24 Taco TRD ride quality is awful. Help?

In a whole lot of prolonged shopping and testing, no Tacoma SR through halo models rode anything like a car or car platform based SUV or minivan. They can't if only for solid rear axle.

My fuel economy improved around 3500 miles. It is easy to be within or exceed EPA fuel economy ratings if you're an all around good driver but not past 70 MPH or with high payload or trailering.

 

Bingo... I'd bet this is the open & shut story story to tell here.

 

Yeah and that’s why I made those points pretty clear and up front. It’s certainly what the Toyota techs likely believe based on not finding anything wrong and giving the Pro a clean bill of health.

 

tires over-inflated is first thing to check, but you make no mention of trd what.....
not important though.
if tires aren't over-inflated, normal....
there has been a ton of documented situations where tires are grossly over inflated by 10-20 psi....
I was one of them, on my recent truck.

reading your response:
set tires to 30, forget the 35psi, that's dumb....
that in itself can be your issue...
you can monitor your own air pressure...
yes, you may need to adjust..
if your ups warning comes on occasionally when its really cold, so what......
The off-road has the softest suspension of the line-up....

 

get it back to 30,
the ride quality, it is what it is...
they're trying to avoid you coming back over & over again due to tps warning, so they over-inflate as a compromise to avoid issue in varying temps...
Just 5psi over, you will feel every crack in the road.....

 

Getting correct inflation will help but it's still a truck. My truck tires came at like 45psi it was crazy harsh.

 

No, they aren't.

 

You don't need to do much if any wondering. The stickers on the doors reflect engineers setting a pressure correct for the vehicle's weight and that differs from a particular tire model being able to suit many needs. Most of the time a slight variation from that is all you need. Tire wear gauges are cheap and easy. Get one while it is new. Measure tread depth across. Then set a tire pressure near what is suggested that also considers vehicle behavior and wear.

I just did my first tire rotation and my pickup is more work oriented. 32 PSI has been good for the average weight and 5000 miles of even tire wear. I think shorties and long beds have same decals but a long bed has to weight more. Mine has the weight of my Fas-Top and usually carrying some to considerable extra weight.

Sorry to not have other good answers. I tried to say pickups can't behave like more conventional passenger vehicles, and I likely don't fit a common profile here. I chose and understood the compromises associated with a pickup because light truck needs are too frequent to be renting as needed. This is my 5th pickup owned personally and I've had company owned ones in the past. From 7 pickups and my trying all of the gen 4, it is absolutely a nice riding pickup. Sheesh, it's got coil springs.

Not a HUGE difference but I tested Sport and Limited trims too. Their tire and wheel profiles are more road friendly but a Sport can't have locker axle, and Limiteds have the useless to me short beds that can't hold what my van did. They are very nice for what they are don't suit my needs. I'd very likely have spent bigger if a long bed Limited existed.

 

This is my bet - you're used to a cloud and being disconnected from the road. Sadly, most people prefer this.

 

I still see some of those Suzukis on the road they look pretty neat to me. Was there ever an AWD version? Maybe they had some G4 badging on them? I never knew the name of those cars until a few years ago, I thought they were Swifts or something else. I wouldn't mind seeing a Suzuki truck, if S sold a truck here it would probably be a rebadged domestic. I saw something recently about Ram bringing Dakota back again, that might have mentioned something about Suzuki building something for Ram, or a Ram product being rebaged as a Suzuki. I'm very skeptical about seeing the Dakota.

Personally I like how a truck rides in comparison to a car, a truck isn't going to handle as well as a car.

 

Got some good advice already, but if it were me, to ease my mind, I'd go drive a TRD Off Road and a TRD Pro if you can find another one somewhat locally, just to compare the ride quality to the one that you bought. I have an SR5 and it rides pretty nicely as compared to my wife's '21 Highlander Hybrid. Of course the Highlander is softer, but what you described in your original post sounded more than just someone never having owned a truck before and being surprised by the ride quality... I haven't been in a Pro yet, so perhaps the Pro's ride is much stiffer even with the shocks set in the softest position, but you could verify that with a couple of test drives of other trucks. Then at least you know what you've got is "normal" for that trim level and can decide if you want to make a change or live with it.

 

Once you make the determination over whether it’s a defect vs an inherent characteristic, you can decide whether you can live with it or not.

I’m not joking about being part of the charm. My ‘23 is in the shop as they determine whether or not it’s repairable after a deer strike. My loaner is a ‘25 Ram Longhorn. It’s like driving an enormous Camry. Quiet, comfortable and boring.

The mechanical noise and rudimentary suspension. The need to use Sport Mode to make the engine and transmission operate at peak efficiency. The buzz of the Duratracs. It’s really what makes my Tacoma fun for me. It’s a lot more machine and a lot less appliance.

It’s purely Internet forum guesswork at this point, but I’m thinking you are just experiencing your Tacoma being a Tacoma. It’s a lot like how I felt getting my Supermoto (DRZ400SM) after a few years with a Superglide.

 

I did adjust it down to 30PSI and set the TPMS settings to match/monitor 30. It does seem to be slightly less bumpy after adjusting down to that, but as you said, the ride is what it is and I think I may have thought the TRD PRO was going to ride as smooth as my wife’s Highlander and in reality, it rides more rough at baseline being a truck.

 

Just my experience talking with 3 separate Toyota dealers regarding the 2024 Tacoma Pro models, 2 being in Indianapolis area and one in Kentucky.

 

sounds like your set, small price to pay to be the cool kid....
I have no idea what tires are on it, but if they're 10ply "E load rating"???
That will make the truck extra bumpy, even if you dial-in your pressure.
The 10ply sidewall makes the tire extra rigid & equates to a rougher ride.
Defenitely not recommended or needed on these small trucks, even if you are towing or offloading....
per Scott at Westcott Designs,
overkill = rides like shit....

 

My Suzuki Kizashi was an AWD and handled extremely well in snowy weather conditions. From what I heard, the 2011-2012 models had the best transmissions because they were built in Japan. After that, they were built out of another country and they did not hold up as well. It was a great car, but wanted to explore a new route which is something I’ll need to get used to because I’m not selling this truck. lol

 

They are sitting on lots all across the USA in every color combination. They stuck you pretty good.

 

I actually drove my friends 3rd Gen Tacoma TRD PRO earlier today for a few miles. He had all season tires on his and it rode a lot smoother than my 4th gen. With that being said, his is broken in, different tires that are smaller at 16 inch rims. So those items may play a factor in the ride.

 

I bet if you throw on some big tires and run them around 28psi you'll love the truck - if you can live with the gas mileage.

Obviously apples to oranges, but my 3rd gen Pro's ride has felt great to me since day one. I hope you get to a place where you can enjoy the truck.

 

I wanted the ice cap with cockpit red interior and certain options on it, so it definitely limited my choices and I still drove 200 miles to get this one. If I wasn’t so picky I could have probably picked one up a little easier.