Around the Block: Add Another Small Sporty Pickup to the Endangered List

TESTED 2013 Toyota Tacoma X-Runner

WHAT IS IT? The sole remaining sport compact pickup truck optimized for street, as opposed to off-road, performance.

HOW MUCH? $27,590 base, $28,075 as tested with TRD performance air filter ($90), bed mat ($119) wheel locks ($81) and carpet floor mats and door sill protector ($195).

WHAT MAKES IT RUN? Four-liter V-6, 6-speed manual transmission, rear-wheel drive.

IS IT THIRSTY? Rated at 16 m.p.g. city and 21 highway, the X-Runner’s fuel economy is more in line with that of a full-size truck.

I’m a big fan of little trucks. Ever since Michael J. Fox scored a sweet 4-wheel-drive Toyota SR5 in “Back to the Future,” I’ve harbored a vague longing to own a pint-size pickup. You’d think there’d be plenty of people like Marty McFly and me, who prize wieldy dimensions and don’t need a bed that could serve as a dry dock for a nuclear submarine.

Unfortunately, times are tough for sub-heavyweight haulers. The Ram Dakota expired after 2011, the Ford Ranger is finished and the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon are on hiatus. That leaves the Tacoma, the Nissan Frontier and — for real freethinkers — the Honda Ridgeline.

The dilemma is that small trucks are no longer terribly small, in some cases overlapping full-size trucks in fuel economy, size and price. So why not just buy a full-size truck? The dearth of nongigantic pickups seems to answer that question.

Well, here’s one argument for the compact pickup: the Tacoma X-Runner. Where else are you going to find a vehicle that can reach 60 m.p.h. in less than seven seconds, corner in excess of 0.9 lateral G and tow 3,300 pounds? There’s also a 6-speed manual gearbox and Toyota Racing Development’s tempting menu of goodies.

The X-Runner drives like a restomod, one of those vintage muscle cars that has been fitted with a modern suspension and powertrain. Since it is a truck, the chassis has more in common with a 1978 Camaro than with contemporary performance cars: check out the solid rear axle with leaf springs and drum brakes.

The V-6 makes 236 horsepower at 5,200 r.p.m. and reaches its redline a few hundred r.p.m. later. The shift throws are so long that going from second gear to third makes you feel like Doug Flutie launching a Hail Mary pass.

Yet the thing has a screwed-down cohesiveness that translates to deceptive speed. As I took the X-Runner down a 20-mile stretch of snaky country road, I frequently glanced at the speedometer to find myself moving far quicker than anticipated. Corners that would challenge performance cars were serenely dispatched, the big engine’s 266 pound-feet of torque enabling rapid progress without fuss.

While the X-Runner includes a lowered, sport-tuned suspension (it’s the only Tacoma with a rear stabilizer bar), I’d say its unlikely cornering abilities are mostly attributable to the 255/45/18 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires. The RE050A is a high-performance summer tire, a version of which was original equipment on the Ferrari Enzo supercar. So the next time you pull alongside an Enzo at a stoplight, you can chat about all the things your vehicles have in common, such as the tires.

While the V-6 is certainly punchy enough, it would really justify its hood scoop with the addition of the dealer-installed TRD supercharger kit ($4,500), which raises output to 304 horsepower and 332 pound-feet. The full factory warranty is retained as long as a Toyota dealer does the work. That would be a lively Tacoma.

The day after I pressed the X-Runner into sports-car duty, I remembered it was a truck and used it to haul a load of brush, a gas can and a pressure washer. I didn’t tow 3,300 pounds, but I could have.

For about $28,000, the X-Runner combines an odd bundle of attributes. I don’t want to get too far into sycophantic hyperbole, but in terms of mission and ability it’s rather like a modern El Camino SS.

Alas, the X-Runner is being canceled. The good news is that you’ll be able to get a 2014 Tacoma with a 6-speed manual and a V-6, but it will be a 4-wheel-drive model. Marty McFly, at least, would approve.

