Next-Gen Tacoma High Altitude Testing on Colorado’s Ike Gauntlet Highway

Spied: 2023 Toyota Tacoma Prototype Caught Testing on the Ike Gauntlet Highway
October 29, 2021

images: Cole T.

This is perhaps the closest look at the 2023 Toyota Tacoma prototype yet. These images give a better idea of what the headlights and the taillights may look like on the production truck.

Thanks to Cole T. for sending us these images of this test truck running up and down the Ike Gauntlet™ highway (I-70 in Colorado near the Johnson/Eisenhower memorial tunnels).

We use the Ike Gauntlet highway as our world’s toughest towing test. It’s because the 8-mile stretch of I-70 from Dillon, CO to the tunnels is a 7% grade with a top elevation of 11,158 feet above sea level. This is high-altitude testing.


The next-generation Tacoma is expected to share the TNGA-F platform and chassis that also underpins the 2022 Tundra and the 2023 Sequoia. Naturally, Tacoma will retain its midsize proportions. It’s still unclear what will power the new Tacoma. It may be the new 2.4-liter turbocharged I4 engine and/or a gas-electric hybrid.