Revolutionize Your Off-Road Adventures with the Last Remaining Manual Pickup: 2025 Toyota Tacoma
Rewrite the following content in a unique, conversational tone, ensuring it is fully SEO-optimized. Make it sound like a human wrote it, with natural variations in sentence structure and vocabulary. Focus on using the target keywords naturally throughout the article while maintaining approximately the same character length as the original. Structure the article with appropriate H1, H2, and H3 headings for readability. Ensure the article has short, concise paragraphs, includes bullet points or numbered lists where relevant, and uses SEO-friendly language. REMOVE all external and internal links, scripts, meta tags, and any text placeholders for images (e.g., [Image: description]). Retain only text and images in their original tag format, with the “src” attribute and other attributes (if any) fully intact. Do not convert image tags to text placeholders like [Image: …]. DO NOT INCLUDE any summary, notes, or explanations about the rewriting process. PLEASE REMEMBER TO PROVIDE ONLY THE REWRITTEN CONTENT DIRECTLY WITHOUT ANY INTRODUCTORY OR CLOSING PHRASES LIKE “Here’s the rewritten content:” or similar. IT IS A MUST. Do not include any meta comments or instructions. IT IS A MUST to keep the HTML tags of images intact. Content:
I’ve lost count of how many times the internet has lost it over the death of manual transmissions. I understand why—everybody’s worried that their favorite sports car will go auto-only. But as a truck guy, I’ve had more time to get used to it. Half-ton trucks like the Ford F-150 dropped stick-shifts a long time ago, and there hasn’t been one in a heavy-duty pickup since Ram ditched it in 2018. Maybe that’s why I’m a little numb to the fact that the Toyota Tacoma is now the last truck with three pedals.
It became official when Jeep announced on Wednesday that the Gladiator will now come exclusively with the eight-speed automatic. Really, it’s only the latest in a long line of trucks that have followed the same path. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a manual Gladiator, which could explain why Jeep did away with it.
If anything, I was surprised to see the Tacoma’s manual be the last standing. It’s a six-speed unit that pairs with the truck’s 2.4-liter turbo four-cylinder. That engine is slightly detuned for trucks with the manual, to 270 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque, rather than automatic models‘ 278 hp and 317 lb-ft. Toyota only offers it on full crew-cab models, which is kind of a shame, but hey—beggars can’t be choosers.
My guess is Toyota will keep selling the Tacoma with a manual for the foreseeable future. As we learned while talking to the truck’s chief engineer Sheldon Brown last year, it took a decent amount of work to make that transmission fit the turbo-four. That’s partially why it has that funky-looking shift boot. (I still think they should have designed an old-school accordion-style one. Hopefully the aftermarket will).
I just built the most basic Tacoma possible with a manual transmission on Toyota’s website, and the total, after destination fees, was $38,395. So if you’re looking to buy a new truck with a stick-shift, expect to spend at least that much.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com
