2025 Toyota Tacoma Xtracab Review

What it's like to live with a two-door, two-seat, two-wheel-drive midsize truck.

James Riswick | 

Jul 24, 2025 | 7 min read

James Riswick

Extended-cab midsize pickups are rare. For example, Ford and General Motors sell theirs only as crew cabs, leaving Toyota and Nissan as the sole players in the game. Toyota calls its extended cab the Xtracab, and it's the only way to get the 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD PreRunner trim level, which is rare for another reason: It's basically a rear-wheel-drive (RWD) truck with all-terrain tires. Toyota offered the first- and second-generation Tacomas in PreRunner form, and now it's back for the fourth generation.

The Tacoma Xtracab has two doors and two seats, along with a surprisingly spacious storage area behind them. It also features a leaf-spring rear suspension, whereas Toyota equips nearly every Tacoma Double Cab (crew cab) with a multilink suspension that utilizes coil springs and twin-tube shocks. The Xtracab comes exclusively with a turbocharged gas-only engine; an automatic transmission; and a choice of SR, SR5, and TRD PreRunner trim levels. A 6-foot cargo bed is mandatory, too.

So, that sets the stage for a type of truck that has seemingly gone out of fashion. Should it have, though? Can an extended-cab pickup, especially one without four-wheel drive (4WD), still be compelling in 2025?

James Riswick

About the 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD PreRunner Review Vehicle

Toyota completely redesigned the Tacoma in 2024, and it received no major updates for the 2025 model year. The SR and SR5 are available with either cab style. The TRD PreRunner is Xtracab only, and the TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, Limited, TrailHunter, and TRD Pro are Double Cab only. Most trim levels offer a choice between a 5- or 6-foot bed. Prices range from the low $30,000s to the mid-$60,000s, including the destination charge. Toyota builds the Tacoma in Guanajuato, Mexico.

For this Tacoma review, I tested the Xtracab TRD PreRunner in Southern California. This trim builds on the SR5 with 17-inch wheels, all-terrain tires, an additional 0.3 inches of ground clearance, a locking rear differential, the 6-foot bed, digital instrumentation, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, automatic climate control, and lockable rear storage.

My test truck had one option: the TRD PreRunner Upgrade package. It included a wireless phone charger, an integrated trailer-brake controller, and an auto-dimming rearview mirror. The manufacturer's suggested retail price was $40,925, including the $1,495 destination charge. Toyota provided the vehicle for this Tacoma review.

James Riswick

Xtracab Boasts Plenty of In-Cab Storage

The Xtracab's front seats boast an abundant adjustment range (I'm 6-foot-3 and didn't need to shove the driver's seat all the way back). Beyond them, you won't find a back seat. Instead, there is a surprisingly functional storage space. I could fit three roll-aboard suitcases and two medium-sized check-in suitcases back there, plus a duffel bag if someone shorter was driving.

There are also three storage bins. One on the passenger side is wider but shallower. Another on the driver's side is deeper but narrower and higher (I fit a bicycle helmet and one of the headrests in there) and is lockable in the TRD PreRunner. The final bin spans the entire rear of the cab. A drop-down panel that creates a flat floor but reduces capacity conceals it.

James Riswick

The Xtracab TRD PreRunner's standard 6-foot bed is available with the Double Cab, so it doesn't exactly enjoy an advantage. Obviously, the Double Cab-long bed combo creates a more versatile truck than an Xtracab, but it would also be 13.2 inches longer and more expensive. An SR5 would be $1,570 more as a Double/6-foot combo versus the standard XtraCab/6-foot.

From a functionality standpoint, the bed features four adjustable tie-down cleats within a rail system that orbits the perimeter. I used two of them to secure and transport a bicycle child seat in the bed. There are also four fixed points in the lower corners of the bed, two of which I used to secure 15 potted plants. Useful, but nothing groundbreaking, and I would've appreciated some sort of step to hoist myself up into the bed.

