First Drive: 2024 Toyota Tacoma Hybrid Is a Radical Leap Forward—and a Spendy One

No automaker knows the value of keeping a good thing going quite like Toyota. Its mid-size pickup, the Tacoma, is the undisputed king of the segment, regularly outselling competitors from the likes of Chevrolet, Ford, and Nissan at a rate of two- and sometimes three-to-one. Here in the States, the Tacoma’s best sales year came in 2021, when a seven-year-old truck sold more than 250,000 units. Last year, more than 230,000 left dealer lots. The closest competitor, Chevrolet’s Colorado, couldn’t even clear six figures in sales.

However, even the kings occasionally need to freshen their approach. Last year, Toyota announced that a new generation of the Tacoma—only the fourth in the nameplate’s nearly 30-year history—was coming. With it would be an all-new platform, modern powertrains, and fresh styling inside and out.

Lovers of the Tacoma’s reliable-as-a-hammer ethos met the news with cautious optimism, myself included. Would complexity dull the ubiquitous mid-sizer’s charm? Would new tech enlighten the experience, or draw it closer to lesser trucks that were trying every which way to outsmart Toyota’s stalwart?

We joined Toyota in sunny San Diego to ascertain a few answers. The two-day event was shockingly busy, with wheel time in everything from the 2025 Camry and the Crown Signia SUV to the 2024 Land Cruiser and the Tacoma. We had maybe an hour in the Tacoma, so what you’ll read below is a collection of surface-level impressions. We’ll line up longer tests of Tacomas in the coming months, so if your question isn’t answered here, bear with us.

Specs: 2024 Toyota Tacoma Hybrid

• Price: TRD Off-Road: $46,600 / $56,795 (Base/As-Tested), TRD Pro: $63,900 / $64,400 (Base/As-Tested), Trailhunter: $63,400 / $63,400 (Base/As-Tested)
• Powertrain: Hybrid, 2.4-liter turbocharged inline-four, eight-speed automatic transmission, 48-hp integrated electric motor, 1.87-kWh NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) battery
• Horsepower: 326 hp @ 6000 rpm
• Torque: 465 lb-ft @ 1700 rpm
• Drivetrain: Selectable 4×4 with two-speed transfer case
• Layout: Front-engine, four-door, 5-passenger body-on-frame mid-size pickup
• EPA-estimated fuel economy (city/highway/combined): TRD Off-Road: 22/24/23, TRD Pro: 22/24/23, Trailhunter: 22/24/23 
• Competitors: Nissan Frontier, Chevrolet Colorado, Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator, Honda Ridgeline

Before we dive in, let’s look at the big changes for the 2024 Tacoma, starting with two new powertrains: The first is a turbocharged, 2.4-liter inline-four that offers 228 or 278 hp and 243 or 317 lb-ft of torque, depending on what trim you spring for. The second, which Toyota calls i-Force Max, pairs the same engine with a hybrid system comprised of a 48-hp electric motor integrated into the eight-speed automatic transmission and a 1.87-kWh nickel-metal-hydride battery. Total system output for the hybrid is 326 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque. You can still get a manual transmission, but only on lower trims, and at the cost of a few ponies and lb-ft of torque.

Though certain lower trims still have leaf springs out back, most of the hotter variants of the Tacoma will now use a multilink setup with coil springs. All Tacomas will finally use disc brakes front and rear. There’s a new overlanding-focused trim called the Trailhunter, though the old apex predator, the TRD Pro, still remains. More on that one in a bit.

You cannot approach the new Tacoma without noticing the completely redesigned exterior. The newer model looks taller, more aggressive, and more athletic up and down the trim range. Toyota’s designers employed the usual tricks—complex surfacing, angular geometric corners, and menacing headlamps to craft something thoroughly of-the-times. I’m preferential to the simpler styling of the outgoing model but won’t argue with anyone who finds this one more appealing.

The newer Tacoma adds between three and four inches of height over the outgoing model, and although front-row headroom in the cab remains exactly the same according to spec sheets (39.7 inches, new and old), the newer cab feels friendlier for long-haul jaunts. Folks knocked the older Tacoma’s stout cab for the way it made you feel like you were sitting almost on the floor with your legs kicked out in front of you; the new cab remedies this sensation, though not entirely. The seating position now strikes a nice middle ground between being tucked into a bunker and perching atop a barstool.

We scored about a half-hour behind the wheel of a TRD Off-Road on the highways and roads leading out to the ranch that served as home base for the event. Despite its fabled reliability, the older Taco’s drivetrain was a dog; passing required plenty of forethought and a stiff kick to drop multiple gears and summon the twist needed to sidestep slower traffic. The new hybrid combo in the truck we sampled required no such hesitation. Just point, squeeze, and let the electric motor and turbocharger build a wall of torque in short order.

