The current Tacoma is a different truck from its predecessor. Redesigned for the 2024 model year, it moved to a new platform and picked up Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 as standard equipment across every trim, including Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist, Lane Tracing Assist, Road Sign Assist, and Automatic High Beams.

The redesign shows most clearly in crash testing. The prior generation was a known weak point: the 2022-2023 Tacoma earned marginal or poor ratings in IIHS's passenger-side small overlap and updated moderate overlap tests, the worst results of any midsize crew cab in that round of testing. The redesigned 2024-2026 Tacoma reverses that. It now rates Good in both the small overlap front test and the updated side test, IIHS's two toughest structural evaluations. Ratings run Good, Acceptable, Marginal, and Poor, in that order.

In the greater Los Angeles market, this pricing flexibility is showing up across trim levels, not just the volume ones. On a recent SR5 with a sticker near $46,000, CarOracle placed a client roughly $5,000 under MSRP, over ten percent off. That reflects one transaction, not a standing offer, and results vary by trim, timing, and dealer inventory. Even TRD Pro, a trim that historically holds sticker, has shown movement in this window.

Long-term reliability on this generation is still an open question. It debuted for 2024, so there isn't enough ownership history yet to know if it holds up the way older Tacomas did. What is clear now is the combination: real pricing room, real utility, strong fuel economy for the segment, and a crash test record that no longer trails the rest of the class.

Clients evaluating a midsize truck in California can review CarOracle's auto buying program for more on how the process works.