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Homage to the 4th Gen Prerunner
The 1st and 4th Gen Tacoma Prerunner. Let’s talk about generational runs. The Coast Salish people called what we call today Mount Rainier, Tahoma or Tacoma, meaning “the mother of waters”, or “where the water begins.” Toyota understood that the trucks that they were going to establish in America Feb 1995, replacing the Hilux, were to be founts of life and human activity. They sought a closer level of injecting personality and challenged the basic utility sense that the pickup truck was seen in for so long. In 98 Toyota offered the Prerunner Trim, a 2WD that was given the same chop as a TRD Off Road with a lift kit, bigger engine, six-lug wheels, and locking rear diff. My own dad had the 95 Tacoma Xtracab in Evergreen Pearl, bone stock. And fast forward to 2025 I inherited this truck from him, a vehicle I did not understand. But now I do. I’ve taken in the 4th Gen hate, the Tacoma hate and Prerunner hate, and now I’m ready to share what I learned about the two.
Appearance
The 4th Gen was all about ruggedness and relationship with the Tacoma DNA from the get go, meaning keeping it while slipping into the modern aesthetic. So while we lose the foldable seats, we gain a plethora of open and contained and hidden space. The Tacoma (unfortunately, or awesomely) had over the years evolved into a barbell design. Toyota realized that the common motifs of their trucks could take simple angles built on shape itself. The corresponding Grades would complete the overall design. So the 4th Gen Prerunner. It’s namesake from the trucks that would go out before the actual racers at Baja. It’s possibly the best looking representation of Toyota giving a kitted out weekend warrior/ fishing/ hunting/ just about dipping anything wet, muddy, rocky, sandy, or gravelly - but only occasionally and not at all like the 4x4’s. Yes the current trim, or Grade as Toyota likes to call it, has rear leaf springs instead of coil springs which provide a softer ride which is made more noticeable with the lift kit. But something just does it in me when I look at the official photos of the 4th Gen Prerunner. The black TRD wheels perfectly align with the TRD fenders. It’s Xtracab profile, the seamless half panel window is striking. And of course, even in Chloe Kuo admits to eventually hating it for showing imperfections worse than lighter colors, there have been so so many wonderful descriptions and impressions of Toyota’s first new take on dark gray— called Underground.
Platform
Getting a 2WD out the box would surely limit it from doing jobs that 4x4’s can, but it’s important to realize that the cost, maintenance, and overall investment in purpose is much more cheaper and simpler for 2WD. There are only a handful of extreme situations that a 4x4 handles that a 2WD can’t, and that’s if the rear locker fails which in most cases it usually doesn’t. The real question is if this 1.5” inch factory lift and (comparative) 32 inch tires would do the job, and this is where either scrapes or bent steering or suspension components occur. Lastly, the glorious T24A-FTS. I cannot forget the sound of the 1st Gen Tacoma starter, but I for sure cannot forget the sound of a blowoff valve from a fresh pull from the T24A-FTS. It’s Toyota’s commitment to better fuel emissions on solely gasoline powered vehicles despite producing around the same power while suffering the downsides of boosted engines. However, criticism of its adoption on the entire platform could not bother the choice made to give the 4th Gen TRD Prunner a turbocharged 4 cylinder. Which, let’s not forget Tacoma’s started out with 4 cylinder.
Conclusion
The Baja was a racing truck event that took place on mostly flat or hilly terrain not much more than, I don’t know, barreling down whoops several football fields long at a 100 mph. So to take that racing heritage and make it into a consumer truck that was (perhaps halfway, not fully committed we must remember) capable of high speed desert, or sand, or gravel, and able to get to places on or off-road as any good Tacoma regardless of trim or generation should. The main distinction is that the 4th Gen TRD Prerunner looks damn good at it, and there’s not too many out there of them in the first place. So here’s to Toyota’s spirit manifested in the palm of my hands that grip that huge and automatically navigating steering wheel: like the words emblazoned on Ivan “Iron Man” Stewart’s #1 T100: OUR MINDS ARE ALWAYS RACING!
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