Main differences between 2013 TRD Sport/Off-Road?

Okay, this is it! At the end of this month I'll have made my decision and be rolling off the dealership in my new Tacoma! I can't express to you all my excitement! NEVER have I wanted ANYthing so badly.
I just need help making a decision on what TRD package to get? What are the main spec differences between the Sport and Off-Road model? besides the obvious hood scoop (which does what exactly performance-wise? anyone know?) and larger wheel size?
-Darrin

 

TRD Sport: Color matched trim and hood scoop.
TRD Off Road: Rear Locker, ATRAC (basically useless), if double cab, only available with short bed...

I had a OFF ROAD for my 2011...I thought i would want the locker and all that...turns out that I NEVER used it, never needed it, so I went with the sport because it fit me better. The Elocker on the off road is a weaker rear diff anyways, so if I decide I need it, I'll just throw an ARB locker on my sport and have the best of both worlds....

look at my build...currently talking to a guy on why I chose to go with a Sport...

and be prepared to be told to use the search function...

 

Sport: 4wd
TRD: 2wd with e locker.
Hood scoop does nothing irrc since its not open.
I also believe there are some differences in the electronic driving assists. Someone with a second gen would know more then i do about this.

 

First reply sums it up. I went with Sport, I thought overall it looked much better (painted hood surround, trim), hood scoop (yeah, non functional), wheels and road oriented suspension. Realistically I know 90 percent of my driving will be on the road, so no point in the "off road" package for me. Tacoma as-is will be more than enough for me in the off-road department.

All depends how you're going to use it.

Grab a brochure from Toyota site, it explains it all nicely with pics.

 

well...you have opinions that would change if you drove the truck
up the skidder roads I drive on, with valuable cargo (expensive glass doors and windows)

a) where does the 'rear diff is weaker with locker' crap come from ? you
have experience breaking one and not the other ? please tell

sure if you are building a rock crawler or desert racer you install SAS...this
is a truck for general purpose on and off road and it does the job FINE...you
wanna go apeshit with it you can break any rear end...there is no 'defect'
or problem with a toyota rear locker...

b) atrac useless ? again, you have experience where you are at the
limit crawling, and one front wheel and one rear wheel is slipping, and cannot
move ahead further, and pushing atrac button did nothing ?


anyone can motor through or up just about anything. it is slow off-road driving finesse
where the locker and atrac really come into play. no need to back up and speed over
crap most of the times when you start to slip...just engage locker or atrac or both and
see if it can figure it out before you need to add speed, and then possibly dent or
damage something or your cargo
---
FWIW TRD Off road has:

16 inchers for more actual tire
rear locker, extremely useful
atrac
dac (now this might be useless)
hac
---
I have turd OR because I drive 4 times a week 1.8 miles up a dirt/rock/rooty/wet/muddy/overgrown
scar in the earth called a skidder road...to carry expensive supplies and audio/video recording equipment up to 'the cabin'...
so I creep up there...creeping + steep = often means I slip and stop moving forward. the options
I have is back up and goose it more (cargo now as risk) or hit a few switches and let it find traction
and then continue onward.

do not say these TRD OR systems are useless, because not only is it wrong, but it makes you appear
like you are just spouting off at the mouth with no real experience needing any sort of fine control
in an offroad situation

 

Okay...lets go...

I have had both TRD trims and know what's what with both trims...I thought I would use the OR, but upon testing for myself, I found (other than the locker for those that take their truck on trails) that the electronic driving aids are about useless...so I got the Sport my next go around.

As for the strength of the diff, I just have to go off of what I have seen and heard by others on here. In the year and a half or so that I've been here, searching the forums for myself, I have found the following...
TRD OR has a 8.0' diff for the e-locker
The Sport, and other Tacomas have a 8.4"

8.4">8.0". No, I dont have experience breaking a diff, im just posting what I have come to know from my own searching of this forum.

As for going apeshit and breaking stuff, I am not doing this...In fact, I'm rather conservative and dont abuse my truck.

