There is a reason why people have garages bigger than the size of one car. Few cars do everything, so we are normally resigned to having a workhorse pickup for the week, and a sports car for the weekend, if not a more elaborate collection. But Toyota once decided that it could offer the thrills of a manual sports car in that same truck that you use for picking up 2x4s on a Monday morning. In the blossoming world of sports trucks, this would be one of the most focused of the lot. Was it finally time to knock down that two-car garage and build a conservatory instead? The Performance Truck Was A 2000s Thing Bring a Trailer The fast truck market had been bubbling away for decades by the 2000s. Let's not forget, the quirky Dodge Li'l Red Express pickup truck was the fastest US vehicle in 1978. Then there was the GMC Syclone, a small truck that was faster than a Ferrari in the early '90s. But these were fairly niche creations, and not exactly what you would see every day.Then The Fast and the Furious of 2001 came out, and one vehicle caught people's attention, and it wasn't the garishly-colored tuned JDM coupes on the screen. Paul Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, had a company car from car shop The Racer's Edge, a 1999 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning. This Ford pickup, which came with a supercharged V8 and a four-speed auto transmission, propelled the muscle/ sports truck into public consciousness. It's likely that Toyota took notice. Toyota Specialized In Reliability Not Speed Bring a Trailer Toyota quickly forged a reputation in the '80s and '90s for indestructible pickups that you could rely on as a sturdy workhorse. The Hilux was being seen as unkillable and the T100 was able to breeze through 300,000 miles without breaking a sweat. The 1990s-era Trophy Truck raced by Ivan "Ironman" Stewart showed that the company's trucks had sporting pedigree, but Toyota was more interested in creating dependable, hard-working versions for the road. But come the 2000s, fast trucks were becoming more popular, and Toyota decided to bring a focused sports truck to the market that would take on the Ford F-150 SVT Lightning, albeit with a manual gearbox. The Toyota Tacoma X-Runner Wanted Beef With Everything Bring a TrailerAt the turn of the millennium, Toyota was moving away from sports cars. The Supra was dead, and the Celica didn't have a rally-bred All-Trac/ GT-Four version to excite enthusiasts. The gap in the sports car lineup was filled by an unlikely source: a Tacoma pickup. 2005 Toyota Tundra X-Runner Spec Dubbed the X-Runner, this new top-tier sports version came fitted with a V6 and a range of suspension parts that gave it truly sports car-like handling and acceleration on par with the sports cars and hot hatches of the day. Don't believe us? Famously, Toyota claimed that the new X-Runner pickup could pull a sports-car-like 0.90 g on a skidpad, which was better than the 0.88g produced by a 2003 Nissan 350Z. Could you really now have a Toyota pickup that scooted down the road like a sports car? Apparently, yes. This Was A Tuned Truck Straight From The Factory Bring a Trailer The spec list on the X-Runner read like a quality aftermarket tune-up job. Ride height was dropped by one inch, and Bilstein shocks were fitted all round to ensure the truck handled as well as it went in a straight line. The Tacoma rode on 18-inch wheels with Bridgestone Potenza RE050As, a version of which were original equipment on the Ferrari Enzo, the New York Times pointed out. Then there were stiffer springs, larger anti-roll bars, and a standard limited-slip differential.The truck also featured Toyota’s new rigid X-Brace frame. The X-Runner came with a four-door Access Cab design, beefed up with a hood scoop, deep spoilers and fog lights. The overall style was chunky and purposeful, without being over the top. Power came from a 4.0-liter V6 pushing out 236 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque. The X-Runner Was Quick, But Had A Trick Up Its Sleeve Bring a Trailer Whereas the Lightning relied on an auto box to get its power down, Toyota's engineers had the foresight to give the X-Runner a close-ratio six-speed manual transmission. For anyone who wanted a true sporting experience, shifting the gears while the V6 sang was the cherry on the cake.The X-Runner can hit 60 mph in a shade under 7.0 seconds, which might not sound like much, but it would be enough to see off a 2000 TRD Toyota Celica GT-S, which would be more than half a second behind. For even more speed, Toyota also offered an optional TRD supercharger to boost output to around 300 hp. These trucks are said to dip under 6.0 seconds to 60 mph. Toyota Didn't Stop There Bring a Trailer Toyota didn't stop there. Aware that the 500-hp Viper V10-powered Ram SRT-10 had taken things to a whole new level, the Japanese firm decided to go one better than the X-Runner. The 2008 Toyota Tundra TRD Supercharged took a standard 5.7-liter V8 model and added a medley of parts that almost doubled the price to $45,656. This included a $5,875 TRD supercharger and a $2,795 big-brake kit, among other goodies.Power was up to 504 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque, the power figure eclipsing even the Ram. Performance dutifully hit insane levels. The blower-fitted Tundra was tested to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and covered the quarter mile in 13.0 seconds. That's the same ballpark as a six-speed Carrera S coupe of a couple of years before. X-Runner Is Cool, If You Can Find One Bring a Trailer It's hard to get an official production number for the Tacoma X-Runners, but a few forums suggest 15,000 between 2005 and 2015. That's a lot, but finding one for sale isn't that easy. Bringatrailer.com has only listed seven for sale in the last seven years, meaning either people keep hold of them or they were fairly disposable.The latest sale was a 25k-Mile 2013 Tacoma X-Runner, which sold for $30,500. A very tidy-looking 17k-Mile 2005 Toyota Tacoma X-Runner sold for $25,750 in 2025. A 154K mile 2008 model sold in 2025 for $16,995, according to Classic.com, but that mileage shouldn't be too much of a problem if it has been looked after. For anyone looking for an interesting, and slightly more low-key, alternative to the F-150 Lightning, the X-Runner is certainly worth a look.
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