The five-seater Tacoma hybrid double cab offers loads of room for people or goods. Courtesy Toyota
Yours truly is one of those snooty guys who turns his nose up at test driving trucks.
They're just not me. You have to have hair, tattoos and be under 40 to drive these beasts on big all-wheel-driven wheels, don't you?
But I took one look at the new-generation Tacoma hybrid and decided it was perfect to drive to - yes, you guessed it - Tacoma, Washington.
Hey, it was the thought of driving a greenish version of what are normally gas guzzlers. I'd still have some green cred, though the absence of body adornments and exploding follicles would deny me street cred...
The five-seater Double Cab, as Toyota calls it - think four-door crew cab, as others describe this configuration - offers loads of room for four or five bruisers. I mean muscular young guys.
And out back, the tester had a five-foot bed to fill with construction equipment or nothing if you just like the look, as so many young folks seem to. Acres of room and I would have struggled to fill it even with my typical Big Shop at Tacoma Costco and Trader Joe's. The cab offered enough stowage.
Under the fearsome-looking hood lies a turbocharged 2.4-litre, four-cylinder engine with hybrid system. Toyota has named it i-Force Max, which seems appropriate for a power plant that generates 326 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque, smoothly moved along by an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Depending on the driving conditions, it switches between gas as its fuel to pure electricity or a combination of the two.
After a good walk around, I tossed my travel case into the second row then stepped up into the cab. After firing up the engine, I instantly realized though this may be a slightly green incarnation, it roared like a full-blooded V8 version of old. Perhaps if I'd rolled up the window the roar may have softened.
As I pulled onto the freeway, I could feel my voice deepening, and by the time I reached the border I would have been welcomed into any choir looking for someone to sing the bass bits.
Good job because the young U.S. border guard was ready to grill me. He wanted to know everything about the Tacoma. He asked where my review would be appearing because he pledged to read it. Online of course.
I know every pothole and road surface break between Blaine and my destination and the Tacoma smoothed out generally what can be a bumpy ride. There was an absence of road noise, which I didn't hear between tracks, during my two-hour tribute to the dearly departed Ozzy Osbourne.
Slid past and looked down on the boring sedans along the way. The drivers looked up at me with envy in their eyes. Well, the guys under 40 did.
The truck has the suite of safety features that we have come to expect in higher-end versions of any vehicle sold today. The driver-assist features include full-speed adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, emergency front braking, lane departure alert and lane tracing assist, to name but a few of what's offered to keep you safely on the straight and narrow.
Not surprisingly, the tech extends to the dash. The Hybrid had an available 14-inch centre touchscreen with wireless connectivity that's friendly with iPhones and Android devices. The wireless charger was most appreciated as I hate messing with cables. That said, those who are not similarly troubled will like the dual USB-C charging ports.
Ok, let's talk about the other green concern. Fuel consumption.
The Hybrid will likely consume gas at an average of 10.3 L/100km (city), 9.7 L/100km (highway), and 10.0 L/100km combined. Good for a full-size truck.
The sticker price starts at $64,740. It can be upgraded to the TRD Off Road Premium version for an additional $1,915, while the performance oriented TRD Pro is a big and costly upgrade for another $14,084.