The launch of the 2024 Toyota Tacoma has been focused on the best versions of the latest midsize truck, like the powerful off-road TRD Pro and the new Trailhunter trim levels. In the middle of all the chaos? Inexpensive ones! Remember that the Tacoma is the best-selling midsize truck right now, and it didn’t get there by being the most expensive model. Many business owners and people on a tight budget choose basic Tacomas, especially the SR trim. Of course, none of Toyota’s pictures of the 2017 Tacoma show the SR or the famous, one-level-up SR5 models. Do you want to see the 2024 Toyota Tacoma SR? We were surprised to see a picture of the basic truck on Toyota’s website as part of a graphic showing the whole Tacoma range, which also includes the SR5, the new PreRunner, the TRD Off-Road, the TRD Sport, the Limited, the TRD Pro, and the Trailhunter. The least expensive Tacoma is the two-door, long-bed SR Trace, which needs to be fixed. But there are pictures of the PreRunner in that setup below. Toyota only shows the SR in its four-door Double Cab (crew cab) short-bed version, which will likely be a little more expensive. The 2024 Tacoma SR Double Cab’s stripper-spec white paint goes well with the SR’s steel wheels, black-plastic grille, bumper trim, door mirrors, and door handles. Whoever in Toyota’s marketing department chose to show the car should be commended. The steel wheels are being changed for the first time in decades, but everything else about the SR seems to stay the same. In place of the five-spoke, star-shaped steel wheels on the previous-generation Tacoma SR, the 2024 model gets even better commercial-grade 17-inch stamped steel wheels with small holes around their edges. We will know how essential the SR will be when Toyota tells us more about each trim level and how much each one will cost. On the other hand, Toyota’s specs sheet and website give a few ideas. Like other lower-level Tacomas, the SR will have a leaf-spring rear suspension instead of the more advanced coil-spring, multi-link setup found on higher-end models. It also has a lower-powered form of the new i-Force turbo I-4 gas engine. It makes 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, eight horsepower and seven pound-feet less than the same engine in the SR5, PreRunner, and TRD Off-Road. (There was a 3.5-liter V-6 engine with 278 horsepower.) You might have guessed that the SR doesn’t have the same brand-new i-Force MAX hybrid turbo four-cylinder engine, but it does have a limited-slip rear differential. The only Tacoma trims with a six-speed manual transmission are the SR, the TRD Sport, and the TRD Off-Road, but only on crew-cab models of all three. Four-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive are both options for buyers. Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 is offered for 2024 Tacomas. It adds lane-departure warning, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist, automatic high lights, and adaptive cruise control to the list of standard safety features. Other new features include: Proximity key entry. LED exterior lighting. A 7.0-inch gauge cluster display. An 8.0-inch central touchscreen that runs Toyota’s most unique entertainment software. We can’t wait to find out the final price and see more pictures of the SR Tacoma. If you chose the rare Utility package, the old Tacoma SR started at a decent $28,030. This package cuts $1,715 off the MSRP and is meant for business customers who don’t need back seats and other extras. Expect the new model to cost about the same since the 2024 Trace never had rear doors or seats that opened from the back.
