So the boy-racer package gets jeers from some readers. That won’t matter much for today’s focus: the interior. The
gauge cluster is pretty simple; black face, white lettering in an italic-type font trimmed in a silver-finished
plastic. Tach, speedo, temp and gas, that’s all you get. Everything is at least easy to read while driving especially
since they are LED-lit.
The center stack breaks up the ?divot? dashboard graining with a silver radio/HVAC control area. Button feel is
good and materials look better than in past Tacomas. The design is ?truck-like?, even giving off some RX vibes.
Toyota must think Tacoma drivers love to drink. We?ve got seven cup
holders for four passengers: two on the doors, three in the console and two for the jump-seats. The rear cup holders
have what happens to be my favorite warning in this truck, ?capped bottle only.? Thanks for the reminder; we sometimes
leave open containers when we?re out looking for rabbits, George.
The rear seat passengers are going to need alcoholic beverages in the cup holders to ease the pain of the jumper
seats. All mid-size extend-cab trucks are plagued by these little seats and the Tacoma is no exception. In fact, they
don?t even look like seats on first glance. There are child seat Latch points, but don?t condemn an adult back
there for any length of time.
The jumpers do fold forward to reveal a full width storage area that would be good for tools or emergency supplies.
The jack is also stored in the compartments. The Tacoma Xtracab comes with clamshell doors on both sides and I like
that the door handles are inside, instead of in, the doorjamb. The rear window is a slider and the front windows
have a driver-side only express down feature.
The seats have a netting-like center material that keeps the butt
planted and the eyes occupied. The sport seats are bolstered pretty aggressively for the X-Runner. The driver seat gets
manual lumbar control, but no power seats in this one. The steering wheel is tilt and telescopic so with all the manual
controls for the driver, I found it pretty easy to get comfortable to use the six-speed.
I haven?t used the radio at highway speeds yet, but around town the 6 speaker, 6 CD changer sounded good. I?ll
report more on that later in the week. The dash also has the dreaded ?black-outs? making sure you are reminded that you
have a 4×2 with a couple missing options. No biggie, they just stick out.
Also the lighter colors on the floors are getting dirty quickly. The
dual tone interiors look good, but sometimes wonder about the durability of the lighter hues. Otherwise I like the
?Tacoma? stitching on the floor mats and the anchors that make sure there are no ?clutch creeps?.
It?s an attractive, if not a little simple interior space but if I was looking to purchase a sport truck like this,
power seats and other electronic gizmos are low on my list of needed items. Tomorrow will be a nice day to give the
outside a once over and show why I am really impressed with the composite pick-up bed.