TOYOTA’S TACOMA IS A PICKUP TRUCK THROWBACK
SENIOR MOTORSPORTS EDITOR MAC MORRISON: I enjoyed this 2014 Toyota Tacoma in a Throwback Thursday type of way, smiling as I considered just how far and how quickly many products within the automotive industry have come.
Despite the long list of options, driving this aging Tacoma provides a blunt reminder of a recent time when pickup trucks were little more than workhorses. It rides down the road like a, surprise, pickup truck: Its ladder frame and rear leaf springs/solid axle suspension are plenty enjoyable on smooth tarmac, but hit a bumpy or uneven stretch and you experience a fair amount of vibration and shakiness through the chassis. That’s endemic in pickup land, but newer offerings have, as also noted previously, improved upon significantly. The truck handles benignly, though the lifeless steering and instances of axle hop at times force you to make constant little corrections to prevent it from wandering where you don’t desire to go.
Thankfully, this Tacoma came with the V6 engine, which makes a fair amount of low-down torque, and drives the Toyota down the road at a reasonable pace when you stand on the throttle. “Reasonable” does not mean in dragster style, as the approximately 5,500-pound curb weight makes itself known at all times. The 4.0-liter is not going to claim any awards for quietness, either, especially in this application where you already experience a fair amount of road noise.
Inside is a sea of hard plastic, another “old” pickup trait that, again, others have moved forward from. Even the leather wrapped steering wheel requires a close second look to make sure that it is indeed leather. The 6-inch screen on the center stack is the only modern-looking feature, but its grainy resolution in backup-cam mode contributes to the overall perception of datedness.
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