Can You Rally a Toyota Tacoma?
Is Toyota’s beloved pickup good enough to impress a rally car driver?
If you want to learn how to go fast around a track, you go to a racing school. If you want to learn how to go fast sideways through the woods, you go to Team O’Neil Rally School.
Team O’Neil Rally School, located in Dalton, New Hampshire, has a very active YouTube channel. Their newest series, Will it Rally, is pretty self-explanatory. The intro sequence shows a Chevy van and a Toyota Corolla sliding around in the snow. This episode stars a second-generation Toyota Tacoma.
The video’s host, Wyatt Knox, starts the video by explaining what he likes about midsize trucks. He describes them a great all-around vehicle, capable of just about anything you may ask of it. As Knox says, “The Toyota Tacoma, by the numbers at least, dominates the category.”
As it turns out, the school got their hands on a unicorn of a truck for the test. The Tacoma in the video is a six-cylinder, six-speed model with the TRD off-road package. Knox praises the six-speed transmission, describes its 236 horsepower engine as being plenty powerful, and reminds us that this pickup is made in the good ol’ US of A.
Knox’s plan for the Tacoma test regimen is an acceleration test, a braking test (with the ABS fuse pulled), a handling test, and finally, a hot lap around the school rally course. On dirt, the truck performed impressively during the 0-60 test. Knox described it as “pretty quick,” but also pointed out the axle hop that’s more or less inherent in pickup trucks.
He tries the test again, this time in four wheel drive. The truck is a bit quicker, and has an easier time getting out of the hole – remember, all of these tests are performed on dirt. The truck makes it to 60 miles per hour in an impressive 9.36 seconds in four wheel drive.
Braking is described as “not bad,” and when it comes to handling, Knox states that “This thing will spin the rear tires basically whenever you want it to.” He does point out the issue of axle hop again, however. Still, he’s impressed with the balance of the truck, as well as its power when it comes to fast off-road driving.
When it comes time for the hot lap, it’s interesting to watch it tear through the rally course with the best of them. While most of us will never use our trucks this way, it’s nice to know that we could if we really wanted to.
Through the course, the truck managed an impressive time of 2:02.94. That’s pretty great compared to a Dodge Charger police car, which did the same course in 2:05.52. Knox wraps it up best: “We came out here today to see if the gen 2 Toyota Tacoma could rally…no surprise to anybody, absolutely it will!”