ATRAC is BS. Useful in some situations, possibly...as good as a locker...no...I'm sorry if you disagree, but its true. like you mentioned, you are better off picking a better path when off road. Will the ATRAC possibly save you once, in a situation where you are iffy on whether or not you can make it...maybe. I have had all the electronic assists that the OR has to offer. If turning on ATRAC makes your panties moist, then by all means, go for it. ATRAC is only in 4LO, so if you have to drive up crazy ass roads with such valuable cargo, you should have gotten an SR5 and put front and rear air lockers on it.

I will, again and again say that for anyone that really NEEDS ATRAC, they should just get lockers cause eventually you're gonna need them.


Also, FWIW, I agree ont he 16 vs 17 thing. I put 16's on my Sport...more tire is better...

 

Like others have said
The TRD Sport has the color matching trim (I.E. mirrors with turn signals, door handles, rear bumper, and grill surround), and hood scoop. The sport is also known for having a better or smoother on road ride due to the different shocks, also there are the sport wheels that measure 17 inches.

The TRD Off Road (what I chose) does NOT have color matched trim (the parts previously listed are either chrome or black) does NOT have the scoop, but the Off Road DOES have slightly stiffer shocks, 16 inch wheels that allow a tire with a taller sidewall for better off road performance. There is also a good list of electronics that are added on the Off Road like, DAC (Downhill Assist Control mudulates the brakes by using ABS while easing sown a hill so the driver can maintain better control), HSA (Hill Start Assist I prolly have those letters wrong but this is always active and it kinda keeps a foot on the brake for ya whaile your on a hill and keeps ya from rolling backwards) Rear Diff Lock (self explanitory can only be used in 4 Low but theres a mod for that ) Then there is ATRAC (Advanced Traction Control, essentially this utillizes the ABS to simulate a locked differential, this works on both front and rear and DOES have its usefulness DO NOT underestimate this feature).

There are only certain body styles that can have the Off Road package, for example, you cant do a double cab, long bed in Off road. While the Sport can be had in any body style I think, The Off Road cant.

Now like I said before, I chose the Off Road. I could have made do with the Sport and been happy with it especially since 99% of my driving is highway / interstate and the only time I go off road is for fun. But I have believed for a long time, I would rather have stuff and not need it, than to NEED it and not have it.

Choose wisely my friend........

 

i assumed he knew that it was an option. I should have wrote 2H-4H-4L i guess to clarify.

 

Both OR and Sport have 2H-4H-4Las long as they're 4x4....

 

OR come in 4x4? I thought it was only the sport that had the 4x4 option. Shit shows how little i know of second gens

 

my intent was an out-of-the-box 2013 vehicle that is 'at least as capable'
as my true one-and-only woods buggy...my 1999 4runner limited.

so that left me few options...trd off road fits the bill...

I just don't have a place to do serious wrenching, or I might have
gone lower on the packages and installed my own off-roading bits...but
I wanted 100% stock and 100% covered by warranty. I find trd sport
would be partially useless the way I need to drive...which is slow and up wet steeps.

atrac and the locker makes all the difference for my off roading...so nice to
just idle-speed the whole 1.8 miles up the mountain on basic meats like
Michelin LTX or Rugged Fails...

 

So if you are conservative and dont "abuse" your truck, when have you tested the e-locker and atrac?

 

Agreed...In your case, the off road fits the bill for you. You need the locker to go where you want...Good Choice.

Abusing something is different from putting it to work doing what it was designed to...He was referring to going apeshit an a truck to break something...Like the idiot that thought he could jump his raptor 90 feet in the air...

 

You CAN have a double cab offroad, I have one

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU

Here you go. Dont do this

 

I have a TRD O/R 4X4... That being said, if something were to happen to this truck I would go for a Sport 4X4 (maybe even a base with 4X). I would much rather have the painted parts and skewp than the e-locker. Not because I wouldn't use it, but because it would be a good reason to have to add front and rear air lockers

 

Yes, you can have double cab offroad, only shortbox though, as you do, however he wrote you can't have a double cab long bed offroad, which is true.