Exterior

What separates the TRD Pro from the rest of the Tacoma line up are a few key items, which include:

A heritage inspired grille
New LED off-road lights from Rigid Industries
A new hood scoop
It’s only available in three colours: Barcelona Red Metallic, Super White, or Cement Grey
16'' Black Alloy Wheels with Wrangler®All-Terrain Kevlar®-reinforced tires
Plenty of TRD badging
TRD skid plates
TRD stainless steel exhaust
Black TRD badging on the tailgate
Black bezel headlamps and tail lamps

It’s only available in the four-door style, but I doubt that’ll deter any potential buyers. The truck has a very strong appearance and Toyota has done great work in making the cosmetic changes noticeable but not overwhelming.
The five-foot composite bed will increase the likelihood of you being called upon for moving days, Ikea trips or extreme discount sales at appliance stores.

Interior

Along with exterior TRD badging, the interior has its own share, including black TRD Pro leather seats, a TRD shift knob, a leather steering wheel (non-heated, unfortunately), TRD floor mats and a power rear sliding window. While you miss out on the heated wheel, heated seats are standard on the TRD Pro.
I found the seating position to be too low for my comfort but aside from that, the rest of the interior is well appointed.
There’s a nicely sized 7 inch touchscreen infotainment system which includes a backup camera and overall, everything is well placed with the exception of the Crawl Control, which is above the rear view mirror.

Engine

The TRD Pro uses a 3.5 L V6 direct injection engine producing 278 horsepower and 265 lb-ft. of torque. Thankfully, Toyota has made this available via either a manual or automatic transmission. The engine performs well on city and highway conditions, which is where most of its time will be spent. The engine is very responsive and has a respectable-sounding “growl” heard from the exhaust pipe. Yes, it’s got great off-roading capabilities that will give the Jeep brand a run for its money, but I imagine that kind of fun is reserved for mostly weekends. Unless you’re my friend Troy, who lives on a farm and has plenty of off-road terrain to enjoy this truck on.
Fuel Consumption through City/Highway/Combined L/100 km rates at 13.2/10.7/12.0 and after a week of mixed driving, I tallied 13.5. With a gross curb weight of 5,600 pounds run through a big V6, higher fuel consumption is to be expected.

Will the manual transmission option sell well?

By realistic standards, yes. I’d generously put it at between 10 and 12 percent of TRD Pro sales.
Traditional Jay was happy when he learned it was an option, but if I were in the market for one, I can’t definitively say I would go manual. Giving up the Crawl Control feature (which is a really cool one) to row my own gears may not work out in the wash. There are still purists that will always choose a manual gearbox but as the automatic gearboxes get better and better (they’re already fantastic to being with in 2017) it’s hard to see many manuals being moved off the lot. Still, Toyota knows there’s a loyalty to it and kudos to them for making it an option. And you save nearly $3,000 compared to the automatic option.

Pricing

To get into the TRD Pro’s automatic transmission, it’ll set you back $53,295 MSRP, which is bit of a higher price point for the Tacoma brand seeing as the top of the line Limited trim comes in at almost $46K. The starting price for a two door, four-cylinder model is a touch beneath $30K. If you want the manual transmission, an even $50,000 is your MSRP.
The TRD Pro option (which was added on to my 4x4 double cab trim with a price of $40,445) charges you an extra $12,850.
Is it worth it? I’d say so. The extra tuning and cosmetic touches would warrant that from me and I’d make sure I found plenty of off road areas to make the most of the truck as often as possible.

Off road capabilities

Toyota has added a few goodies to the TRD Pro to help you handle nearly any terrain.
They’ve added Bilstein shock absorbers and TRD Reservoir Suspension Kit, TRD-tuned front coil and rear leaf springs, locking rear differential and crawl control (automatic transmissions only) which, when activated, offers selective braking and throttle inputs, meaning all the driver has to do is steer.
The approach angle is a generous 32.1 degrees and the departure angle sits at 23.5 degrees, allowing for maximum fun on various terrains.
Towing-wise, you can pull up to 6,400 pounds in the TRD Pro and it’s also equipped with a Class IV hitch, 7-pin wire harness and trailer sway control.
The short version? Go out there and have plenty of off-road fun in this capable truck.