That wall of torque also came in handy later in the day, when I got behind the wheel of the Tacoma TRD Pro on an off-road course that Toyota built to show off this trim’s new persona. In the previous generation, the TRD Pro felt caught between wanting to take the fight to the likes of the Chevy Colorado ZR2 with high-speed desert hijinks and playing the ultimate blank canvas for high-budget overland builds, which often plod along at slower speeds. Thanks to the debut of the Trailhunter trim, which is squarely aimed at the latter scenario, the TRD Pro can now focus on excelling at the former.

Trim-specific Fox internal-bypass shocks relish bombing over rough terrain at alarming speeds and soaking up jumps, both of which we had the chance to attempt. Shock absorbers on seatbacks might sound gimmicky, but the TRD Pro’s seats felt like they shielded my spine from enough of the battering undertaken by the rest of the truck to at least dispel the notion of false functionality.

On a particularly bumpy portion, you could see the truck’s hood shake violently, almost concerningly so. When I asked about this later, Sheldon Brown, the Tacoma’s chief engineer, noted that these were early-production trucks, and that a fix was already in the works for the hood. Make of that what you will.

The overlanding crowd will find a lot to like with the new Tacoma Trailhunter. An ARB co-developed lift kit with Old Man Emu shocks comes standard, as does a special steel rear bumper. (Note: The TRD Pro also gets the ARB bumper, but not these OME shocks.) The truck feels extra capable thanks to a standard electronic front sway-bar disconnect mechanism and an added 2 inches up front and 1.5 inches in back of ground clearance. All Trailhunters will be crew cabs (Toyota calls them Double Cabs), but notably, you can get a Trailhunter with either a five- or six-foot bed.

For kicks, I took a long-bed version through the crawling course that featured small rock gardens, plenty of tight turns, and obstacles that hoisted a wheel into the air. Despite the longer wheelbase, (145.1 inches vs. 131.9 inches), the Trailhunter made short work of every obstacle, no doubt aided by the many camera views offered as part of the MultiTerrain Monitor system that will come standard on this trim. The standard 33-inch tires and heaps of underbody armor, including trim-specific rock sliders that can support up to half the GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating; in our case, as much as 6835 pounds), also helped.

The long and short of my time in the three versions mentioned above is this: The new Tacoma, specifically as a hybrid, finally boasts capability that feels on par with the competition. What’s more, Toyota’s engineers and product planners have really leaned into the various personalities that the truck’s owners project onto it. We’ll reserve comparisons between the hybrid and non-hybrid versions of the new truck until we’ve had a chance to drive the latter, but in a vacuum, the i-Force Max system feels well-suited for the next chapter of the Tacoma’s life.

That is, for folks who can stomach the prices. Holy moly, is this thing expensive. The Tacoma TRD Off-Road we took to the ranch rang in at $56,795. The Trailhunter in which we wriggled over the hillsides? That one will run you $63,400. The TRD Pro, meanwhile, commands $64,400.

Some additional context: Chevy’s Colorado ZR2, the truck at which the TRD Pro feels aimed, starts around $48K. A few options can kick it into the mid-50s, still well below the ask for a TRD Pro. Ford finally bestowed the Raptor ethos—the OG in this relatively new performance truck segment—upon the Ranger; that one starts around $58K, also less than the TRD Pro.

Lower-trim Tacomas can be had for sums in the high-$30K range or even the mid-$40K range. That hybrid TRD Off-Road starts at $46,600, but will clear $50K with relative ease. You’re not alone in wondering if some buyers might be better off just stepping up to a modestly optioned full-size pickup at those prices.

But when you talk to most prospective mid-size truck buyers, their first answer is almost always Tacoma. Often, there isn’t a second answer. Despite being older than its competitors, previous-generation Tacomas often commanded higher MSRPs, even when new. A glance at the used market shows that the “Toyota Tax” is alive and well in the mid-size space. Higher MSRPs haven’t prevented the Tacoma from handily outselling competitors before.

Perhaps Toyota is looking to the Tacoma to offset some of the untold sums that went into developing the TNGA-F platform that now underpins all its body-on-frame vehicles. Maybe it’s choosing to cash in on the Tacoma’s notoriety here at the start of chapter four. Whether or not the consumer will be willing to fork over this kind of scratch remains to be seen, but don’t be shocked if the new Tacoma picks up right near where the outgoing model left off, sales-wise. Even if it’s not for you, it’s no use denying that the 2024 Tacoma is anything other than a remarkable step forward.

2024 Toyota Tacoma Hybrid:

Pricing: TRD Off-Road: $46,600 / $56,795 (Base/As-Tested), TRD Pro: $63,900 / $64,400 (Base/As-Tested), Trailhunter: $63,400 / $63,400 (Base/As-Tested)

Highs: Hybrid drivetrain kicks out serious performance, improved seating position, trims that better focus on what many types of Tacoma fans want to do with their trucks

Lows: Lordy, does this thing get expensive, busy exterior styling.

Summary: Whether or not fans will agree with the commensurate price leaps remains to be seen, but at long last, the additional cost feels like it went into tangible aspects of the fourth-generation Tacoma.

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