2026 Toyota Tacoma Road Test and Review

2025 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter ・ Photo by Brady Holt

The average new car in the U.S. sells for around $50,000 today. And the average new pickup truck is even more expensive. Americans love big, comfortable, capable full-size pickups, and they pay dearly for the experience. 

The 2026 Toyota Tacoma offers another way to get a truck bed. It’s a mid-size pickup with prices starting from just $32,245 (plus a mandatory $1,595 destination charge). The Tacoma lineup has a range of basic utility vehicles, luxuriously equipped luxury trucks, and wild adventure-ready machines. 

For this review, we recently drove one of the latter – the off-road-ready Trailhunter, which cost a substantial $65,055 as tested. We’ve previously tested a milder but still-capable TRD Off-Road, which came generously equipped for about $10,000 less. We’re drawing from these two tests to share the Tacoma’s pros and cons so you can see if it’s the right pickup for you. 

Choose Your Style

The Tacoma rides on a scaled-down version of the full-size Toyota Tundra’s frame. And the current Tacoma generation, introduced in 2024, looks a lot like the Tundra as well. Small angular headlights sit astride a hexagonal grille. The body wears crisply defined creases and rugged-looking trim. And the Tacoma’s slim, angular LED taillights are a dead ringer for the bigger Toyota truck. 

Beyond the basics, though, you can choose a lot of different styles for your Tacoma. Different models have different grilles, different bumpers (to prioritize either ground clearance or aerodynamics), different wheels, and different accessories. For example, our Trailhunter has bronze wheels, a snorkel that takes air from up near the roof, and a “chase rack” on the sides of the bed where you can mount accessories – or just enjoy a different silhouette from the typical pickup truck. 

2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Broad Range of Models

Besides just the style differences, you can also choose from a variety of Tacoma body styles, price points, and amenity levels. 

As we mentioned, the Tacoma’s base price is a modest $32,245. But it won’t look anything like the truck you see pictured here. It’s the base SR model with steel wheels, two-wheel drive, and two seats. For a sense of what more people will likely buy, note that a less spartan, more powerful SR5 4WD crew cab costs $40,605 plus a destination charge. And as we mentioned, we tested trucks costing much more than that – thanks to add-ons like additional off-road gear, luxury amenities like heated and ventilated front seats, premium JBL stereos, moonroofs, and power-operated liftgates.

Besides choosing between the two-seat Xtracab and five-passenger Double Cab; between rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive; and between utilitarian and luxurious options lists, the Tacoma lets you make some other selections. You can choose between two turbocharged engines or a class-exclusive gas-electric hybrid. And unlike on most rivals, you can choose between a 5-foot and a 6-foot bed. We’ll come to these points later on. 

2025 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Put It to Work

It’s handy that the Tacoma is available with a long bed. That’s because while some mid-size pickups are primarily lifestyle vehicles, the Tacoma also has a generous payload capability of up to 1,710 pounds. And unlike some trucks that only have their max payload on a base model, the Tacoma can carry this much even with some four-wheel-drive Double Cab trim levels. (However, off-road models have suspensions optimized for trails more than hauling; for example, our tested Trailhunter has a payload of 1,475 pounds.) 

The Tacoma can also tow up to 6,500 pounds. That’s a decent-sized trailer, but rival trucks can haul more. The SR has a less powerful engine that can only tow up to 3,500 pounds. And the gas-electric hybrid tops out at 6,000 pounds. 

2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Interior Keeps It Simple

Many modern pickup trucks have luxurious interiors. That makes sense, given their high price tags. But Toyota bet that Tacoma buyers prefer rugged simplicity, and we think it was a reasonable choice. 

Now, we don’t mean its dashboard looks dated. It’s no throwback, especially if you upgrade from the standard 8-inch infotainment touchscreen to our test vehicle’s big 14-inch unit. Nor is it merely a cheap interior; we like the vibe of its hard but solid plastics and grippy rubber surfaces. But it’s like a Jeep Wrangler – even when it crests $50,000 or even $60,000, this interior won’t feel fancy. We also found a few plastic trim pieces that weren’t aligned perfectly, though without detracting from the cabin's sturdy vibe.

We do appreciate its simple controls – physical buttons and big knobs. That’s a welcome contrast to a Chevrolet Colorado, which makes you use a touchscreen even to turn on the headlights. Granted, Toyota’s infotainment system isn’t our favorite. Especially on the big screen, most of the space is wasted: Rather than displaying multiple pieces of information side by side, it makes you navigate through different menus. On the other hand, technophobes may appreciate its big labels and fonts. It’s basically the small screen rendered in a bigger size.  

2025 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Comfortable Front Seats

For years, Toyota Tacomas were uncomfortable trucks. You sat low, yet headroom was limited, you couldn’t adjust the front seats' height. That’s no longer the case in the latest Tacoma generation. You can sit higher without bumping against the roof, and the front seats are nicely shaped. As we mentioned, you can also enjoy amenities that include a power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated and even ventilated front seats, and a heated steering wheel. 

