We know college-educated adults with real jobs who sleep on air mattresses and offer their guests Keystone Light and boxed mac and cheese for dinner. It’s all they know. It reminds us a bit of Toyota, where four-speed automatics and five-speed manuals live on in many of its models, yet the company’s coffers could no doubt fund bleeding-edge technology. So it went with the Tacoma mid-size pickup, which was barely updated in the last decade and yet remained the bestselling truck in its segment that entire time. But times have finally changed, and fresh entries—namely the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon—have forced Toyota to update its entry-level workhorse. Say hello to the 2016 Tacoma.

Mostly New Powertrain Pieces

Yet there remain significant carry-overs from before: Base 2016 Tacomas retain the wheezy, coarse 2.7-liter four-cylinder and standard five-speed stick. If you step up from there, though, you begin to get genuinely new equipment as far as the Taco is concerned. The corporate 3.5-liter V-6 replaces the old 4.0, but it adopts Toyota’s D-4S port- and direct-injection system. This makes it the first U.S.-market Toyota with the tech; the Scion FR-S (which is sold elsewhere as the Toyota 86), Lexus IS350, and Lexus GS350 also feature D-4S. Basically, port injection is used at lower speeds for more efficient operation, and the engine switches to direct injection as revs increase to deliver more power. Toyota wasn’t ready to discuss final output figures, but we expect a 40- to 50-horsepower bump over the current 236-hp V-6. A six-speed gearbox (hey, we’re using two hands to count forward ratios!) will be the only available automatic for both engines, while a revised six-speed manual is reserved for the V-6.

View Photos MICHAEL SIMARI, THE MANUFACTURER

On the styling front, the new Tacoma is most definitely a Toyota pickup. The clean, no-fuss design cribs the full-size Tundra’s chunkier bulldog face, replete with LED running lamps and projector-beam headlamps. Despite a few new creases and a revised greenhouse shape, the profile and rear views are familiar. There’s a damped tailgate, as well as a retuned suspension that Toyota says delivers both increased wheel travel and a smoother ride. High-strength steel has been mixed into the frame and body shell in order to shave some pounds and increase overall rigidity.

Nothing Groundbreaking, But It Can Break Some Ground

The 2016 TRD Off-Road version is fitted with an electronically locking and limited-slip rear differential, 16-inch wheels, and hill-start assist. A new selectable-terrain system allows drivers to alter the throttle response, brake aggressiveness, and traction control, and the Tacoma now offers a crawl-control program that uses low-speed cruise control and hill-descent control to automatically handle acceleration and braking from 1 to 5 mph. Manual TRD Tacomas also come with Clutch Start Cancel, a button that overrides the clutch interlock when starting the engine. For off-roaders stalled on steep hills, it’s a boon so their Tacoma doesn’t roll off a particularly precarious perch.

View Photos MICHAEL SIMARI, THE MANUFACTURER

The TRD Sport is less butch than the Off-Road, being fitted with 17-inch wheels and lacking the crawl-control and terrain-select systems. Tacoma buyers of the type who bring Tempur-Pedic pillows on camping trips will prefer the Limited, which is fitted with 18-inch wheels, leather seats, a power sunroof, dual-zone automatic climate, push-button start with keyless entry, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alerts, and wireless device charging as available in the Avalon. Soft-touch materials grace the new Tacoma interior—which mimics the Corolla’s wide, trapezoidal center stack—and Toyota says it improved NVH performance with new door seals, a laminated windshield, and additional sound-deadening materials in the headliner and on the floor. And since it’s no longer possible to breathe without filming yourself doing anything at all, a GoPro windshield camera mount comes standard. Russians will love it.

While the Tacoma has taken great strides forward, it was far, far behind in terms of technology and features, and, at least on paper, the 2016 model doesn’t seem to advance the mid-size truck species so much as it simply catches up. But it does provide additional proof that manufacturers are no longer taking the segment’s buyers for granted.

MICHAEL SIMARI, THE MANUFACTURER

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