1. High-speed desert driving. That’s what the Tacoma TRD Pro is all about. Forty-five percent of Tacoma owners take their trucks off-road, and a large majority will be fine crawling up rock faces or mudding in a base Tacoma with the off-road package. The guys who want to go flat out on the sand, though? That’s who Toyota truly developed the TRD Pro for and why the TRD Pro’s Fox Racing dampers are 55 percent larger than stock and have piggyback reservoirs on the rear.
3. There’s leather for function as well as fashion. Sweers asked Tacoma owners if they would want leather in a top-trim truck. They were ho-hum until Sweers reminded them that it is much easier to wipe mud off leather than fabric. That piqued their interest.
4. Exhaust development isn’t done. Sweers and his team went through 12 exhaust system variations for the base Tacoma before settling on something they thought fit the truck’s character. They haven’t yet hit 12 iterations for the TRD Pro’s performance-focused exhaust, but they’re getting there. Sweers doesn’t want any booming when TRD Pro owners are going down the highway.
5. There’s a new, oil change-friendly front skid plate. Sweers says current TRD Pro owners complained about having to remove the quarter-inch plate to change the oil. Now they don’t have to.
6. Performance accessories will be available in due course. Toyota hasn’t touched the engine or transmission, but they’ll give you the option to. One accessory owners have asked for is a factory-built snorkel, but Sweers wouldn’t comment on whether or not Toyota is developing one.
