Still Has The Chops

The 2016 Toyota Tacoma does its heritage proud once the pavement disappears and you’re forced to shift its transfer case into four-wheel low. Both TRD Off-Road and standard four-wheel drive Tacoma models made short work of the array of obstacles arranged for our driving pleasure roughly 100 km north of the city, including rocky outcroppings, 30 to 40 degree inclines and declines, and deep sand. The TRD Off-Road goes the extra mile for 2016 with the inclusion of a new Multi-Terrain Select feature that offers computerized traction assistance for dealing with difficult driving situations. Paired with the truck’s Crawl Control system, you could theoretically use these tools to get yourself very far from civilization with only a modicum of trail experience, which kind of had me wondering whether recreational off-roaders would truly be interested in such a digitally sanitized version of their favourite pastime.

Evolution, Not Revolution

That the 2016 Toyota Tacoma is better than the version of the truck that it replaces is not in dispute: a cheerier, quieter cabin, more powerful, yet still frugal V6, and the undeniably useful, but not much fun Multi-Terrain Select system are all upgrades over the older model. That being said, the revised Tacoma hasn’t made the kind of leap needed to keep it ahead of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, at least not in my mind. Rather than attempt to out-Toyota its Japanese adversary, General Motors elected to present truck buyers with a civilized, yet still utility-focused pair of options, leaving the Tacoma to stay the more traditional pickup course. To borrow an earlier analogy, it’s the difference between a reboot and a remake, and while it seems unlikely that Toyota’s enormous sales advantage will evaporate any time soon, it will be interesting to see which strategy has more mid-size customers lining up outside the marquee in a few years time.

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