Words by: Adam Allen
Mexico is a beautiful country. Pick either coast and you’ll find gorgeous tropical beaches that act as bookends between thriving, bustling cities in the middle. The nation is spoiled for cultural riches in the forms of arts, music and sports. In our humble opinion, all these threads make up the fabric of an incredible place to visit- but perhaps the best export Mexico is known for is the food.
Whether you fancy a complex and nuanced Mole sauce or a bracingly refreshing ceviche, Mexico has an abundance of culinary treasures waiting to be tasted, and they differ wildly over the vast expanse of multiple regions that make up the country. The most popular of these edible gifts is the taco, of course.
Growing up, most of our experience with Mexican food was borne out of a Taco Bell drive thru. But we are blessed to live in Toronto, which is a veritable powerhouse of multiculturalism and with that diversity comes an eclectic mix of places to eat for almost any culture you can think of. As the local food scene flourished, so did the opportunity to expose our palate to flavors heretofore unimagined- especially authentic Mexican, which is essentially the polar opposite of Taco Bell.
There’s a restaurant in the city’s Mount Dennis neighborhood called Comal y Canela. It was founded by a lovely amateur chef who missed the taste of home so much she started recreating it here and thus a restaurant was born. The great thing about Comal Y Canela is that literally everything on the menu is made from scratch. A huge commitment, that. It also does not hurt that everything is delicious.
One day we noticed Birra tacos on the menu. Unfamiliar with what that was, our server explained that it’s a meal of tacos that you dip into an accompanying soup broth. We figured that couldn’t be bad, so we ordered them. Biting into them was a revelatory experience, one we won’t soon forget.
We’ll bet that at this point, you’re wondering if you are reading an automotive review or one highlighting a local restaurant; that would be a valid question. But fear not, dear reader, as we are most definitely going to delve into another delectable Taco- this one of the automotive persuasion.
You see, much like those delicious Birra morsels we greedily inhaled that fateful afternoon, so too is the experience similar in Toyota’s all new Tacoma- as rewarding as it is agreeable.
Toyota’s Taco has been just as popular as its edible counterpoint over the years. Always a strong seller, it found homes in many driveways- mostly because for so long the midsize pickup segment was the Tacoma. After enjoying many model years of guaranteed success while its competitors remained out of the midsize pickup game, the other guys decided that they’d once again like a slice of that pie- and we now have choices like the Ford Ranger, GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado and the Nissan Frontier attempting to take the Taco’s lunch money. Not wanting these new entrants to enjoy too much success, Toyota got to work on the Tacoma’s 4th generation you see here.
With a clean sheet redesign, Toyota fixed a bunch of the stuff that was wrong with the old model. The first and biggest change we noticed even before firing it up, and that is the new driving position. In the outgoing model, it felt as though you were driving while sitting on the floor, legs splayed out uncomfortably before you. Now it feels like it’s supposed to be, which is to say normal, like sitting in a proper chair. Toyota binned the old naturally aspirated 3.5 litre V6 (which sounded like an F-14 fighter jet getting ready to launch itself off an aircraft carrier on cold mornings) for two distinct four-cylinder turbo options, one of them augmented by hybrid componentry. The last major change was bringing the cabin up to 2024 standards with a digital dash, up-to-date infotainment and cubbies and storage solutions galore.
There are a few standouts where the cockpit is concerned that very left positive impressions on the Carpages Collective. The first was the heated seats and steering wheel, which achieved fiery temperatures quickly making frigid early morning commutes tolerable. There’s that new driving position that didn’t require us to get out and stretch groaning muscles and joints after fairly short trips. We also found ourselves smitten by two buttons inside the Tacoma- one was the iMT on the console which tells the engine management to execute perfectly rev-matched downshifts when operating our tester’s manual gearbox (more on that later.) The other was a button no doubt familiar to all who drive contemporary Toyota models, and that would be the Brake Hold feature. Meant to be used in conjunction with the hill holder clutch, it felt like deploying the ultimate cheat code which will no doubt be a boon to lazy manual drivers or when seasoned DIY shifters just want to zone out and not focus on precise shifting too much.
Back to that manual transmission lever you see poking up from the console; it’s a class exclusive. That’s right folks- the Tacoma is the only pickup truck on sale today that offers one-that alone makes this trunk awesome. That also makes the Taco somewhat of a unicorn. The shift throws are loooooong, the clutch take-up is at the higher part of the pedal’s travel, but once you get used to it you’ll be driving it like you had been doing so for years. The secret to smoothness is don’t rush your shifts, and 3,000 rpm is roughly when you’ll want to grab the next gear- anything much lower or higher doesn’t feel as dialed in.
Know what else isn’t smooth? The engine. At first we wondered if noticing the unpleasant grumbling played at a surprisingly high volume through the firewall was only because we’d just got out of a Lexus ES 300 (which has a whisper quiet, velvety V6) that may have thrown us off. After a week, we realized that the 2.4 litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine simply doesn’t have a sonorous voice, nor does it have the free revving behavior of a Chevy Colorado we drove recently. Instead, throttle inputs are more deliberate and are needed to overcome the flywheel’s weighty resistance- it feels as though it might be made of depleted uranium. That gives it a serious case of the dreaded rev hang where you stab the clutch, and…nothing. The revs take a few moments before s-l-o-w-l-y dropping off. Don’t think we’re mad at the new engine- it’s a huge step up from the old wheezy V6 and does not sound like a wind tunnel at full bore on cold starts like the old days. It’s much more efficient and delivers its power very low in the rev range. That’s a good thing since the redline is a shockingly low 5,200 rpm. Despite its lazy demeanor and grumbly soundtrack, the 2.4 will no doubt live on to become what so many Toyota engines are- high milage workhorses that if properly maintained will last a generation.
There’s an often-quoted Mexican proverb (“El que busca encuentra”) that translates to ‘if you search, you will find.’ That’s exactly what we recommend you do next time you have a hankering for the Birra portable bombs of deliciousness so make sure you put Comal Y Canela on your list. You’ll be glad you did. And if your taste for tacos skews towards the automotive space, head to your nearest Toyota store and take the new Taco- er, Tacoma- for a drive.
2024 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab MT+ – Specifications
- Price as tested: $54,406.08
- Powertrain Layout: Front engine/Four-wheel drive
- Engine: 2.4-litre turbocharged 4-Cylinder DOHC, 16 valves
- Horsepower: 270 @ 5,400 rpm
- Torque (lb-ft.): 310 @ 2,800 rpm
- Transmission: 6-speed manual
- Curb weight: 2,110 kg (4,652 lbs)
- Observed Fuel Economy: 14.4/100km (16 mpg)