Back inside, the TRD PreRunner had fewer features than some of the other trim levels — such as the Tacoma Trailhunter — in the model's lineup. It also had cloth upholstery. However, the materials on the doors and dashboard were essentially the same, consisting of hard, seemingly sturdy plastics joined by soft touchpoints in strategic locations. Overall quality ranks as acceptable.

James Riswick

TRD PreRunner Has Ample Tech for a Lower trim

The TRD PreRunner has an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system. A 14.0-inch screen becomes available on the higher trim levels. Despite the differences in surface real estate, the two versions share a Toyota Audio Multimedia interface, which includes standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality. I think it's generally easy to use, though it's confusing that Toyota locates the driver-assistance-system settings in the digital driver display rather than the touchscreen.

Speaking of which, the TRD PreRunner features a wealth of well-executed safety and advanced driver-assistance technology gathered together in the standard Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 package. In particular, the lane-keeping assist wasn't intrusive (unlike in past Toyotas I've tested) and none of the other systems proved to be hypersensitive or prone to false alarms.

I also found the adaptive cruise control and its accompanying lane-centering assist to be excellent. There was only one particularly challenging test (a relatively sharp left going downhill) where the truck started to veer out of its lane. Still, the lane-keeping assist kicked in before I could begin to make a correction.

James Riswick

The TRD PreRunner Is Odd

Without a back-to-back drive, I can't say with any certainty what ride or handling difference the Xtracab's leaf-spring suspension makes compared with Double Cab Tacomas.

I can, however, report that the TRD PreRunner's ride is quite truck-like. The all-terrain tires add impact harshness over bumps I'm quite confident would be missing if it rode on all-seasons, but I'm also confident that every Xtracab would be bouncing over the seams between concrete highway slabs. It really didn't like those. The handling story is similar, as the all-terrain tires' limited on-road grip feels more impactful than the suspension.

I just don't understand putting all-terrains on a RWD truck. I had a hard time preventing the rear wheels from spinning while simply attempting to park in a dirt lot. There's also barely a ground clearance increase over the SR5 (10.8 inches versus 10.5), and the locking rear differential is hardly a replacement for 4WD. The PreRunner just seems like a way to get a Tacoma that looks like a TRD Off-Road for $5,280 less.

James Riswick

I have no complaints about the TRD PreRunner's engine: a 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that produces 278 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque. It makes the Tacoma a genuinely quick vehicle, and almost feels like a performance engine, especially during highway merging and passing. I didn't do any towing or hauling, but a past test with this engine in a Tacoma TRD Off-Road showed it to be sufficiently capable of moving a bed full of landscaping rock.

The official fuel-economy estimate for the TRD PreRunner is 22 mpg in combined city and highway driving. I averaged 21.0 mpg on my 75-mile evaluation route.

James Riswick

Is the 2025 Toyota Tacoma a Good Truck?

Yes, the 2025 Tacoma is a good truck, but the question I kept asking myself while testing the Xtracab was, "Why wouldn't you want a back seat?" There's not a significant price advantage, and I struggled to see how the admittedly thoughtful rear storage area was more broadly useful than an extra 13.2 inches of cab and three more seats. I guess having less truck to fit in a garage or parking space is something. Or maybe it's cooler?

The TRD PreRunner, meanwhile, is a curious creation. Old rear-drive Tacomas were low to the ground, making the original PreRunner's substantial ground clearance increase logical from both a functional and aesthetic perspective. Today's rear-drive SR5 is only a half-inch closer to the ground than a TRD Off-Road, effectively removing that feather from the PreRunner's cap. Left with just all-terrain tires and some badges, it looks neat but is functionally questionable.

James Riswick

James Riswick has been testing and reviewing cars since 2007, serving as an editor at Edmunds and Autoblog, and contributing to Autotrader, Car and Driver, AutoGuide, Auto Express, and Capital One Auto Navigator. You name it, he's almost certainly driven it. He has attended an auto show every year since he was 2 and has wanted to be an automotive journalist since high school. He owns a babied 1998 BMW Z3 2.8 in James Bond blue, a silver 2013 Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon (his idea of a three-row family vehicle) and a 2025 Cadillac Optiq because his wife would rather drive something from this decade.