The Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro lacks running boards and maximizes ground clearance.

By Keith Griffin

Careful what you wish for or complain about. Recently, I spent a week with the 2025 Toyota 4Runner. I remarked that it had running boards that were more for show than practicality. Then, the 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro arrived without them.

Now, there is a practical reason not to have running boards on a vehicle like the Tacoma TRD Pro. They would reduce the 10.7-inch ground clearance, which is usually not an issue when grabbing poke bowls in Corbin’s Corner.

However, about 10 years ago, I learned firsthand how vital ground clearance can be when Bridgestone Tires invited me to sample their product on the Baja 100 in Mexico. It was there that I learned the importance of ground clearance, whether flying over sand dunes at 60 mph or crawling up and down rocky inclines at 2 mph. Running boards could easily bend or break in these conditions.

What I took away from my week with the 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro was a reminder of how important it is to enter and exit a vehicle numerous times during a test drive. I needed almost a running start to hop into the TRD Pro, and I’m six feet tall. Granted, I’m not that limber but no matter how much fun this truck would be to drive off-road, I could never seriously consider buying one.

2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. Courtesy photo

TRD Pro Features

The Baja-racing inspired TRD Pro is an i-FORCE MAX exclusive grade that offers the segment-first, standard IsoDynamic Performance Front Seats, which use an air-over-oil shock absorber system allowing for vertical and lateral seat movement simultaneously to help reduce body movement and stabilize the head and neck to keep alignment with the spine. TRD Pro also packs in additional standard features like a TRD-Tuned Fox Quick Switch 3 (QS3) adjustable internal bypass shocks with rear remote reservoirs, a TRD performance air intake, 33-inch Goodyear tires with 18-inch black alloy wheels, and available two-tone exterior paint.

TRD Pro drivers can view potential obstacles that are looming on the trail via the multi-terrain monitor that can display crisply on the available 14-inch touchscreen. For the sketchiest of situations, Tacoma offers standard underbody protection and front recovery points, with additional protection and rear recovery points standard on TRD Pro.

Probably the most useful configuration for the Tacoma is the XtraCab. It is available on SR, SR5, and TRD PreRunner grades, and comes exclusively with seating for two, a functional rear cabin storage area, and a six-foot bed. The five-foot bed isn’t functional for those who might use the Tacoma for hauling.

Lockable storage on the rear floor is useful for storing things like small packs or a toolbox, and lockable storage on the back panel can store things like shovels and fishing poles. Quick access to rear storage is aided by a long-slide driver’s seat. Additionally, the passenger seat can fold flat and can be used as a workspace and includes a water bottle holder.

As mentioned previously, I’m six feet tall, which makes the rear seat all but unusable unless you are able to sit crisscross applesauce, as students do. Only the youngest of tots, say born after 2018, could find some comfort in the second row.

2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro IsoDynamic Performance Seat. Courtesy photo

New Standard Safety Feature

Proactive Driving Assist is now a part of Toyota Safety Sense. It uses the vehicle’s camera and radar, when system operating conditions are met, to provide gentle braking and/or steering to support driving tasks such as distance control between your vehicle and a preceding vehicle, pedestrian, or bicyclist. PDA can also provide gentle braking into curves. Proactive Driving Assist is not a substitute for the Pre-Collision System and operates in different circumstances.

The TRD Pro is powered by a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder, hybrid, turbocharged engine with double overhead cam (DOHC) 16-valve, D-4S fuel injection. It produces 326 horsepower with 465 lb. feet of torque. It has a towing capacity of 6,000 pounds. In a week of mixed driving, I averaged 17.5 miles per gallon.

The TRD Pro has a starting MSRP of $63,875.

Longtime West Hartford resident Keith Griffin is a veteran auto journalist whose work has been published in U.S. News & World Report, The Boston Globe, and online for various New York Times companies. He is a past president of the New England Motor Press Association.

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