Toyota’s all-new Tacoma is expecting to hit dealer lots this month as they slowly trickle out of the factory. As of this writing, there are less than ten 2024 Tacoma’s for sale in the whole country. While the majority of those don’t have prices listed yet—presumably because the dealer wants to tell you how much the markup is over the phone or by coming in—at least one dealer is already marking its Tacoma up.
Thousand Oaks Toyota, a dealer in Southern California has a 2024 Tacoma TRD Sport listed for sale. Including a $5,000 “dealer adjustment” and its MSRP of $54,437, Thousand Oaks Toyota wants $59,437 for a TRD Sport. That’s a well equipped Tundra money (you can get a lightly optioned Tundra Limited or for a couple grand more you can have a Tundra Platinum.)
Mind you, this trim of the Tacoma isn’t off road focused; TRD Sport is more an appearance package/trim than anything. Toyota hasn’t fully released details on options for the Tacoma, but an option sheet on the dealer site says this TRD Sport has $10,342 in options. Aside from little things like a $575 spray on bedliner and $89 for black badges, the biggest option is an $8,550 TRD Premium Sport Package. It equips the Tacoma with luxury items like leather seats, a moonroof and a six speaker JBL audio system. While some may blame this package for the Tacoma’s price, don’t take your eye off the prize. The markup is the problem here.
I’d be willing to bet money that in the coming year, Toyota dealers are going to be some of the worst places to buy a new car. Why is that, you may ask? They have some of the most anticipated and sought after cars on the market right now. From the recently redesigned Prius to the never-in-stock Sienna and RAV4, things are going to get worse for customers once the Tacoma and Land Cruiser hit dealer lots.
What makes this price even worse is that if anyone goes through with buying this thing, it won’t be a good financial decision. Toyota has horrible interest rates right now for buyers, as do most other automakers. Even with 20 percent down ($11,887) and excellent credit (720-850) the best Toyota can do is 8.89 percent. At 60 months you’re looking at $1,099 a month. The only way to get the payment under a grand a month is to stretch the loan out to six years. At that APR though, that’s an extra $17,469 in interest that someone will pay over the course of the loan.
Of course, most people never consider any of this, which is why car payments and auto loan debt is the highest its ever been. As I always say with markups or highly priced cars, if you’re going to do it, know what you’re getting into. Other than that everything about this is wrong and most people shouldn’t buy this. The sad part is with the coming Tacoma TRD Off-Road trims and Trailhunter, these markups are only going to get worse.