2022 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Review _ The Porsche of Mid-Size Trucks

The Toyota Tacoma is the Porsche of midsize trucks, and the TRD Pro is the GT3. It's outfitted for extreme performance, and it's hard to find one. Years before the used car market went crazy with price, you could sell a Tacoma TRD Pro for what you paid for it. That's the thing about this truck, it stays expensive for years after you buy one, even if it's painted like a tennis ball. There are changes for 2022, significant ones that you can't tell right away, so I will show you those. Plus, my camera car today is another Toyota. It's a 4Runner, so we're going to have some fun today. Told you so. Before you buy a 4x4, get your old car out the door with CarGurus. Type a few details, get a cash offer from thousands of dealers nationwide. If you like it, they'll pick it up and pay you. Since this Tacoma generation came out for 2016, we've reviewed one almost every year, and this is our third consecutive review with a TRD Pro. Winter. Spring. Summer. Because you all can't get enough. I'm going to save my complaints until the end, because right now I want to have some fun off-road where this truck really belongs. That's the great thing about trucks like this. Kevlar reinforced tires. I've got 9.4 inches of clearance. I don't have to worry about really any sort of mud. I could sync this thing up to the doors. Not that I really want to try that today, but you can. You'll be fine. The TRD Pro is kind of like a candy store. There's so many things to press. You want to just see what they do. So I've got up here, crawl control, multi-terrain select. Down here, I got the four-wheel drive. Can shift that into low. It's like, what do you want to do? You press a button, the TRD Pro makes it happen. So let's go into four low. There we go. Now, it's always nice when you're in four low, because the truck does several things for you. It turns off the traction control, the stability control. It turns off the collision warning, and it puts these cameras on, the forward and the side cameras on, on the screen the whole time. They will not shut off unless you necessarily drive very fast, which you don't want to do in four low. It also shows you the pitch angle, and you can cycle through different camera modes if you so choose. That is very helpful when you're off-road, because you want to be able to see everything. So once you've prepared yourself in four low, look above. Hit the MTS button, and then you control this dial between mud and sand. You got loose rock, mogul. That sounds like fun. Rock and dirt, or just rock. I don't feel like rocking out today, so I think I'm going to choose some mud and sand. Pretty much a good default choice. What this does is it changes the throttle and the traction control characteristics. So you don't really have to do anything. It's not quite as advanced as, say, Land Rover's terrain response system that does even more, but it's pretty helpful. What's also nice, you can get electronic locking differential. That's also standard. So we'll do that. It's always better to engage that before you actually need it. It's going to get a little bumpy in here, but the TRD Pro just crawls right out. And speaking of crawling, I can activate crawl control. So let's try that. I engage crawl up here. What that does, it's basically an off-road cruise control. So all you have to do is point and steer. It will brake for you, and will also accelerate for you. You can also adjust the speed using the same knob you use for multi-terrain select. So right now I'm on high. What you're hearing now is the ABS activating. And say this is too fast a speed, drop it down a little bit. Say I want to go a little slower. Now we are truly crawling. Again, I can boost up the speed here to the max setting. There's five. And just as much as it works uphill, does the same thing downhill. That's the good thing about this system. You'll find on a lot of SUVs and trucks, you have hill descent control. That only works downhill. But with this Toyota system, it's both ways, up and down. All of these features I just mentioned, you cannot get on the six-speed manual. But you do have that choice on the TRD Pro. Not on every Tacoma. While you get a choice of transmission, you get one engine. Three and a half liter V6, 278 horsepower, and 265 pound-feet of torque. Now the way this engine is tuned with the throttle, it's soft. It's lazy. That's because you want progressive input, very deliberate inputs off-road. You don't want anything to be too sharp or aggressive. Because that'll get you out of control in no time. How I feel in this truck? I feel confident. I just feel like the suspension is completely sorted. You just drive it, point it, go. It drives over anything. At low or higher speeds, these Fox racing shocks that are on here. And again, they're two and a half inches in diameter. Pretty substantial. Don't worry about the bumps, because the springs have so much travel. And you've got to remember how much clearance there is. Yes, it's true that a Subaru Outback Wilderness has just as much ground clearance as this Tacoma. But it certainly doesn't have any of the angles, especially the approach angle. You can get up some very steep inclines with this thing. Who's shooting at us? It's just crawl control. Pumping the ABS for you. So all you have to do is sit back and steer. And if you can't see what's ahead of you, using the cameras on screen. It's a really nice feature. I've had enough of that. You can also just shift into a lower gear. That also helps. Right now, we're just crossing a small river. No, we're not. We're crossing a small stream right now. And it's really no big deal in this truck. Pitch it kind of wherever you want. And I know there's plenty of spring travel. Not going to be an issue. Even in four low, the transmission is shifting pretty smoothly. I like that. Finally, the last great thing about the Tacoma is that it's nice and narrow. And it's not too long. If you try taking a full size pickup truck on any sort of narrow trail, forget it. It's just too long. The wheelbase is too long. So you just can't get over the same obstacles. And you just can't steer clearly around things like you can in a vehicle of this size. On the road, B6 engine really kind of labors. And when you get it in gear, it's got power. It's just the sound. Well, it's kind of industrial drone to me. A lot of times a nice snarl up in the upper rev range. But ordinarily, you don't hear that. That's because the transmission keeps short shifting. The only way, like I've said before, to get extra power, is to push the button that says power on the dash. That's the only way to do it. On the road, you'll find yourself dipping more into the throttle because the Tacoma loses a lot of speed. These are very knobby tires. It's very not aerodynamic. And these gaps in the gears, I always talk about that on low gear transmissions. It's only a six speed. We're in the year 2022, right? The Colorado has an eight speed. The Frontier has nine. The Ranger has 10. Toyota has other