EZRA DYER

Wheels: Canada’s ‘Last Car Standing’ Gets Another Season of Beater Car Destruction

OTTAWA – Canadians, it seems, can’t get enough of television programs featuring aging cars being bashed to pieces by people with dubious driving skills. Although “America’s Worst Driver” came and went from The Travel Channel after just one season in 2010, “Canada’s Worst Driver” is about to start production of its ninth season and remains among the top 10 cable shows in Canadian ratings.

On Monday, a spin-off of “Canada’s Worst Driver” will close its first season. Rather than focus on drivers’ shortcomings, “Last Car Standing” concentrates on deplorably bad cars and the events leading up to their destruction.

“It’s death or glory,” said Guy O’Sullivan, president of Proper Television, which produces the shows for the Canadian version of the Discovery Channel. “The people on the show kind of know that they should have quit these cars a long time ago.”

Unlike “Canada’s Worst Driver,” which graduates a single contestant (if that), each of the eight hour-long episodes of “Last Car Standing” ends with four vehicles destroyed, following a series of competitions that often severely damage even the surviving vehicles.

Mr. O’Sullivan’s original plan was to toss the losing cars off of a cliff. But after getting permission to use a suitable hill as mass grave for cars proved impossible, an arguably more dramatic means was devised. After each round, the losing vehicle is smashed and grabbed by a demolition machine that resembles an oversized excavator with a claw at the end of its mechanical arm. It lifts the losing wreck into the air and slams it onto a fierce looking 36-foot-tall steel spike. In a testament to their decrepitude, Mr. O’Sullivan noted that many cars produce “a shower of rust” when they are impaled upon the spike.

The series was filmed at an abandoned Lincoln dealership – rebuilt to vaguely resemble a junkyard – in Mississauga, Ontario, a Toronto suburb. The challenges vary slightly each episode but generally involve “hot laps” on a tiny track; a power test involving climbing absurd grades or pulling equally improbable weights; a three-way drag race usually run in both forward and reverse: and, for the two final survivors, a lap of a what might justifiably be called a torture test circuit: the Beater Buster.

Crashes, often quite dramatic, are common, which explains why the cars’ drivers and passengers wear helmets and are strapped into their seats with safety harnesses. Although severe body damage and total suspension and transmission failures are common, the only close call for human well-being this season came when a 1997 BMW 318i burst into flames during a three way tug of war. (No one was injured; the tug of war event has not been repeated.)

Discovery Canada, which is owned by Bell Media and licenses trademarks and some programming from the American channel of the same name, said that audience numbers for Last Car Standing are not yet available. But Jodi Cook, a spokeswoman for the network, said that “Canada’s Worst Driver” is “most successful series of all time on Discovery” and was the first cable show in Canada, outside of live sports, to draw more than 1 million viewers per episode.

Working on BBC’s Top Gear gave Mr. O’Sullivan his introduction to reality-based automotive programming. He also worked for three seasons on “Britain’s Worst Driver,” the show that started it all and which franchises that concept worldwide.

Despite his success, Mr. O’Sullivan offered no direct answer about why Canadians enjoy watching bad driving and even worse cars. He did, however, admit to being baffled by positive reception contestants have given the prizes for “Last Car Standing.” No cash is offered. Instead, each week’s winner has the option of receiving $10,000 in upgrades and repairs to their cars (vehicles which are probably not worth more than scrap value) or taking their chances in Monday’s finale for $50,000 in repairs and improvements, an amount that exceeds the original cost of almost every car in the series.

“It’s all a bit foolish,” Mr. O’Sullivan said.

Proper is now recruiting contestants for the second season of “Last Car Standing,” a process which is easier than finding people willing to face national humiliation on “Canada’s Worst Driver,” said Mr. O’Sullivan, who added, “I’m happy to report that Canada isn’t going to run out of bad drivers any time soon.”