• by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, January 6, 2025

Pickup trucks continue to be hot, with several full-size models landing at the top of the best sellers list year after year. 

Although I don’t have the need for a “work truck,” I get the appeal. They are undeniably handy if you have something to move, even if it’s just a bunch of bags of mulch or plants from the garden center. 

I recently test drove the mid-sized Toyota Tacoma and almost got to use the bed for the kind of thing it’s meant for — hauling a bunch of bagged leaves. But alas, my good intentions were thwarted by rain, so the bed sat empty during the week I test drove it. 

A new spot from Toyota, “Discover New Lands, Blaze New Trails,” shows off the brand’s family of trucks, including the Tacoma. They are a capable bunch and if you are into the great outdoors, they will all get you there. 

Toyota ran an especially heart-warming ad over the holidays — “Real Reward” from Saatchi & Saatchi —that shows a couple using the Tacoma for picking up a Christmas tree (perfect use-case scenario) and also enlisting the extremely roomy backseat to help a lost dog make its way home. 

Having just spent some quality time myself crawling around the backseat of the 4x4 double cab removing items from a huge Costco shopping trip, I can attest to its incredible roominess. You can easily stand up several 25 pound bags of birdseed in the area where a backseat passenger's legs would go.

Even if you aren’t going off into the wilderness, the Tacoma TRD Off-Road is stylish for city driving. The go-anywhere truck is entirely new for 2024 both inside and out and has a lot of great design cues. I appreciated the center console, which provides a wireless phone charger that actually works, room for two large cups and a side area for keys, glasses, snacks or whatever you might want to keep handy. 

The base price of the truck is $42,900, but that’s without the $8,800 TRD Off-Road Premium Package, which includes heated and ventilated 8-way adjustable seats, a leather-trimmed heated steering wheel, a 14-inch multimedia display and a JBL premium audio with JBL Flex portable speaker (a cool offering that let you take a wireless speaker out to the bed of the truck if you are working back there or tailgating.)  

There’s a couple of other add-ons which bring the total price including destination to $54,784. That’s higher than the average new vehicle price of $47,000, but trucks and SUVs by and large are more expensive than cars across the board. It’s not hard to spend six figures on some pickup trucks and SUVs, especially the electric powered models. 

Mileage is what you’d expect for a gasoline-powered mid-sized pickup truck — 19 mpg city and 23 mpg highway for a combined 21 mpg city/highway.

I found it easier to park than other similarly sized pick-up trucks I’ve driven. The Tacoma has a turning radius of 40 feet, which makes it manageable in urban environments. That’s a huge plus in crowded city parking lots. It definitely gets a top score for maneuverability.