Pickups are great for hauling and getting work done. It’s also good for just riding around and having a bit of fun. However, buying one typically costs you a ton of money. Not so with the Toyota Tacoma because it’s been awarded the cheapest truck of this year. 

MotorTrend put out their list of the cheapest trucks you can get for your money. Out of the 10 on the list, the base model Tacoma beat out the rest and landed in the No. 1 spot. 

What does the base Toyota Tacoma come with?

The base SR trim model of the Tacoma comes standard with a 2.7-liter DOHC six-valve four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing. Producing 159 hp, it’s paired with a six-speed electronically controlled automatic transmission, all with a rear-wheel drivetrain. 

When it comes to saving money on gasoline, the Tacoma delivers. Fuel economy has a rating of 20 mpg when driving in the city. When traveling on the highway, the Tacoma gets around 23 mpg, which is pretty good for a pickup. 

The interior offers fabric seating with a four-way adjustable driver’s seat. It also comes with an infotainment system with a 7-inch screen and contains apps, such as Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, and navigational programs. 

There’s much more, but with all the standard equipment offered with the Tacoma, the starting price tag, according to Toyota, is $26,150 MSRP. But, if you play your cards right, you could get that for a little cheaper. 

How you could lower the price to be more inexpensive

Usually, when you add packages to your new vehicle, it increases the price of your purchase. However, this is one case where it’s just the opposite. There’s one package you could implement on your new truck that could essentially lower it about $1,715 MSRP. It’s called the Utility Package, and it’s available on the four-cylinder Access Cab. 

This will remove rear speakers and seats, along with seatbacks, headrests, rear cup holders, and seatbelts. It will also remove the intermittent wiper. 

While it strips down the truck, it will also add a few things to it, mostly aesthetic styling. There will be black door handles, black mirror caps, and black rear bumpers. The other change is they will make the rear window fixed. 

In the end, with the implementation of this package on the new Tacoma, the price could essentially be $24,435, using the current prices on the site. This would make the Toyota Tacoma a nice work truck.

What did the Toyota Tacoma beat out for the cheapest truck?

Since the Toyota Tacoma fell into the first place spot, it beat out nine other trucks, some of them from the big brands. In the ninth spot was the GMC Sierra 1500. The lowest price it could muster, according to MotorTrend, was $31,695. The Ford F-150 landed in the eighth spot with a price of $30,635, which is quite a bit more than the Tacoma. 

There are two trucks that came pretty close to the Tacoma on the list and that’s the Chevy Colorado and the Ford Ranger. The Colorado was actually the cheapest truck last year on MotorTrend’s list. This year it made it to the third spot because Chevrolet got rid of the ultra base trim, which offered the bare minimum at a cheap price. This year, it’s cheapest is $26,395. 

The Ford Ranger came in second with a price tag of $26,250. MotorTrend reported that this is last year’s price since they didn’t have the current one available at the time of writing. Ford’s website shows the MSRP as $24,410, but that doesn’t include destination fees, which are typically around $1,000 and up. 

The Toyota Tacoma can be had for approximately $24,435 if you add the utility package that lowers the price. With this, you can have a basic truck that looks good driving down the road or when you get it dirty from off beaten paths.