The 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD PreRunner may be the coolest new truck of the bunch revealed last night. We have the full lowdown on new Tacos for you here, but wanted to specifically call out the TRD PreRunner for its particularly attractive package.
The PreRunner name isn’t new for Toyota trucks, but it’s been discontinued since 2015, and we’re glad to see it back in the mix.
For those who yearn for the basic two-door, two-seat pickups of our past, Toyota has you covered, as all extended-cab 2024 Tacomas adopt this layout. The PreRunner is exclusively offered in the extended cab style, so it will be a two-door, two-seat, six-foot-bed affair. Toyota got rid of the bench it offered before, instead opting to use that space behind the front seats for storage.
As you’d expect from the TRD PreRunner name, this pickup is about off-roading fun at speed, but not necessarily heavy rock crawling where four-wheel drive is a necessary feature. Yes, that PreRunner is rear-wheel-drive-only. It puts its power down to those rear wheels through an electronically locking rear differential. Toyota also says it gets a lifted front suspension, 17-inch TRD wheels and chunky BFGoodrich all-terrain tires. Of course, it looks the business, too, with a hood scoop, color-keyed overfenders, “PreRunner” stickers and black exterior badging. Combine all of this with the stubby two-door cab, and you have yourself one of the coolest-looking Tacomas out there. Just remove that massive air dam that ruins the front-end look and ground clearance.
Instead of the coil-sprung rear suspension of some other TRD models, the PreRunner makes do with leaf springs. It’s also one of the most useful versions of the truck when it comes to towing, as Toyota says it’s good for the truck’s 6,500-pound maximum towing capacity. We wish we could say it was also available with a manual transmission, but it’s unfortunately only paired with the eight-speed automatic. That said, you get the higher-output version of the 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder at 278 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque.
Pricing isn’t out for the TRD PreRunner or any Tacoma grade yet, but we suspect this version will also work out to be a bit of a bargain versus other off-road Tacoma grades due to its basic set of equipment and two-door layout.
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