The 2023 Toyota Tacoma is America’s best-selling midsize truck. Its reliable performance, strong resale value, and understated looks have won the hearts of more buyers than any other pickup in its class. It also took home our 2023 Best Buy Award in the midsize truck segment.
But there’s no getting around it – parts of the Tacoma’s design are at least a decade behind the times. Toyota, with a wink, has now let enthusiasts know it’s catching up at last.
Toyota has an all-new Tacoma in the works for the 2024 model year. The company has been slowly dripping out teaser photos, mostly on Instagram, to keep the attention of the faithful as its reveal date gets closer. The latest round includes a photo that will thoroughly bore most people and perk up the attention of serious truck enthusiasts.
It shows an all-terrain rear tire throwing up dirt. It wears a logo for the TRD Pro off-road model (perfectly level with the ground even as the tire churns – our salute to the photo editor), surrounded by the sort of anti-scratch cladding common to off-roaders. None of that is surprising or interesting at all.
But behind the shiny gloss-black wheel is a brake caliper. That’s news.
It’s news because the 2023 Tacoma is one of the last vehicles on the American market to use old-fashioned drum brakes on its rear wheels. Those don’t have calipers.
So the 2024 Tacoma is finally getting disc brakes, a decade or more after nearly every other vehicle on the market. That leaves a handful of inexpensive subcompact cars like the Kia Rio and Nissan Versa as the last believers in old-school drum brakes.
A second new teaser, also posted to Instagram, shows a set of adjustable Fox front shocks. Curiously, they’re branded Quick Switch 3 – a product line usually built for dedicated off-road quads, not road-going vehicles. The next TRD Pro, it seems, may have a suspension setup new to the truck world.
Previous teasers have suggested that the new Tacoma will be a bulkier, boxier truck than the one it replaces, be available with a hybrid powertrain, and have a new Trailhunter dedicated overlanding trim. We’ll bring more details when we have them. Toyota hasn’t told us when to expect a final reveal. But they must be almost out of teasers by now, so we think the wait won’t be long.
