The major difference between the TRD sport and TRD off road

Hello all, I mostly spend my time in the 1st gen forums but i am in the market to purchase a '16 Tacoma. Love the way they look and the goodies that come with them. Iv been at Toyota pricing out both the SR5, TRD Sport and TRD Off Road. However, when diving into the different packages i started realizing there were some surprising details that change per package. For example, i am interested in purchasing the TRD Off-Road package with a manual transmission and in the access cab. Apparently the manual transmission in the Off-Road Package only comes in the 4-door model. However i can get the manual trans in the TRD Sport Access Cab. Another example is the SR5 package only comes in an automatic transmission, weather you get the access cab or 4-door. So that puts me back to either the TRD Sport or Off-Road. Between the two i love the look of the Off-Road mostly because of the wheels and the Blackout fenders and front bumper, but i want a manual transmission. I figured if i get the Sport i can always plastidip them to black them out or purchase them separately, but is it really worth it? Im torn between the two. So what are the major differences between the two?? Why would Toyota make the manual an option in the 4 door and not the access cab???? To me that seems backwards...

 

Welcome to TW.

The days of a real truck, something with a 6' bed, locker, and an MT, are now only available in Canada.

 

Just to piss us all off..

 

We don't get the DC OR LB AT so there you go.

 

I love my TRD Sport DC with MT - we getting taller gearing in the rear with the MT - I would bet we get the locker diff too but that has not been verified. I don't think the rear is different in the MT OR from the MT in the sport. I think they are the same ...

 

No locker unless you have the Off Road trim, auto or manual doesn't matter

 

Manual = no crawl control, if you care about that.

 

Started realizing that. The salesman at Toyota said that the manual transmission is more of a demand then the automatic. Thinking Toyota knows this and they also know a good majority of Tacoma owners are off-road enthusiasts. Off road package, manual trans only in four door equals more $$$ the consumer has to spend. Just my theory

 

Unfortunately the trd sport does not get the electronic locking diff, only the auto locking diff which I think is brake controlled. That was another thing I was disappointed about.... No full locker in the rear of the sport addition. At that point I was like well hell, ill just go to the sr5 and save some money because they too have the auto locking diff (brake controlled). But again another loophole... No manual in that. Back up to the trd sport, with added goodies for only a couple hundred more then the sr5 by the time you add the appearance package

 

I knew that going into it and it didn't bother me at all... On less thing to act up (not saying it will). Plus I figured I would save 1k or two without it. But hey at the end of the day it didn't matter lol no manumatic lol

 

Are you sure about that??? Why would they make 2 different rears with the same gearing. I would think it's cheaper just to give the locker with all MT Tacos...

 

Yup. All of the packages have whats called Automatic limited slip diff (AUTO LSD) that is controlled by braking. The computer senses wheel slippage and the brakes are applied to the wheel that is slipping in an effort to transfer power to the other wheel with more traction. However the OFF-Road package has (in addition to AUTO LSD) an electronically controlled locking differential. With the push of a button you can completely lock up the rear differential so that no matter what both rear wheels get 50/50 power. And im pretty sure when you engage this feature the (AUTO LSD) is then bypassed or shut off.

So in short the Sport only has the AutoLSD option which can be turned off and the OFF-ROAD has both the AUTO LSD and the Electronically Controlled Differential Lock

 

All models except the Off Road have Auto LSD. It's just the ABS system using vacuum assisted braking to keep the wheels traveling the same speed.

The Off Road has ATRAC in place of 'Auto LSD' which is used in 5 positions of MTS, multi terrain select. This circuit of ABS is NOT vacuum boosted. This circuit has an electric pump that pumps the system stronger than the vacuum can create for low speed braking. The Off Road is also the only model that comes with a mechanical locking rear differential.

All the rear ends are the same size. The locking rear diff is labeled larger because there is a flange around the gear that they are measuring. The gear is the same size and gearing as all the rest of the models.This is what Jeff Lange has said a few times.

The bad part of ATRAC / MTS is that the brake booster and master cylinder is something like 2700 dollars to completely replace... ouch

 

Ok so in the off-road package, when you go to a manual transmission, what does the ATRAC get replaced with? Or does it get eliminated all together and all your left with is the AUTO LSD and Locker?

 

The manual OR gets ATRAC vs. mts/cc. According to the owners manual auto lsd can only be used in 2wd mode. By this I'm referring to the auto lsd light that comes on when the VSC button is pressed when in 2wd.

 

In pretty sure the manual transmission gets MTS. but correct me if I am mistaken

 

I think you are right....it's only CC that doesn't come with the manual.

 

Automatic Offroad gets MTS and Crawl Control, no A-TRAC

Manual Offroad gets A-TRAC

"-Multi-terrain Select and Crawl Control (CRAWL)26 (4x4 A/T only)
-Active Traction Control (A-TRAC) (4x4 M/T only)"

I had to pull it off a brochure too because i wasn't sure either haha

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Here's the brochure for future reference http://www.toyota.com/tacoma/ebrochure/