Jeep Let Go of the Clutch, So the Tacoma Now Shifts Alone

The 2027 Toyota Tacoma keeps its six-speed manual transmission, and with no manual Jeep Gladiator on the order sheet for 2027, it is now the only new pickup in America that offers one.

Toyota lists the manual for the 2027 Tacoma SR, TRD Sport and TRD Off-Road, with automatic rev-matching, anti-stall technology and a Clutch Start Cancel switch that Toyota says minimizes the risk of rolling back when the truck is restarted on difficult terrain. The rival that once shared the distinction has dropped out, because every 2027 Gladiator now comes with an automatic.

CarBuzz reported on November 11 that Jeep’s online configurator defaults every 2027 Gladiator build to an automatic, which ends the hope that the manual Gladiator would return for the new model year. Motor1 followed a day later and said the rumors of a manual Gladiator comeback "remain just that." Toyota’s own manual transmission page confirms that the 2027 Tacoma keeps the option on the three gas-only grades.

The manual comes with conditions. According to both outlets, it is offered only on the Double Cab with the five-foot bed and four-wheel drive, and it is a no-cost option on all three grades. It is not available with the i-Force Max hybrid, so there is no manual TRD Pro or Trailhunter. CarBuzz put the cheapest way into a manual Tacoma, the SR Double Cab, at around $39,150 before taxes and fees, while Toyota’s site gives the 2027 Tacoma line a base price of $32,725.

The manual truck also makes more power than the base automatic. Both outlets give the manual Tacoma 270 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque from its 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, and Motor1 said it can tow up to 6,400 pounds. CarBuzz rated it at 18 mpg city, 23 highway and 20 combined, one mpg behind the automatic on each measure, and said the automatic is the quicker truck to 60 mph by roughly half a second.

The audience is small. Motor1 reported that only about one to two percent of Tacoma buyers choose the manual, and added that manual Gladiator buyers were taking it at a rate no higher than that.

The Toyota Report Take

Toyota did not have to keep this gearbox. At one or two percent of Tacoma sales it is a rounding error, it surely costs Toyota extra engineering and certification work, and it cannot be paired with the hybrid that the brand is pushing across its truck line. Keeping it anyway, with rev-matching and a clutch-start bypass that make it more usable off-road, is a cheap way to win the loyalty of exactly the buyers who talk about trucks the most. The risk is that a "last one standing" label tends to arrive just before the last one goes, and with Toyota’s lineup moving toward hybrids, the next Tacoma redesign is when we would expect this choice to be tested.