2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport 4x2 review: Does a 2WD Tacoma make sense?

Mitchell Weitzman

19 minutes ago

6 min read

Refined but not perfectly polished, the latest Tacoma does make a good daily

2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport 2WD Heritage Blue review | The Road Beat

2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport 2WD review

Buying a pickup truck with 2WD can be like buying a mansion for just yourself and a co-dependent, spiteful cat. Sure, nobody will stop you if you have the means, but is it really the wisest idea? In the case of a truck, the financial burden is considerably more approachable than said mansion, yet that doesn't exactly make it an inherently bright moment either.

Now, 4x2 trucks do have a place in the (commercial) world where it's often the most affordable choice, still I was puzzled when Toyota sent over a 2WD Tacoma TRD Sport with all the goodies and wondered why they even had one in the test fleet. It can easily make sense as a cheaper work truck in some climates, but this well-optioned TRD Sport 4x2 is pretty far down the list when choosing a new and $50K Tacoma.

Picks

New Tacomas are stylistically aging remarkably well, and in a relatively short amount of time. When first released, I found the design almost repulsive, but time has been unusually and quickly kind to this new generation. Pick a good color like Heritage Blue (or the divisive, but my favorite Bronze Oxide) and the Tacoma looks purposeful and far from overdone, minus the (removable) front air dam.

2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport interior dashboard

The cabin is holding up just as well after revisiting it several times, offering a substantially more refined livability experience than previous generations, which were rather subpar when it came to build materials. Now, plenty of surfaces are covered in soft-touch materials, faux or real leather, and grippy rubber for the inside door grab handles. And because there's no 4x4 mode, gone is the horribly cheap selector for 4WD on this one. The result is a thoroughly modern pickup interior, something that could never have been uttered in the same sentence as a Tacoma back in 2023.

The center screen is big, well-proportioned, and wonderfully easy to use for everyday duties. It's also easy to reach and operate as a proper touchscreen should be. Better yet, the HVAC and other essential controls remain separate from the display, incorporating real buttons and usable knobs that are a helluva lot easier to use than digital alternatives.

2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport interior | The Road Beat review

Driving the Tacoma is where the largest improvement is found, though, because it really doesn't drive like a truck anymore. You can call that a now-missing identity or a step away from what made the faithful love their old Tacomas, but it's so easy and precise to drive that you can almost forget you're piloting a pickup with a 5-foot bed.

Steering is accurate, naturally weighted, and no longer wanders at speed, making highway driving a breeze. Yet it's on backroads and through corners where the Tacoma shines brightest, because its handling balance is hardly reminiscent of a traditional truck. There's body roll and the tires eventually limit grip, but for a pickup, the dynamics and overall capability are superb. In terms of pure perception and driving feel, I think the Tacoma is easily more enjoyable to actually drive and steer than a new RAV4.

2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport double cab heritage blue exterior rear three quarter

Powering this midsize pickup is a strong turbocharged inline-four that forgoes most of the usual four-cylinder roughness and dishes out approachable, immediately usable power through a wonderfully calibrated eight-speed automatic. You're never left wanting for power, and the acceleration on tip-in is more than a truck of this size needs. Midrange passing performance is particularly impressive thanks to its flexibility and the lack of any need to chase revs, making it outrageously quicker in the real world than the old V6 versions ever felt.

Towing is rated for an impressive 6,400 pounds in this configuration, although that wasn't something I was able to test. Still, the engine's 317 lb-ft of torque arrives low in the rev range, and there's more than enough midrange muscle to suggest it would make a capable towing companion when called upon without being severely overtaxed like prior versions.

Nicks

There are several areas where I'd still like to see the Tacoma improve, and even in a new flavor of trim and configuration, some of the same shortcomings remain.

First is fuel economy, because my representative average over a week of driving was just 21 MPG. That's not particularly impressive for a relatively small turbocharged four-cylinder pickup, even if the official ratings aren't dramatically different from the 4WD alternative. You'll stretch the range considerably better on level stretches of freeway, but acceleration and hills consume more fuel than they should. Given the absence of a second driven axle, I would have liked to see a more meaningful efficiency advantage to going exclusively rear-wheel drive.

2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport double cab rear seats

Being a Tacoma and positioned as an everyday truck for the people, there's little need for unnecessary optional features like an electronically operated tailgate. It adds complexity and cost while being painfully slow to close, and I can't say I ever found myself wishing any Tacoma would operate its tailgate for me. It only makes things more difficult because it's awkward to locate the electronic button to close it.

The largest cabin configuration is the Double Cab, as seen here, but despite having four full doors, rear legroom is pretty terrible. Back passenger accommodations in general are rather poor, with insufficient comfort from both the seat cushion and upright backrest. For a truck that otherwise makes a surprisingly good everyday companion, the rear seating arrangement remains a disappointment.

Another shortcoming is compromised ride quality. As great as the Tacoma unexpectedly steers and corners across a mixture of roads, the downside is a set of dampers that are overtly stiff and, at times, downright jarring in their lack of compliance. Freshly repaved roads are fine, but most roads around me are battered, and the Tacoma rides unnecessarily harshly over them and transmits it all to your backside. There's a difference between having good body control and simply being uncomfortable, and Toyota hasn't quite found the right balance here.

Heritage Blue 2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport exterior front three quarter sunset

Pricing hurts, too, because this TRD Sport might be highly optioned with the TRD Sport Premium Package, but it's still only 2WD and costs $50,544 with destination. That's an outrageous amount to charge for a rear-drive midsize pickup, particularly when a 4WD Tacoma is available for a relatively modest premium over the equivalent base configuration. At this price, you're also entering territory occupied by more capable alternatives, including the GMC Canyon AT4, which starts at $45,500 and comes standard with 4WD.

There's a good truck in here

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with buying a 2WD pickup truck. Plenty of people have absolutely no need for four-wheel drive, and there's a reasonable argument for saving money on something you might never use. But when you're spending more than $50,000 on a well-optioned Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport, the argument starts getting a little harder - no, impossible - to make.

There's a genuinely good truck underneath all of this, and the latest Tacoma is a much more appealing everyday vehicle than its predecessors. The engine is excellent, the chassis is surprisingly capable, and the cabin is finally somewhere I'd actually want to spend time. Unfortunately, it's also an expensive proposition that doesn't deliver particularly impressive efficiency despite only four-cylinders and the standard suspension lacks ride comfort. The top-tend TRD Pro, for example, rides beautifully with its long-travel specialty off-road suspension.

At this price, I'd rather have the additional capability and versatility of a 4WD Tacoma, even if I rarely used it. Toyota has made a very good truck, but this particular and exact configuration leaves me wondering why you'd bother.