Used 2019 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport Access Cab Review

The 2019 Toyota Tacoma is the quintessential pickup truck. It offers strong towing capacity, excellent off-road ability, and all the utility you could ask for in a midsize truck. Sure, it also has modern amenities and safety features that keep it competitive in an ultra-modern class of pickups. But mostly, the Tacoma is a truck that's dedicated to getting you anywhere you want to go.

Under the hood, the Tacoma offers a relatively efficient four-cylinder engine or a more robust V6. It can be had with two- or four-wheel drive, and it's available as a crew-cab or extended-cab truck. So, it has all the basics covered. Then, when you move inside, there's a solid base of standard equipment such as a rearview camera, forward collision warning and a stereo with USB and Bluetooth connectivity.

Along with extra creature-comfort features such as heated seats and an upgraded stereo, the Tacoma also offers some of the most impressive off-road packages in the class — with items such as monotube or internal bypass shocks, skid plates, a hood-mounted snorkel intake, and advanced traction control systems.

As you might expect with such a utilitarian vehicle, especially one with so much off-road capability, the Tacoma suffers a bit in the comfort department. Competitors have it beat when it comes to ride comfort, seat comfort, interior space and infotainment interfaces. Despite those drawbacks, however, the Tacoma should be at the top of any truck shopper's short list.

Notably, we picked the 2019 Toyota Tacoma TRD as one of Edmunds' Best Off-Road Trucks for this year.

What's it like to live with?

We wanted to know what the newest Tacoma was like to live with, so the Edmunds' editorial team purchased a 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road to see for ourselves. We lived with it for nearly two years, putting 40,155 miles on the odometer. The Tacoma has received some updates since it's redesign in 2016, so the 2019 model is slightly different. There are some additional standard safety features such as lane departure alert and forward collision warning, a few extra USB ports, and a few more options to choose from, but it's the same generation truck, so most of our observations still apply. To learn more about the Toyota Tacoma, check out all the details in our long-term test, where we cover everything from seat comfort to real-world fuel economy.

The Tacoma is offered in six trim levels: SR, SR5, TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, Limited and TRD Pro. The entry-level SR is the work truck of the bunch, with the value-oriented SR5 offering more equipment and more choices. Next up are the very popular and well-equipped TRD Sport and TRD Off-Road variants. The two are identical on the inside, but hardware differences make the TRD Off-Road more capable when the going gets rocky. Finally, there is the street-oriented Limited, which has a long list of creature comforts, and the TRD Pro, which is the most off-road-capable Tacoma in the lineup.

While the SR is the least-expensive Tacoma, it isn't entirely bare-bones. It can be had with an extended cab (Access Cab) with a 6.1-foot bed or a crew cab (Double Cab) with a 5-foot bed, and you can choose between two-wheel drive or part-time four-wheel drive with a low-range transfer case. Its 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine (159 horsepower, 180 lb-ft of torque) is paired to a six-speed automatic transmission.

Other standard equipment for the SR includes 16-inch steel wheels, a sliding rear window with privacy glass, heated power-adjustable side mirrors, a tough composite bed that needs no bedliner, a movable cleat tie-down system, and a backup camera fitted in the tailgate release handle. Inside, there are four-way-adjustable cloth seats (with driver-side lumbar adjustment), a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, a 4.2-inch driver display screen, forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, lane departure alert, automatic high beams, adaptive cruise control, and a basic Entune stereo, which supports Bluetooth and Siri Eyes Free voice control and has a USB interface.

For most buyers, the SR5 is the better deal. On top of the SR equipment, you can also get a long-wheelbase version that pairs the crew cab with the 6.1-foot bed. On the outside, you get some chrome exterior trim, foglights and 16-inch alloy wheels. Also included on the SR5 are remote keyless entry and a leather-wrapped steering wheel with control buttons for an enhanced Entune audio system, which supports satellite radio and comes with smartphone-enabled navigation via the Scout GPS app.

Next up is the TRD Sport. It is offered in the same cab and bed configurations as the SR5, but it replaces the four-cylinder engine with a 3.5-liter V6 (278 hp, 265 lb-ft). All rear-wheel-drive versions use the six-speed automatic, but four-wheel-drive buyers can choose between the automatic and a performance-oriented six-speed manual.

The TRD Sport comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, body-colored fender flares and rear bumper, turn signals in the mirror housings, a hood scoop, a 120-volt/400-watt power outlet in the bed, a power-sliding rear window (crew-cab only), push-button start (for automatic-transmission trucks), a wireless smartphone charging pad, and a 7-inch center touchscreen with navigation.

The TRD Off-Road offers nearly the same configuration and engine options as the TRD Sport, and its truck bed and interior and audio trimmings are identical. Visual differences include a chrome rear bumper, textured black fender flares and the absence of the Sport's hood scoop. Off-road performance changes include the deletion of the front airdam, extra skid plates, a lockable rear differential, Bilstein monotube shocks, and an advanced off-road traction control system with multiple terrain settings and crawl control.

Both the TRD Sport and the TRD Off-Road crew-cab models can be upgraded with a few option packages. Feature highlights include a sunroof, parking sensors, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, dual-zone automatic climate control, heated seats, leather upholstery, and a JBL speaker upgrade and a subwoofer. It's worth noting that the stereo upgrade is not available on models with the manual transmission.

The Limited is the most refined version of the Tacoma. It is only offered as a V6-powered crew cab with the short bed in either two- or four-wheel drive. It has a body-colored rear bumper and flares, and it rolls on 18-inch wheels with lower-profile tires. It lacks the TRD Off-Road's specialized off-road upgrades and is instead upgraded with just about all of the Off-Road's and Sport's optional features as standard equipment.

The TRD Pro is sold only as a crew cab with a short bed, and it comes only in four-wheel drive. The V6 engine is standard, but you can choose between the manual and the automatic transmission. It's equipped like a loaded-up TRD Off-Road, but it sets itself apart with special styling details, including a black grille, and performance upgrades such as Fox internal bypass shocks, all-terrain tires, a thicker front skid plate, and a ride height that's an inch taller.