Thank you to Middletown Toyota for letting me take a drive in this 6 speed manual Tacoma TRD Sport Double Cab w/5 ft bed!
First things first. After driving this truck and talking to some people in the manual truck community, I don't feel that I have enough experience with trucks to give this one an accurate rating, and I don't think the road test is the best way to accurately judge a truck, so take this one with a grain of salt.
I hop out of my compact hot-hatch, as usual, and up into this very long, narrow truck and feel immediately out of my element. The only source of familiarity, of course, being the third pedal and the numbered shifter. The seats are on the harder side, but not uncomfortable. I wouldn't want to take a long road trip sitting in these seats, but of course that's not really what a truck is made for. I hop into the back seats before I get going, and at 5'7" I fit okay without having to eat my knees. Again, comfortable enough, but I wouldn't want to sit back there for a long road trip.
I start it up and get moving. The clutch is on the heavier side of moderate, with the bit point near the top. It's got a good weight to it, without being heavy enough to get uncomfortable to press over and over again. First gear feels very short, and while the longer shifter is unfamiliar, it shifts smoothly and feels pretty good, and proves easy to get the hang of.
Driving around town, the fact that the truck is narrow makes it easy to keep in the lines, even on some of the smaller back roads. The ride is a lot smoother than I expected, and the cabin is a lot quieter than I expected.
The tech in this one includes an LCD display with a backup cam, Bluetooth, and navigation. For Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, you'll have to go for the 2020 or later model.
As mentioned, I'm not the best judge of trucks, and I wasn't towing anything or off-roading, but overall it seems decent enough and it's pretty fun to drive. At $38k with 12k miles on it, it does seem expensive, but these trucks hold their value extremely well. If resale is in the plans, this is likely to be your best value.
If you're into trucks and you've owned or driven one of these or any other manual truck, go ahead and throw yours up on the site!
