TRd Sport or Off Road

Since 2010 every vehicle I drove had a locker. I go off road more than most people as it's part of my job. in the past 8 years, even off road, I haven't needed a locker. The Sport does just fine off road.

 

Brake modulation with left foot aka your "locker".

 

Honestly I've done quite a bit of offroading in mine and barely even used the locker. And one of the reasons is cause you can only engage it in low range.

Also the e-locker this gen is in an 8.75" housing. So the only gears available are 4.88. you have more gear options in the sport cause it has a 9" rear.

Sport also has a noticeably shorter interior height due to the sunroof. I can barely wear a straw hat in the truck without a sunroof and I'm only 5'10. My friend who's 6'1 test drove a sport with me and he said the roof was too low he'd hit his head on the trails.

 

I'm going to caveat that last line with "if you replace the tires." The factory highway tires aren't good for anything off asphalt beyond rock and packed ground and were definitely the reason I'd get stuck on muddy trails. That said the Off-Road isn't that much better but they're still a level above what the Sport comes with.

I haven't needed my locker yet but I'll say for sure the ATRAC system is well beyond what my Sport was capable of. It's far more responsive. The locker is highly situational.

 

All MT in addition to e-locker rear ends are the new 8.75" design. The others are all the older 8" design. It used to be true that the non-locker was slightly beefier than the locker but that doesn't hold true for the third gen.

Also, you can get the Sport without a sunroof but yeah, you lose a lot of headroom with it.

 

Like others have said, if you’re in the US and want a long bed and manual trans you have to go with a sport, everything else with MT are short beds.

 

The smaller 8" is in the sport

 

Both Sport and OR will do fine off-road. But if your goal is really to go off-road, the OR is the more obvious choice because it has the locker, bigger diff, MTS, crawl control, and AT tires. The OR was an easy choice for me.

 

I wanted manual and no sunroof lol and that is what I got.

 

Shit you are right i couldn't quite remember. Think I confused it with my Landcruiser diff.

Thanks for the correction.

I wanted manual no sunroof, couldn't get it in DBC SB. It was Sport (sunroof, manual, tech package) or Off road(locker, crawl control, automatic). I went with the offroad. If the sport came sans sunroof I probably would have got it and put the ARB locker in.

I always have shit on my roof and sunroofs make too much noise.

 

Igot sport manual no sunroof 4wd sb.

 

American trucks have more options. Canadian trucks have options chosen for you.

 

If you do any semi-serious offloading, you will want, and you will use a locker. If you're cruising down dirt roads, then you won't need or use one. If you don't care about a locker, then you probably won't care about the little factory skids either, so sport might be the one for you.

The main practical difference is that you'll get a locker with the OR, and you'll get a fake hood scoop (I'm not knocking it, I think it looks good) on the Sport.

 

But you betcha it's a happy place ay?

 

I bought my Sport for 3k less than all the off roads on the lot at the time... am I okay as a sport owner? Will add an ARB rear locker in the future if I feel I ever need one.

 

If you get the off-road model you won't be judged by sport owners. If you get the sport model you definitely will be judged by some off road owners.

Sport suites my needs and personal choice to have a truck that looks good to me. Do I rock crawl? Nope. Would a rear locker be helpful in sand? Probably. Will I ever go in the sand? Nope. Do I have two feet capable of pressing pedals? Yup. Would off road auto pilot be a cool feature to have, maybe. Do I love my skewp more than my 1 year old son? Nope. But it's a close second. Lol

If you love the scoop, just do what some off-road owners do and spend the extra grand after you buy the off-road.

 

I owned a 2nd Gen OR and now have a 3rd Gen OR . Both DCSB .

If you need the longer bed, get it.

You can fix the other stuff easily if you need to. Maybe a tire swap on delivery if the sport model stock tires are lacking for your condions. SR5 worth considering, too.

 

Uhhhh.. what?

 

Get the AC sport manual. Since Toyota decided that they didn't want to sell a 4cyl manual truck in the us anymore that's your only option for the best (IMO) cab/bed/tranny combo.

 

Suspension. The suspension on the OR is terrible to anyone who drives with any sort of urgency.

I thought I wanted an OR until I drove it. Couldn’t stand the suspension.

Besides, I can get a Lokka in front or rear for $300 if I want a locking differential. And that one is mechanical.