Supercharged Toyota Tacoma Is One Fun Daily Driver
The base model, two-wheel drive Tacoma is pretty bland. Until you throw on a blower!
When you think of Toyota trucks, you typically envision off-road trails and sandy hills. After all, this is how Toyota’s pickups earned their reputation – as indestructible, go anywhere machines. But we often forget that two-wheel drive pickups used to be every bit as popular. Especially during the mini-truck mania of the ’90s. And yet, even during this time, you rarely saw something like a Toyota Tacoma with any sort of power.
All of which makes this particular 2011 Toyota Tacoma a bit of an anomaly. Not only is is lowered like a street truck, but it’s pretty fast, too. Sure, the original underpowered four-cylinder still resides under the hood. But it’s been considerably beefed up with a Rotrex supercharger, header, and exhaust. The owner, Ozzie, says it now produces around 230 hp. And it doesn’t stop there. There’s also a Bilstein Sport suspension, 3″ drop, and Stoptech brakes underneath.
Combine that with a pretty light truck, and you’ve got a recipe for fun. So of course, Matt Farah of The Smoking Gun couldn’t wait to feature the Tacoma on his “One Take” series. We also get to learn all about the origins of the truck, which Ozzie says is his daily driver. With a 64 mile commute, he managed to go a couple of years before the burning desire to modify it kicked in.
The lack of TRD support for four-cylinder trucks played a part in Ozzie’s motivation as well. And the result, at least to us and Farah, is rather hilarious but incredibly cool. You can tell by Farah’s incessant giggling that he’s truly enjoying this “weird” experience. The icing on the cake is the fact that the addition of the supercharger kit (and its 5th injector) actually improve highway fuel economy.
We’re certainly sold. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re going surfing for a solid, used, two-wheel drive Tacoma!