The rear seat remains on the small side even for a mid-size truck, though. In the four-door Double Cab like our test vehicle, adults can wedge into the back, but not as comfortably as in a Ford Ranger or Chevrolet Colorado. And we had to move the driver’s seat uncomfortably forward to fit a forward-facing child seat in the back, to say nothing of a rear-facing unit. We did appreciate that its top tether anchor was much easier to reach than most pickups’. 

You can either fold down the rear seatback or flip up the seat cushion to carry cargo in the cab instead of passengers. As we mentioned, the extended-cab XtraCab doesn’t even pretend to have a backseat, but the storage makes it handier than an old-fashioned regular cab.

2025 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Turbo Power Comes Standard

Like most of its competitors, the Tacoma comes standard with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. This is a 2.4-liter engine that Toyota calls the i-Force, and it makes 278 horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque on most models. (The base SR gets a detuned version of the engine that makes 228 hp and 243 lb-ft of torque.) This engine is paired with a choice between a smooth-shifting eight-speed automatic or a class-exclusive six-speed manual. Whichever transmission you pick, the Tacoma i-Force isn’t the quickest truck in its class, but it has competitive power. 

It also gets decent EPA ratings of 20 to 23 mpg in mixed driving, depending on the model. When we tested a 4WD Double Cab, it had EPA estimates of 19 mpg city, 23 mpg highway, and 21 mpg combined, and we averaged a respectable 22 mpg. 

2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road ・ Photo by Brady Holt

The Hybrid Option

As we mentioned, the Tacoma also has a class-exclusive hybrid option, which Toyota calls the i-Force Max. Now, don’t start imagining the Tacoma Hybrid gliding past gas stations. The i-Force Max is here for speed, not sipping fuel. It makes 326 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque, though these numbers still don’t make it the rocketship of the mid-size pickup class. It’s also quieter than the standard i-Force, and it gets better EPA ratings: 22 mpg city, 24 mpg highway, and 23 mpg combined. However, our test vehicle cracked 20 mpg in just one drive over a week of testing, and we averaged a lousy 18 mpg overall. 

The hybrid powertrain costs about $3,000 to $5,000 more than the standard i-Force engine on the Tacoma TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, and Limited trim levels. We’d probably stick with the base gas-only engine. The i-Force Max hybrid is the only engine available on the TRD Pro and Trailhunter models. 

Whichever Tacoma you get, expect it to ride and handle like a truck – and go off-road like a truck. It’s a bumpy, noisy ride by the standards of a similarly priced car, and it doesn’t corner with agility. Still, it’s more civilized than Tacomas used to be. And the steering is light and easy without feeling unnaturally disconnected from the wheels. Also, even the Trailhunter’s off-road suspension isn’t too punishing on pavement. 

If you go off-road, the Trailhunter is peak Tacoma for rock-crawling, while the similarly priced TRD Pro is optimized for blasting through the desert. These two models have wider tracks and their own flavor of suspension upgrade. But even less extreme, and less expensive, Tacomas are available with kit like skid plates, a locking rear differential, and plenty of ground clearance. 

2025 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Tacoma vs. the Competition

The Tacoma’s top competition in the mid-size pickup category is the Chevrolet Colorado (and its GMC Canyon twin), Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator, and Nissan Frontier. The Frontier is most like the old Tacoma, with a more old-school driving experience, the fewest luxury features, a tight rear seat, and a choice of cab styles and bed lengths. It also has a non-turbocharged V6 engine. The Tacoma is more economical and easier to drive, and it has more intense off-road models than the Frontier. 

The Ranger is a civilized, comfortable, well-rounded truck with a choice of punchy, quiet turbocharged four- and six-cylinder engines. But unless you get its max-off-road Raptor model, it has less character than the Tacoma. 

The Colorado and Canyon are on-paper winners with lots of power and technology. But we didn’t love their touchscreen-dependent controls or their raspy four-cylinder engines. 

The Gladiator is like a Jeep Wrangler with a pickup bed. It has the unique charm of removable roof panels and doors, plus the round-headlamped face of a classic Jeep. And its price has become more reasonable over the years, especially if you find a discount. But it’s not a top-performing pickup for either work or play, and it’s clumsy to drive. 

The final mid-size pickup is the car-based Honda Ridgeline. It’s a clever, spacious, mild-mannered vehicle – more like a Toyota car than a Toyota truck, if that’s the sort of pickup you’d prefer. Toyota is reportedly planning its own car-based pickup, but it’s expected to be a size smaller to rival the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. 

2024 Chevrolet Colorado Z71 ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Final Thoughts

The 2026 Toyota Tacoma isn’t an alternative to a big, cushy, stretch-out-spacious pickup like the Toyota Tundra – similar looks or not. But if that’s not what you want anyway, it’s at least less cramped and crude than the Tacoma was until a few years ago. 

On paper, the Tacoma doesn’t match some rivals for speed, towing, or back seat space. And that might doom it for you. For other folks, it’s a modern truck that still has plenty of character. It’s no slick, impersonal piece of transportation competence – but nor is it a downright terrible car in everyday use. That’s proved to be the sweet spot for many truck buyers. And if you’re comfortable with the base engine over the costly hybrid, you’ll get this package at a more reasonable price. 

2025 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter ・ Photo by Brady Holt