Old cars tend to have this aura of perfection around them that new models can never hope to achieve, but the question is this: Is there any truth to it, or is it all about nostalgia and people living in the past?
You won't find a better place to see this sentimentalism manifest itself than off-road vehicles, and there's a reason for that: there are a lot of old SUVs and trucks that can spank new ones on the bottom out on a rugged trail. However, there's a very big catch.
In almost all cases, these old off-roaders are heavily modded. They have had countless things replaced or added to them that, sometimes, you might even feel funny still calling them a Wrangler, Defender or 4Runner when all that's left of the original is the body (minus the wheel arches that had to go to make room for the big tires) and, perhaps, part of the interior.
The reason people pick older vehicles to have them modified is two-fold: one, they are more mechanical, simpler in nature, which makes modding easier, and second, they are cheap, leaving more money for the extra stuff. Take this case as an example: the 2002 Tacoma single cab was $7,700, whereas the 2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD PRO is all that, plus $40,000.
Can the new model really offer an off-road experience that's worth $40,000 extra? Of course not, that really isn't what you're paying for when you part with that money. It's all about the extra comfort and modern features we've come to expect from a vehicle, not to mention the much-improved safety ratings that might even provide the greatest advantage of all: saving your life.
This clip comparing the performance of the two vehicles on a rutty, dusty, sometimes even icy trail in Colorado shows the new vehicle is superior in its ability to tackle the rough terrain as well. Both have manual transmissions and four-wheel-drive systems, but it's only the TRD PRO that comes with a lockable rear differential.
Not that it needs it, though: thanks to the low range case, its capacity to crawl completely uninterrupted up the trail is remarkable. In fact, it puts it right on par with the 2022 Jeep Gladiator. A tougher challenge might have seen the TRD PRO fail where the Jeep would keep on going (especially if you consider the latter's mods - particularly the lift and the better tires), but on this day, they were equals. And so was the $7,700 2002 Tacoma, for that matter. It may have struggled a bit more, but it got there in the end.
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