Sport or Off-Road Package

Lucky prick lol

 

oh yea, this is a perfect place to drop photos of my sport vs my buddy's offroad:
first pic: last september

2nd pic: this past weekend.

 

God damn that’s sexy

I think it’s the best blue. Way better blue than cavalry or blazing

 

It’s like a reverse-mullet, party in the front, business in the back! LOL. Seriously though OP, with your intended mods, do you want a skewp and color matched fender flares, or black flares?

 

Right, only Sport, Off Road, and Pro has MT if buying new.

 

That's ok. I hate the cheap looking unpainted fender flares of the OR. On a black truck they look beyond ridiculous.

 

I chose offroad mostly due to what you get out of the box, as some have mentioned: skid plates, the black fenderr flares, and the locking diff. I ordered mine in a manual.

 

I think it depends on your budget and what are you planning on doing.
TRD OR is much better OR vehicle out of the door.
You save some money with the rear lockers and better OR tires and OR tunned suspension.
The Sport is more road tuned. If you are planning on heavy off-roading, re-gearing and limitless budged, I think the Sport or OR package will be the least of your concerns.
For me That I go off-roading and expend a lot of time off the road, camping, hitting the trails etc etc, the OR trim made more sense.
IMO, please if you own a sport , don't take it personal, the Sport Package is something on its own. I rather get the SR5 4x4 loaded. than a base TRD Sport 4x4.

 

I think the hood scoop looks great. I don't particularly care for Toyota's constant use of fake vents/scoops (see mk5 Supra), especially when making them functional is probably less effort, but I think that aesthetically it's all great. I also don't think that if Toyota had made the scoop on the Tacoma "functional" that it still wouldn't have been functional.

I plan on leaving mine mostly stock but will be using it as a hunting truck so may end up in some muddy areas and/or off the beaten path, so the OR was the right fit for me. Given what you're planning OP, I think the more pertinent questions are 1, do you want an access cab and/or a 6' bed? 2, do you plan on using your truck off road between purchasing it and your list of upgrades, or do you plan on dumping $35-40k on the truck and another $20 grand immediately into it?

 

Main consideration will probably be availability. They're priced the same and if you're anyways planning on doing your own upgrades then the differences are negligible. If you find a Sport or OR in the configuration/colour you like at a reasonable price, don't worry about the trim.

That being said. I prefer my OR because:
1. Front air dam is removed and some light duty skidplates added. (All I need for the minor offroading I do)
2. No fake hood scoop (truck looks great without it)
3. Black fenders. (Not a chrome guy. The black fenders look great on any truck except a black one)
4. I prefer the wheels on the OR
5. Locker. (helped me get out of deep snow a few times.)
6. MTS and CC (minor factor, haven't had a situation where it would have helped but it's fun playing with them.)


On a different note. I love my 2017 TRD OR. but if I was buying new I wouldn't get it. The current Ranger, and maybe the new Frontier have it well beat as far as power and transmission go, as well as modern tech features. Maybe an OV tune will fix some problems but for the same price those other 2 trucks have it well beat in those areas.

 

Except that neither the Ranger nor the Frontier are available with the option of a manual transmission. A complete deal-breaker for me and many others.

 

Fair point. If manual is a must this is the only option. And for many, a manual may make up for the less than stellar shifting of the auto.

 

Not trying to come off as loyalist here, but what modern tech features? Are you referring to safety/driving features like auto start-stop, blind spot monitoring, crawl control, etc. or creature comforts like CarPlay/Android Auto, wireless charging, and the like? I know the Ranger has some of the more advanced options like lane keeping and curve control, but didn't really get a sense for those on the Frontier video I watched.

I also think a lot of people probably fall in the camp of not wanting a vehicle to decide it's time to brake because the car is going around a wide sweeper too fast, or the steering wheel to jerk because I'm in a construction zone and the lane shifts. So while I know those features already exist at Toyota in some capacity and will eventually make their way to the Tacoma (next gen if I were to guess), I'd wager the lack of technology is probably some of the reason for interest in Tacomas.

Can't dispute power, definitely disagree with transmission though.

 

OP, since you're looking for a manual, you're already going to be dealing with a smaller inventory to choose from. Add that to the fact that it sounds like you're planning to change everything that really differentiates the two trims, I would say get the one you can find and get the best deal on. Then you have more money to go all-in with the mods you want. Sounds like it's going to be a sweet build either way!

 

My mistake. I was specifically thinking of Android Auto and adaptive cruise but those are both available in current Tacoma's. I generally like the info unit but if i'm listening to the radio and I want to listen to a quick whatapp audio message I have to switch my audio from radio to bluetooth then back again. (no android auto in the till 2020)

Can't speak for the manual transmission because that's on the user but the Auto seems to have a hard time deciding which gear to be in. As my daily driver I've mostly learned its mannerisms and drive accordingly but I drive a lot of different vehicles and this is the first where I notice the transmission. my butt tells me it's never made it into 6th gear for more than 2 minutes before dropping back to 5 and that's on perfectly level highway.

I would get the same truck again though. like I said, as a 4 year old truck, it's great and I love the simplicity of it. hopefully less to go wrong in the long run.

Only other feature on all other modern trucks already is terrain select being available outside of 4 low.

 

Just curious was all, I came from an AT T4R and a MT 4Runner before that. Most I did was test drove a used 2019 AT Tacoma and didn't really find the transmission too frustrating, but it was a short test drive because my wife nagged that I wouldn't be happy with another AT (and she was right).

I feel like the frequent shifting is just a part of modern auto transmissions though, and I hardly think that a 10 speed transmission (as in the Ford) would be any different - maybe less jerky as the gear ratios will be closer together. But if you need to hammer the throttle to merge when you're rolling at 1500 RPMs in 6th gear and the transmission needs to shift down to 2nd, then what? Can Autos skip gears? Because I've never experienced that.

It baffles me that we've spent all these years adding more and more gears to transmissions instead of trying to make CVTs more robust.

 

Yes acura tlx goes from 8 to 3 when you hammer it

 

1: yes, I do. Especially in the winter. Good tools to have.
2: the off road goodies are basically the same as the Pro except for the suspension and some cosmetics. Plus, I don't like the Sport hood or painted fender flares. The Sport also has a smaller rear axle if I remember right.
3: no problems getting into 4lo. Yes, I wish I could use my locker in 2 HI or 4 HI, but at least I have a locker and crawl control. Again, more tools for the tool bag.

Also, manual transmissions don't come with crawl control, for what it is worth.

 

I’ll give the Ranger credit, it beats the balls off Tacoma in the engine and auto transmission department. That’s where it ends for me though, the interior is just so dated in the interior. The keyless code on the Ranger looks like it came from Amazon.

 

If you get the OR, the truck can not keep your sunglasses captive!