2019 Tacoma TRD Offroad - An Honest Review from a Ford guy

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the Toyota community and wanted to write a review on my new Tacoma TRD Offroad. The reviews I read/watched online from KBB, Autotrader, TFL, etc are all, in my opinion, vastly biased and wrong. Had I not decided to test drive a Tacoma after reading/watching all of these videos - I never would have purchased one. This review is from a Ford guy so, in my mind, Toyota really needed to step up to sway me from buying another Ford.

I've owned a few F150s, and my last truck was a 2016 F150 SuperCrew. It was a great truck - no issues at all and that EcoBoost engine was awesome. However, the truck was just too dang big, and I wanted to downsize to something smaller and more nimble.

My first inclination was got look at the new Ranger. It was nice - sort of. Kind of looks more like a car than a truck, and I didn't like the shimmy / vibration going from a stop to movement (all 3 Rangers I drove had this issue but only heard about it once in all the online videos I watched). It also had a bench rear seat (no 60/40 split) and that was just plain odd to me!

I then looked at the Colorado - even though, as a Ford guy, I was born to hate GM. Chevy did a very nice job with that truck - it drove great, seats were comfortable, it was quiet, etc. However, I didn't care for the styling - it looks "big" even though it shares the same dimensions as the Tacoma and Ranger. I think it's because how they molded the doors and quarter panels - they just look expansive north-to-south in my eye and I didn't want that look.

I then looked at the Tacoma even though I was never a fan (the ones I drove in the past always seemed off to me). I didn't expect much because all the reviews I read beforehand were so poor. I first test drove the TRD Sport - it was nice but I didn't care for the ride. The sales person told me the ride in the Offroad would be worse - and that jived with the reviews. However, I had time and decided to take it for a test drive. I was then allowed to take the truck for the day. I was surprised on how well it drove. It soaked up bumps on the road like you wouldn't believe! Yes - there is some body roll around turns and some nose dive when braking hard - but that's to be expected on any vehicle with such long suspension travel - none of which was objectionable. If you are looking for a truck that drives smoothly - the TRD Offroad is a winner!

Now that I've had the truck for some time - I can say the following:

1. The driver seat position is not uncomfortable. Yes - it would be nice if you could adjust the seat pitch, but that can be remedied by space washers under the rear bolts that attach the seat to the frame.

2. The truck is not noisy or harsh. Yes - if you goose the throttle, the engine gets loud - and probably louder than on other vehicles (my F150 power deliver was more smooth). However, it's a truck and I don't drive it like a Mustang. When driving the truck normally - it is very smooth, quiet and composed.

3. The Toyota Entune system is amazing - it's Toyota's best kept secret! I don't understand why Toyota doesn't market that product better. I was hesitant to buy a vehicle w/o Apple CarPlay since I had it in my Ford (and my wife has it in her Subaru). However, after just 1-2 days, I was hooked on Entune. Even if the truck had Apple CarPlay, I don't think I'd use it.

4. The truck looks great - from every angle.

5. I know this is subjective - and it's not meant to insult anyone - but I can't understand buying the Sport over the Offroad. The Offroad drives nice, had the diff lock and crawl control, and a nicer wheel/tire package. I found the hood scoop on the Sport to be in my line of sight when driving. Admittedly - although it is fake - it does look great from the outside!

6. The storage in the rear is holds much more volume than I expected. There is storage both under the rear seats and behind the rear seat cushions. I was able to fit everything I stored in my F150 in the Tacoma. This included a tire pump, tire repair kit, medical kit, bungee set, ratchet strap kit, a few hand tools, heavy duty battery jumpers, a big light, a blanket, boots, change of clothes, jacket, rain pants, winter gloves, and a few other things I can't recall right now - but they all fit and I had some room to spare! I thought I'd have to sacrifice what I stored in the truck going from the much bigger F150 to the smaller Tacoma - but Toyota did a great job maximizing storage space. That was an unexpected but very pleasant surprise. When I purchased the truck, I was fully expecting to just store a few things in a backpack or duffle bag that I kept on the rear seat.

7. The truck sounds awesome when starting it. I know - not a game changer - but even my wife was like "that was cool!".

8. Safety features don't usually sway my decision when buying a vehicle - but the blind spot monitoring, rear sonar, adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning are all really sweet features! I used the adaptive cruise control on a 45 MPG road just to test it out - it's cool how it adjusts the speed based on the vehicle in front of you and then beeps if you need to intervene. I guess it's the beginning of the end of people actually driving and being accountable for their driving.....

