2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter Review and Test Drive

Driving Mojave Desert trails in the overlanding version of Toyota's redesigned Tacoma.

Christian Wardlaw | 

Feb 13, 2025 | 4 min read

Christian Wardlaw

Barreling around a bend in a trail lined with desert sage and Joshua trees, a thick dust plume rises behind the 2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter. My daughter is along for the ride, and we're hunting trails on the north side of the mountain against which Willow Springs International Raceway nestles. Nevertheless, duty calls, and while testing the 2024 Tacoma Trailhunter, we found this courage-boosting truck was seemingly unstoppable.

Christian Wardlaw

How to Spot the New Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter

New to the Tacoma lineup, the Trailhunter exists for overlanding. It comes in a Double Cab (five-seater) style with a 5- or 6-foot cargo bed, and its base price is $1,000 less than the Tacoma TRD Pro. It's an expensive truck with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $64,395, including the destination charge, and before adding any of the myriad accessories Toyota offers to customize it. However, the Trailhunter seems worth the money, whether or not you plan to use it in the way Toyota intends.

Bronze 18-inch wheels wrapped in 33-inch Goodyear Territory rugged-terrain tires, a high-mount air intake that whooshes when you accelerate, and an ARB utility bar behind the sliding rear window identify the Trailhunter at a glance.

The truck also has a high-clearance front bumper and trail exhaust outlet, an ARB steel rear bumper with red recovery hooks, and effective LED "scene lighting" integrated into the cargo bed. After sunset, an embedded light bar in the heritage-style grille and Rigid Industries fog lights illuminate the trail ahead.

Christian Wardlaw

Toyota Equips the Trailhunter With Off-Road Tech

Mechanically, the Trailhunter is decked out like the TRD Pro and equipped with off-road goodies such as a stabilizer-bar disconnect, Crawl Control, and Downhill Assist Control. You access them using the switchgear on the center console, where a multifunction knob also puts the transfer case into 4Hi or 4Lo. Multi-Terrain Select calibrates the drivetrain for different driving situations.

A turbocharged and electrified 2.4-liter four-cylinder i-Force Max engine is standard in the Trailhunter. Rated to deliver 323 horsepower and 425 pound-feet of torque, it makes plenty of power for this truck. However, my observed fuel economy of 17.7 mpg came nowhere close to the official EPA rating of 23 mpg in combined driving. The Trailhunter might have a hybrid powertrain, but you'd never guess it by how often you need to stop for gas.

Christian Wardlaw

The Trailhunter Rides With Stability

Specific to the Trailhunter, the lifted Old Man Emu suspension — with 2.5-inch forged monotube shock absorbers and external remote reservoirs — is nothing short of supernatural in its ability to soak up any trail or road surface.

Toyota says it tuned the suspension to stabilize the heavy loads commonly carried during extended overlanding trips. Still, in daily driving, it glides down the freeway like a magic carpet. Even if I had no intention of driving in the dirt, I'd consider a Trailhunter for its extraordinary ride quality.

To protect the truck's underside, Toyota equips the Tacoma Trailhunter with high-strength steel front, transfer case, and rear differential skid plates. In addition, a composite shield protects the fuel tank. Steel rock rails mounted to the truck's robust frame complete the fortifications.

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The Tacoma Trailhunter Is Nothing but Fun

The high desert terrain my kid and I covered presented us with various surfaces we could travel at velocities ranging from a crawl to nearly freeway speeds. We had an absolute blast, though I'll admit that aside from switching to 4Hi or 4Lo as needed, adjusting the Multi-Terrain Select system, and activating the Downhill Assist Control, I didn't maximize the Trailhunter's substantial capabilities. Though unnecessary, I used the Crawl Control to show my daughter how it worked as we made our way up the mountain.

Our travels were not without disappointment. We found, in addition to the unconscionable amount of trash people have dumped in the desert, that the Trailhunter is surprisingly difficult to turn around. On one trail, we crested a rise only to discover a pile of garbage in our path. In arid California, it is critical to keep hot engine components out of the bone-dry brush to prevent fires, so it took some time and effort to get the Taco safety pointed in the direction from whence we'd come.

Nevertheless, what sticks with me about the new 2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter is how much fun it is to drive, no matter where you're going or what you're doing. The real-world gas mileage is terrible and it costs an almost ridiculous amount of money, but otherwise, this version of the redesigned Tacoma is a terrific truck.

Toyota provided the vehicle for this 2024 Tacoma Trailhunter review.

Christian Wardlaw

Chris says his first word was "car." For as long as he can remember, he's been obsessed with them. The design. The engineering. The performance. And the purpose. He is a car enthusiast who loves to drive, but is most passionate about the cars, trucks, and SUVs that people actually buy. He began his career as the editor-in-chief of Edmunds.com in the 1990s, and for more than 30 years has created automotive content for CarGurus, J.D. Power, Kelley Blue Book, the New York Daily News, and others. Chris owns Speedy Daddy Media, has been contributing to Capital One Auto Navigator since 2019, and lives in California with his wife, kids, dog, and 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata.