Pickup buyers no longer have a subcompact or a real compact vehicle to choose from, with American built options being dropped from the market a few years ago. The mid-size segment is holding on with a few manufacturers even bringing new products online.
The 2015 Toyota Tacoma has a history of reliability and flexibility within the confines of a lower tow capacity and hauling capabilities due to size, even as it has grown from a compact to the mid-size segment over the years. The current version rolled out to showrooms in 2005, and for 2015 is dropping the regular cab from the lineup leaving two cab choice. The standard offering is an Access Cab with a 6-foot 1-inch bed that has the small rear-hinged doors and the Double Cab that is actually a crew cab. The Double Cab has two bed options, in addition to the 6-foot 1-inch bed on the Access Cab, there is a 5-foot short bed available. All three configurations are available in rear two wheel drive or four wheel drive.
The Tacoma is available with two engine choices that include the factory standard 2.7-liter four-cylinder that is backed by a five speed manual gear box on the Access Cab that has an EPA rating of 22 city/25 highway/22 mpg combined. For the 2015 TRD Pro Tacoma Double Cab package, the standard engine is the 4.0-liter V6 that is backed by the five speed automatic that carries an EPA estimate of 16 city, 21 highway and 18 combined for the 4WD package. With this equipment, the Tacoma has a tow rating of 6,400 lbs.
On the exterior, the TRD Pro Tacoma comes with a chrome grille as standard, along with color matched bumpers, foglights, color keyed trim, mirror-mounted turn signals and smoked headlights. It also comes with a wide variety of off-road features starting with a higher ride height due to the suspension upgrades that include the Bilstein shocks, TRD-Tuned springs to give more travel to the exclusive black 16-inch steel wheels that are covered by a set of black fender flares. There are also mud guards and skid plates that make this vehicle off-road ready from the factory.
On the interior, the standard Tacoma comes with the power locks and windows, air conditioning, cloth upholstery, fold-up rear seats that have under seat storage, Bluetooth, the 6.1-inch Entune touchscreen display and the audio system that includes a CD player, iPod/USB connectivity along with an auxiliary audio jack. The TRD Pro package also adds in the metallic-look instrument panel trim, leather–wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, dual sun visors with mirrors and a rear view camera as standard equipment.
Pricing Notes on the 2015 TRD Pro Tacoma
The 2015 Toyota Tacoma starts near $21,650 for a base Access Cab two wheel drive model with as the regular cab is no longer available. Stepping up to the Double Cab with V6 automatic brings the starting MSRP nearer to the $29,000 mark. The review vehicle is the 2015 TRD Pro Tacoma Double Cab with the V6, automatic and 16-inch black wheels wrapped in BFG All Terrain rubber with a MSRP of $37,415 as tested.
For more information on the 2015 TRD Pro Tacoma visit your local Toyota dealer or online at www.toyota.com/tacoma.
