Mere days ago, Roman Mica and Andre Smirnov from The Fast Lane flew to Houston to take delivery of a brand-new midsizer. The pickup in question is a Tacoma TRD Off-Road with little in the way of extras, a truck whose total retail price is $45,330.
Roman and Andre decided on three options, beginning with $50 mud guards. The black chrome exhaust tip added $130 to the tally, whereas the Predator Drop Step is listed on the window sticker at $745. The sticker also reads 21 miles per gallon combined, which is 11.2 liters per 100 kilometers.
Not bad for a 2.4-liter turbo four-cylinder lump in a body-on-frame truck with four-wheel drive and a locking rear differential. Rather than a manual – which can be had in the SR, TRD Sport, and TRD Off-Road – the boyos preferred the automatic to cut down on the delivery time. Roman and Andre further underline that their TRD Off-Road isn't a hybrid because hybrid production is due to start in April 2024, meaning that first deliveries for the US market will happen either late April or early May.
The Fast Lane's hosts drove their brand-new Tacoma some 1,050 miles to Denver, Colorado. They made a stop in Dallas to pick up a trailer in the form of a Sasquatch Expedition Campers Highland 60, which features a queen-sized mattress. The base version kicks off at $49,500 for the Trail version, meaning that the off-road camper is pricier than TFL's truck. At the other end of the spectrum, the Pro-X version costs $59,950 as of February 2024.
Without a camper out back, the four-cylinder turbo pickup arrived in Dallas with 23.8 miles per gallon on the digital instrument cluster. After filling up with 9.2 gallons of 87 octane, Roman determined that the truck actually posted 24.2 miles per gallon (make that 9.7 liters per 100 kilometers in metric).
Photo: TFL on YouTube
For the following 152 miles (245 kilometers), Roman and Andre towed the Highland 60 in relatively cold, rainy, and windy conditions. Bear in mind that the owner's manual for the 2024 Toyota Tacoma clearly states no towing in the first 500 miles or 800 kilometers. The guys did it anyway, clocking 12.4 miles per gallon (19.0 liters per 100 kilometers) at the pump as opposed to 12.6 miles per gallon (18.7 liters per 100 kilometers) on the digital instrument cluster. Again, not bad at all!
Remember that the TRD Off-Road is rocking 32-inch ATs from BFGoodrich, whereas the off-road camper is taller than the Tacoma. The Sasquatch Highland 60 has a dry weight of 1,784 pounds, meaning 809 kilograms. But in this configuration, it definitely exceeds 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms).
According to Roman, the biggest miss of this TRD Off-Road is the lack of a trailer brake controller. A bit cheeky on Toyota's part to cheap out like this, but looking at the bigger picture, this grade doesn't feature the ugly chin spoiler of non-off-road trims.
Both Andre and Roman agree that overtaking while towing is a bit of a hassle as well. Even though it packs 278 horsepower and 317 pound-feet (430 Nm) of torque in combination with the eight-speed automatic transmission, don't forget that even a turbocharged engine struggles at high elevation (Denver is a mile above sea level) while towing.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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