Taking In The Desert Air: The 2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD PRO 4X4 Double Cab

The 2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD PRO.

Okay, let's address the elephant in the room.  Or the elephant trunk on the pickup truck in the driveway.

That is the Toyota TRD PRO Desert Air Intake.

The idea is to get cooler, cleaner air into the engine when you're off-roading.

Truckin': The 2018 Toyota Tacoma TRD Offroad 4X4 Double Cab

The 2018 Toyota Tacoma TRD Offroad 4X4 Double Cab.

Gotta hand it to Toyota.  In the decade or so where the Americans got out of the midsize truck business entirely and Nissan allowed the Frontier to roll on unchanged, Toyota kept improving and refining the Tacoma.  Now, with Ford and Chevy rushing back into the segment, and Ford promising a Raptor version of the Ranger, Toyota's reminding the world that the gold standard for off-roading midsize pickups is none other than the Toyota Tacoma TRD Offroad 4X4 Double Cab.

No Road? No Problem: The 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road 4X4 Double Cab

The 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road 4X4 Double Cab.

Getting away from the crowd is harder than ever.  Some of the fault no doubt goes to cheap gasoline and the internet revealing what seems to be every secret place on earth, along with GPS to help all of humanity find them.

To truly get away from all those people requires the ability to go where they cannot.  And that is what the 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road 4X4 Double Cab is for.

Why Mess With Success?: The 2016 Toyota Tacoma Limited 4X4 Double Cab

The 2016 Toyota Tacoma Limited.

How good, how dominant in its category, was the last-generation Toyota Tacoma?  The answer is that it sold, largely unchanged, in good numbers for a decade.  Now it's time for a new one and while there are several significant changes, Toyota is smart enough not to alter the basic recipe,.

Toyota Recalls 8,000 Model Year 2010 Tacoma 4WD Pickups

This time it's voluntary. Toyota says 8,000 of its 2010 Tacoma 4X4 pickups contain a front drive shaft component that could contain cracks, causing the front drive shaft to separate, resulting in a loss of control.

Exercise caution for the next 30 days...Toyota says affected owners will be notified by mail....in mid-March.

Toyota Tacoma Double Cab Review

"...maybe it's time we got back to the basics of trucks...."
---Waylon Jennings, "Luckenbach, Texas" (1976)

Okay, hold the e-mails. I know Waylon sang "love", not "trucks". Sure would make a great TV spot for the Toyota Tacoma, though. Especially one equipped like our tester.

If you're a TireKicker regular, you know I have a soft spot for the basic...and that all too many manufacturers send out press fleet vehicles loaded to the gills with every conceivable option.

Well, Toyota did the unusual: They built, and then sent to automotive journalists, a Toyota Tacoma (their midsize truck) Double Cab 4X4 with a manual transmission, cloth interior and useful options. And in the process, reminded yours truly what a revelation Toyota pickups were back in the day. Rugged, reliable and reasonable...the new 3 "R"s of autodom (circa 1976, which links us back to Waylon).

The Tacoma comes with a 236 horsepower 4-liter V6. Fuel economy's on the grim side, 14 city, 19 highway, but it's not out of line. It aces every one of the government crash tests (five stars for everyone, four out of four for rollover protection), and generally feels like it will last forever.

All at a base price of $25,695...and that's for the Double Cab four-by-four.

Options on the one I drove? An off-road extra value package (suspension upgrades, tougher tires, skid plates, and tow hooks combined with an upgraded audio system, Bluetooth, sport seats and more for $4,690), daytime running lights for $40, the towing package ($650), floor mats ($199) and a VIP security system ($479). With delivery charges, it came to $32,498, but there's a $950 discount for the extra value package, so the real bottom line was $31,548.

Dump the off-road package, the towing package, the daytime running lights and pick up some floormats from the aftermarket and this would come in just over $26,000...which is a terrific deal for a right-size truck that wins you over with its basic goodness, not a bunch of add-ons.

With $45,000 monster Tundras fuzzing up the image the past few years, the Tacoma is a great way to remind yourself just what a Toyota pickup is all about.