicles. Not that it matters as much as it would if it were a car, because usability, comfort, durability and build quality are what matters more in the truck category, all of which the Tacoma delivers.
The rear seats in the Access Cab are okay in a pinch, but no place for people you care about on long trips. It’s very easy to get in and out of the back via the rear swinging doors, and there are child seat anchors too.
