The 2024 Toyota Tacoma has entered its fourth generation bringing with it eight trim levels (Toyota has embraced calling them “grades”) to satisfy everyone from budget-conscious and commercial buyers to off-roading and overlanding enthusiasts. While Toyota is expanding the flavors of Tacoma in terms of trim leve—we mean, grades—many competitors are shrinking their lineups, reducing variance by eliminating trim levels and dropping certain bed and body configurations.
To wit, the extended-cab, long-bed options are gone from the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon option sheets; Ford is launching the new Ranger in only four-door crew-cab, short-bed form. The 2024 Tacoma keeps its stubbier cab and long bed choices, but with a twist: Last year’s entry-level, extended-cab body has lost its set of vestigial rear doors, leaving the new XtraCab Tacoma a true two-door, as if it’s a regular cab. Look closely at the XtraCab, though, and you’ll notice it looks as though it should have rear doors, given its small quarter windows and ample space behind the front seats—it simply doesn’t. It also doesn’t even have rear seats, not even the fold-out jump seats in the previous-generation extended-cab Tacomas.
Those old Tacomas were known as Access Cabs (crew-cab Tacos are called Double Cabs), and featured rear-hinged, rear half doors in addition to a pair of conventional, forward-hinged front doors. The new XtraCab evolution of the concept is now restricted mostly to the lower-level Tacoma grades, namely the base SR, volume SR5, and new-for-2024 PreRunner. Before, you could buy Access Cab versions of the TRD Sport and TRD Off Road models. So, why the changes?
Toyota dived deep dive into how customers were using their trucks and learned that even when folks opted for the Double Cab Tacoma, they were likely just stuffing the back seats with dogs, tools, or camping gear. In short, Tacoma buyers aren’t often carrying people, but they are carrying things. So, not only did Toyota bring back the XtraCab name, but also tailored it to make carrying stuff easier. The only thing you can’t do with the XtraCab is access that space via suicide doors.
Why, though? Wouldn’t it be easier to heft a loaded cooler or duffel bag of camping gear out from behind the seat with an extra pair of doors? Yes, but Toyota was operating within the constraints of cost and safety. Adding the additional pair of doors means more work (money) to comply with side-impact crash testing. On the upside, without any rear seats, just a shelf with some useful cubbies, you really can just chuck stuff back there without much care. Simply angle the front seatbacks forward first.
The two-door configuration makes the new Tacoma a rarity in the midsize truck segment. As we mentioned already, even extended cabs are out at GM, and Ford is waiting to introduce the short-cab Rangers until later. Nissan still offers the Frontier in King Cab (extended-cab) guise with front doors and half rear doors. Rarer still, Toyota is letting customers buy a compelling new variant in two-door XtraCab form: The 2024 Tacoma PreRunner.
While the basic SR is geared toward commercial customers—and, even last year, could be optioned without rear seats—and the SR5 is slightly nicer, the PreRunner carries outward appeal. It falls in the middle of the lineup and is only available with two-wheel drive, a locking rear differential, a leaf spring rear suspension, and a two-inch suspension lift, meatier tires, and cool TRD wheels.
Pricing for the TRD PreRunner trim, as well as the lesser SR and SR5 XtraCab models, is forthcoming. But it’s a fair guess to assume that, like the Access Cab that came before it, the XtraCab will cost less than the four-door Double Cab variant. It’ll only be available with a long bed (6-foot), too.
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