transmissions, but they leave the six in the Tacoma. There's also a 2.7 liter inline four. It's not as bad as it sounds because on the highway, not that noisy. And the fuel economy is actually better than the EPA. But in this V6, 18 city, 22 highway, and only 20 combined. That number is pretty horrendous, especially when you consider that full size trucks with the same engine or even larger get the same or better fuel economy. Where on the trail, the TRD Pro feels pretty nimble, especially compared to a full size truck. It's easy to place on the road. It feels a lot larger than it is because it's slow to react to basically everything. The steering is slow. You really have to make some corrections. There's not a ton of on center feel. It's noisy. You already heard the engine. That's what the special cat back sport exhaust that comes standard in the TRD Pro. I normally like loud exhaust, but you can throw that one away. I don't really need to hear it. I will give it this. It is very comfortable. So that same great off road ride from those long travel springs and all the damper settings, it translates to a very good on road ride. You never get punished. You always feel like you can drive over anything and you can. So it rolls a lot, including when you break. I mean, they work right to my brown eyes. The Tacoma is the best looking midsize truck. Electric Lime is a new color for 2022 and no doubt it'll be rare and it's a big fun toy. There's actually some streamlined elements to the cab. Check that out, especially from the side. Kind of has a sporty profile, but really what you're looking at is this front. It's such a slab blunt front end, especially that grill Toyota in all caps, just like the old FJ Cruisers. Very classic look. That look is shared if you get the SR5 Trail Edition. That's a much cheaper version that gives you a lot of this truck style for less money. But you do not get these headlights, LED sequential turn signals, and it lights up TRD on the left and Pro on the right. The TRD Pro also has fog lights made by Rigid Industries and a very big skid plate with TRD stamped in bright red. This Tacoma has an accessory underneath the hood. It's a TRD air filter that lets more flow in. That adds some more power, Toyota doesn't say. But the only issue is that this is where the hood scoop is supposed to be and there's no air intake, none whatsoever. So while it looks really cool on the outside, it doesn't do much. Another standout feature are the black wheels. Not only does the color match the fender flares and the bumper and the grill, it's got a nice red pop of color here in the center on those caps. I like that. And the wheels are wrapped in Kevlar reinforced Goodyear all-terrain tires. That's what really gets this truck moving. What's behind that? Reinforced forged upper control arms. They're all aluminum and that's a brand new piece of hardware for 2022. And look at that red. It just looks so good. Matches the center caps. They really were thinking. What else does it have? It has one and a half inches extra suspension lift in the front and another half inch in the rear. That's another change for 2022. And while the clearance is the same at 9.4 inches across every Tacoma model, on the TRD Pro, that extra lift does improve the breakover, the approach and the departure angles. The TRD Pro comes one way as a crew cab with the short five foot bed. This one has some special Toyota accessories. Not only does it have all the cargo lights that you don't normally get, it's got this bed extender that transforms from kind of a luggage cargo area inside when the tailgate's closed to a normal extender. Swivels 180 degrees. It's a pretty nice design. There's also a TRD exhaust tip to show everybody how TRD Pro you really are. The interior. It's a place to sit and drive. Now, it's not really saying much, but this is the best midsize pickup truck interior in terms of materials and finish. The Tacoma is all basic all the time. Off-roading is serious business, you know. And with that, you get good visibility and sight lines at every corner of the truck. One problem. There's no rear defroster, but there is a power sliding window. The front seats are decent. They have an interesting kind of vinyl texture here. It kind of feels like rubber. I like that. But the back seats, I wouldn't subject anyone to a long road trip. These hard plastics don't bother me all that much. It's a rugged pickup truck. And for fit and finish, it's nicer than a Jeep Gladiator and a lot of other trucks. And here's an option that you don't normally find in a car, but increasingly in pickup trucks. A steel safe. Why use that? But in case you're wondering, combination is one, two, three, four. You won't find any fancy digital displays here. Just a simple gauge cluster and this small color display. The air vent swivel, they don't need a separate flow dial. That's a nice, simple design. The Tacoma's best technology is all the physical four-wheel drive hardware. And you can control them all with real knobs, real buttons. There's 360 cameras on here. But check out the quality of that rear camera. Now check out the quality of the front and the sides. It kind of has the resolution of a Sega Genesis. It is there and you can see all this while you're off-roading. But the resolution should be a lot better. The infotainment is looking pretty dated, but it's like that on a lot of Toyota products that haven't upgraded to Toyota's new system. You'll find that on the new 2022 Tundra. It is not on this Tacoma. However, you can get wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. And this one comes with Wi-Fi. You can use apps from the Entune app suite on your phone. That's a bit older. And there also is a wireless charging pad. And thankfully, when you get the TRD Pro, you get a pretty good JBL stereo. They've got some good bass control. Standard on every Tacoma is adaptive cruise, forward emergency braking, and lane departure. There's no lane centering, but there's also front knee airbags and auto high beams. And that's it. The 2022 Tacoma starts at $27,150 for the SR. That's with two-wheel drive, the access cab, and the four-cylinder. There are six trims, and you'll probably end up paying $40 with options. My TRD Pro was $51,853 with accessories and destination. After three years, it'll sell for $51,853. Every Toyota enthusiast always wants a TRD Pro. But there's competition. Nissan Frontier Pro 4X, Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison, Ford Ranger Tremor, and the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon. That's a lot of good choices. Fresh out of the box, the Tacoma can tread almost anywhere. Any Tacoma is capable, but all the suspension upgrades on the TRD Pro take it to the next level. Plus, I'd just buy it for the looks. It's like a big matchbox toy. So what do you think? This truck, Nissan Frontier, we've reviewed them all. Check it out at CarGurus.com. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, where we do videos like this every single week, all year. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.