The Toyota Tacoma Is the Last Pickup With a Manual Transmission

Enthusiasts like manual transmissions, no matter what type of vehicle they're driving.

Jared Gall | 

Jul 11, 2025 | 3 min read

Toyota

Packing a turbocharged four-cylinder with optional hybrid assistance, the newest Toyota Tacoma boasts one of the most advanced powertrain portfolios of any midsize pickup on sale today. However, Toyota also offers one decidedly old-fashioned option for the latest generation of its legendary nameplate: a manual transmission.

Now that Jeep has dropped the stick from the Gladiator order books, the Tacoma is the last pickup in the United States with an available manual.

Toyota

The Manual Is Only Available With the Non-Hybrid Powertrain

As exciting as the idea of a midsize pickup with 326 horsepower, 465 pound-feet of torque, and a six-speed stick may be, Tacoma hybrid buyers can't get the manual transmission. The three-pedal setup is only available with the non-hybrid i-Force turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. When paired with the manual transmission, Toyota detunes the 2.4-liter from 278 horsepower and 317 lb-ft to 270 and 310, respectively.

The engine's power delivery is also recalibrated to work more smoothly with the six-speed. Torque peaking at 2,800 rpm is 1,100 rpm later than it does with the eight-speed automatic, and maximum horsepower arrives at 5,400 rpm versus 6,000 with the automatic.

In addition to automatic rev-matching and anti-stall programming, the manual-transmission Tacoma also allows drivers to start the vehicle in gear without pushing in the clutch, which helps prevent the truck from rolling downhill when off-roading.

Buyers Can Save by Getting the Manual

While the Tacoma is available in a dizzying array of configurations — two cab sizes, two box lengths, rear-wheel drive (RWD) and four-wheel drive (4WD), and eight trim levels — Toyota only offers the stick shift in three trim levels, and only in those with the crew cab, short bed, and 4WD.

Buyers of the base SR trim level have perhaps the greatest motivation to opt for the manual. In Tacoma SRs with the automatic transmission, the i-Force four-cylinder makes only 228 horsepower and 243 lb-ft. But the SR's standard configuration is an extended cab with a long bed and RWD; upgrading to the crew cab, short box, and 4WD adds $5,400, at which point the manual is a no-cost option that bumps engine output back up to 270 horsepower and 310 lb-ft.

Toyota also offers the manual transmission at the TRD Sport and TRD Off-Road trim levels. Buyers save by opting for the stick in both trucks. It is $800 less than the automatic in the TRD Sport and $1,100 cheaper in the TRD Off-Road. While manual transmissions are no longer the fuel-economy hack they once were, buyers pay only a small penalty when opting for the stick: Fuel economy with the six-speed is an estimated 20 mpg in combined city and highway driving versus 21 mpg with the automatic.

Toyota

Toyota Buyers Really Like Manual Transmissions

As manual transmissions disappear across the automotive landscape, Toyota has emerged as a surprising stronghold for the stick. According to Motor1.com, which surveyed every automaker in the U.S. in early 2024, a relatively high percentage of GR Supras and GR86s are sold with manual transmissions, with nearly half of all buyers opting for them.

The Tacoma's manual transmission take rate is less impressive. Toward the end of the last-generation truck's production run, roughly 4% of buyers specified theirs with a stick in 2022. In 2023, that share dropped to 1.4%.

It took Toyota some significant engineering to keep the manual on the order books for the new model, which might lower the likelihood that the automaker would discontinue it just yet. Still, if your clutch leg gets antsy without something to do, you might want to get that new Tacoma soon.

Jared Gall

A lifelong car geek, Jared got his start in the automotive industry as a teenager when his high school counselor harangued Car and Driver magazine until they gave him an internship mostly so she'd leave them alone. Once his foot was in the door, he proved difficult to shake, spending nearly 20 years at C/D and rising to executive editor before leaving to pursue a quieter life in rural northern Michigan. He has also written for MotorTrend, Cars.com, and Edmunds. When he's not poking at his keyboard, he's often in his garage, shivering under a collection of project cars that includes a big-block Chevelle and a turbocharged Subaru Baja.