9. As of now (according to the trip computer), I am getting ~21 MPG in rural driving (i.e. drive 2-3 miles, make a turn, drive 2-3 more miles, make a turn, etc). I'm happy with that since that doesn't include highway driving at a constant speed.

10. I was unaware when I bought the truck, but only learned of it when I read the owners manual. The outlet in the bed can go to 400W with the engine running and a push of a button under the steering wheel. I still have to check the Amp rating - but 400W is a nice feature.

I do have some complaints through - the front seat should be adjustable pitch wise and I don't understand why the payload is only 1100lbs using a 4 leaf package. Heck - the Ranger uses a one leaf package (one leaf!) and gets 1650lbs payload. Payload wasn't a deal breaker for me since the most I haul in the bed is mulch and I'll be limited by how much I can hold given the size of the bed before I am limited by the weight.


If I had to rank the mid size trucks - obviously the Tacoma comes out #1. The Colorado would be #2 and the Ranger should be #3. If the Colorado didn't look so big (to my eye) and if Chevy had the reliability/track record of Toyota, I may have went that way. If the Ranger looked better, didn't have the vibration, and didn't have a bench back seat (really Ford??) - then maybe I would have went that route. However - for both the Colorado and Ranger - that's a lot of ifs and maybes!

 

No offense, OP, but this sounds a bit like astroturfing.

If you don't work for Toyota's marketing team, I'm glad you like your truck.

 

You had me until you said Entune is amazing.

 

ShirtTucker - LOL - I had to look up the term "astroturfing" to understand what you meant! Believe me - I'd just a dude living the good life in Maine. I really like the truck!

Thegenerik1 - what don't you like about Entune? The navigation works very well, it plays music from my iPhone and had voice recognition, it reads out incoming text messages, the voice is pleasing, the screen is very customizable, the MPG/Eco graphs are informative, and the system is responsive. Granted, I'm comparing Entune to Ford Sync which doesn't have many of these features. Maybe similar features on other vehicles are superior - I'm just unaware.

 

People complain about the safety features a lot of the time, but I'm with you! I love them, makes driving that much more pleasurable. The Radar Cruise Control really helps with the frustration of people not using cruise control at all.

 

I also.love driving mine

 

I am not a techy dude by any means, but I like the Entune as well. Wifey's 2019 Forester has Apple Car shit and hate it. I probably only use a fraction of Entune, but I like it.

 

Lol I stopped reading right there

 

Thanks for your review and welcome - don't forget the best feature will be the resale value when you trade it in.

 

That 3.5 is a deal breaker for me...

 

I like entune as well. It’s basic and functional. And the red dot breadcrumbs are priceless when you are off the grid camping. I go down random trails without worrying about not finding my way back.

There are a lot slicker applications out there. But it plays xm. And has a decent gps. That’s all I need haha.

 

think that the SR5 radio is just doo doo

 

I'm glad you like it OP, welcome to TW.

 

Welcome to TW! Very well written first post. Word of warning, for some reason, people on here have very polarized opinions of the third GEN Tacoma. I don’t know why. Just take it all with a grain of salt, and this is a fun place to be.

 

I don't understand everyone's hate for Entune, either. I'm tech savvy, and while Entune isn't setting the world on fire, it does its job well. I've added Alexa the system, and the integration between my phone, the head unit, and Alexa is seamless. The only gripe I have about Entune is not being able to mirror my phone on the screen.

 

And here I am reading this post for some reason, still driving my Gen 1 with 243K miles. Hope you continue to like it when you have driven and owned it as long as I have my 2003!

 

Great review. I've always been a Ford guy (owned a few mustangs) and have always liked (but never owned) the Ranger and F150, but I'm on my fifth Toyota (1 pickup, 3 Tacomas, and 1 FJ), and my 3rd gen is, by far, the best one. I love Toyota's quality, and I'm willing to sacrifice the 'latest and greatest tech/trends/etc.' in order to get that quality.

 

Isn’t it the same as the off road? I know the off road looks different, but I thought the apps were the same?

 

I'm moving over from a 15 F150 also. Pretty much the same reasons as you. Haven't driven the Taco yet but plan to next week. Assume I'll be disappointed by the power (coming from a 3.5 ecoboost) but like the smaller size better. Only ever tow 2 snowmobiles or side by side so the Taco should suit me well.

 

Welcome to TW and glad you are enjoying the new truck. Sounds like you had a clueless sales person as the OR has the smoothest ride of all of the Tacoma's.