2009 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab 4X4

Toyota’s mid-sized pickup gets enhanced safety features

By Nina Russin

2009 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab

When I was going to auto mechanic’s school in the mid-1980s, about half my classmates owned compact Toyota pickup trucks. The compact pickup wasn’t as large as the mid-sized Tacoma that replaced it, nor was it as fancy.

But it was durable to a fault. We used to joke that the only way to make the pickup’s 22R engine stop running was to take it out in the field and shoot it: starving the block for oil didn’t work.

Succeeding generations of Tacoma have maintained the legendary durability of its predecessors, adding significant safety enhancements, and a variety of cab configurations. There are eighteen available versions of the current model, including two engines, three transmissions and available four-wheel drive.

The test car is the double cab, with a 236-horsepower V6 engine and six-speed manual transmission. Having a four-wheel drive truck seemed like the perfect excuse to drive through Arizona’s north country. Not only do Sedona’s red rocks offer multiple off-road trails, the drive to the mountains would test the Tacoma’s fuel economy, with a 4000-foot elevation gain. Read the rest of this entry »