Intermittent wipers are way down at on the list of priorities for Toyota IMHO, especially for the Tacoma.
How about giving that truck a truck-like engine (read more low-end torque). That 3.5l v6 w/ part-time atkinson cycle is a good engine, it just doesn't belong in a truck. A nice torquey diesel. A turbo inline 4 gasoline. Heck even an updated 4.0l v6 with direct + port injection would have been a better choice than what Toyota ended up putting into the Tacoma.
Front and rear lockers. Bigger suspension lift. Bigger tires. The TRD Pro's certainly look cool, but the actual mechanical advantages they provide over a base Off Road are a joke compared to what the ZR2 offers over the base Colorado.
Better payload. Beefed up frame. Rear disk brakes. There are a whole bunch of things that Toyota needs to address with the Tacoma. Lack of tech features isn't one of them. And in fact the newer Toyota's have comparable tech to what the other trucks have. Maybe the nav/infotainment system isn't as refined, but I think the car journos make a bigger deal of that than the average consumer...those built-in systems become outdated after only a few years and most owners end up using their mobile devices for navigation and music.
For all of its shortcomings, I do think the Toyota Tacoma is still a solid option in the midsized market. Even if the domestic brands have gotten better in recent years, the perception still exists that Toyota has better reliability....that perception, right or wrong, will translate into higher resale values. And the Tacoma is ultimately the value offering in Toyota's 4x4 lineup. The Tundra, 4runner, LC 200 are definitely somewhat better optioned and, honestly, somewhat better built compared to the Tacoma. Now the latter 3 are also severely in need of an update, but they are still very well-built 4x4's and 2 of them (4runner and LC) are honestly without rivals in the 4x4 midsized segement, unless you want to cross-shop them with a Jeep.
Toyota's greatest vehicular strength is its reliability and over-built nature, which is largely derived from a very gradual, almost painfully so, rate of change.
Toyota's greatest vehicular weakness is its gradual, almost painfully so, rate of change.