Toyota Tacoma

Published · Researched 2026-09-21

Toyota Tacoma — review

Two Tacomas exist now, and the honest answer is that both are good trucks — they just ask you to believe different things.

The third-generation truck (2016–2023) asks you to believe in the 3.5-liter V6: an engine with a long, boring, wonderful record of simply working. Its complaints were never about catastrophe — they were about calibration. Shift delays, lazy throttle response, harsh 1–2 shifts; Toyota issued the T-SB-0077-16 ECM reflash and most owners moved on. With age, watch the plastic coolant and oil junction points, which weep on high-mile trucks the way all aging plastic does. That's the whole rap sheet, and it's why used values are made of granite.

The fourth-generation truck (2024+) asks you to believe in the future: a 2.4-liter turbo four (278 hp) or the i-FORCE MAX hybrid (326 hp), a better ride, more torque, nicer tech, a cabin that finally feels modern. Owners who switched report exactly that — plus a few niggles they'd rather not have: a driver-door rattle, a louder cycling A/C compressor, a rear seat and storage setup one owner called smaller than his old truck's. "Minor annoyances," he said, and meant it. The open question nobody can answer yet is the one that matters most: will the turbo four and the hybrid still be humming at 200,000 miles? The community's honest position is wait-and-see, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.

What the forums and owner groups make clear is that this is now a personality test. Third-gen loyalists talk about proven simplicity the way people talk about a good dog. Fourth-gen converts talk about drivability — one owner put it bluntly, saying the new truck felt like a Corolla every time he gassed it, and he didn't entirely mean it as a compliment. The truck drives better; it feels less like a truck. Whether that's progress depends on what you wanted a truck for.

The support story is the segment's best: dealers everywhere, independents who know these trucks blindfolded, parts for decades, and resale values that forgive many sins. The calibration TSB history shows Toyota actually fixes what owners complain about, eventually.

Who should skip it: if you tow heavy often, the midsize segment is a compromise and the full-size trucks do it better. If you're buying a 2024 sight unseen from the first months of production, slow down and check the VIN for outstanding TSBs. And if your heart is set on a V6 soundtrack and zero turbo complexity, the used market is your only option — the new truck doesn't offer one.

Sweet spot: 2023 — the last of the V6 trucks, with every issue known, documented, and priced into a $32k–41k used band. Years to avoid: none, categorically — but treat early-build 2024s as guilty until a VIN check proves them innocent. If you want the new truck, a 2025+ with the teething issues behind it is the calmer buy.

The i-FORCE MAX hybrid deserves specific attention because it's the drivetrain Toyota is betting the truck's future on. The electric motor fills in the turbo's low-end gaps, and the result is 326 hp with a fat torque curve that makes the truck feel effortless — towing, merging, crawling. Early owners praise the drivability. What nobody can tell you is how the hybrid system ages in truck duty: heat, load, and 150,000 miles of it. Toyota's hybrid record in cars and crossovers is excellent, which counts for something, but a truck is a harder life. This is the highest-upside, highest-unknown choice in the lineup.

Configurations matter more than usual here. Cab and bed combinations, the available disconnecting stabilizer bar on Trailhunter, the tech packages — the 2024+ Tacoma is a more configurable truck than the old one, and also a more expensive one once you start checking boxes. Price your actual build, not the base MSRP, and remember that the used market for these is still settling — early depreciation data is thin, so buy the truck you want rather than the one you think will hold value best.

Pricing, September 2026: new from $34,290 (TrueCar listing). Used 2021s $27k–36k; 2024s $36k–48k. 4WD and TRD trims add $4k–8k across the board.