FIRST DRIVE | 2016 Toyota Tacoma
Awakens THE FORCE
Everyone loves a good underdog story—e.g., every “Star Wars” epic—but that’s not the feeling you get whatsoever with the hot-selling Tacoma. It’s not 1957 (Toyota’s first year in the U.S.); the Tacoma has developed a loyal and very interactive following. And we’re not in Hollywood, California, where Toyota originally set up shop in ’57. No, today our boots have landed in Seattle, Washington, a stone’s throw from the city of Tacoma. Toyota has provided precisely six hours of access to drive, learn about, and photograph the 2016 Tacoma.
94 MOTORTREND.COM / NOVEMBER 2015
Hour 1 First impression: Sensations new and familiar envelop me upon sliding into the driver’s seat of a Barcelona Red Tacoma TRD Off-Road Double Cab. The 2016 model has been unified on one common chassis, whereas before the standard rear-drive truck
sat lower than the 4x4 and now-retired 4x2 PreRunner models. The commanding view of the road and traffic remains even though the pickup’s beltline has risen 0.4 inch and the greenhouse has slimmed. In contrast to the Tacoma’s outgoing generation, you no longer climb in and then proceed to fall into the seat. The 2016 truck’s seat bottom is higher off the floor than before and doesn’t lift my knees up, which helps accentuate the feeling of newfound height. Photographer William Walker, at a huskier 6-foot-2, has to recline the seat back more than normal to clear his head.
