Tacoma, Frontier, Colorado buyers comparison

What's up guys, I recently bought a new 2015 tacoma and just thought I would share my test driving experience in case there is anyone else out there looking into purchasing a 2015 midsize pickup. I test drove comparable models (colorado being an exception) of all 3 midsize pickups available in the U.S. right now. This review won't go into numbers or anything technical because you can look that up. Simply overall looks, feel, and personal preference

A little background info on myself: I'm a 23 year old new college grad working as an RN here in jackson, Ms. My truck will largely be a daily driver to and from work (20 miles one way) with the occasional gravel road or trail during hunting season. All of the vehicles i considered were double cab as I plan on starting a family soon and this truck will be with me the next 10+ years. My last vehicle was a 2006 reg cab colorado I4 work truck with 3" suspension lift running 32's and With the lack of snow here in the south and my lack of serious offroading I chose to look for another 2x4. so let's get this started.

THE TACOMA This truck is a 2015 pyrite mica DCSB prerunner Sr5 with the 2.7, Let me start by saying that I have been a fan of the second gens since 2005 as a kid and I have had many friends and family own tacomas and always praise their reliability. The first thing I noticed about this truck is the color. Toyota really made a killer looking color here. The clearance and stance of the prerunner Is great and makes the truck a little more capable and aggressive looking while not being more than i necessarily need or want. Moving inside I did notice the relatively low seat and high floorboards but it isn't a huge problem for me. I found the touchscreen radio easy to use and I thought the interior materials in the vehicle seemed nice. Not extravagant and not too cheap. just nice. On the road I didn't feel like the truck was grossly underpowered like some have said but this could be from me driving a truly underpowered truck the last 7 years.

THE FRONTIER This was a black 2015 Frontier S crew cab with the I4. Instantly I noticed the truck didn't look as aggressive as the prerunner. I thought the materials on the interior seemed very cheap. Everything just felt hard and not as comfortable as the tacoma. While the interior was cheap it definitely felt more roomy than the tacoma and like it had a little better acceleration. one cool factor the nissan had going for it is that it was made at the nissan factory here in canton, less than 15 minutes from my house. The Frontier also cost ~2000 less than the taco.

THE COLORADO This was the truck I really thought I wanted. I had been looking into this truck since early 2014 and really thought that this was going to be chevrolet stepping up and being serious about producing a tough and reliable midsize truck. After the past 7 years with my first gen colorado being riddled with engine problems and quality issues I had convinced myself that this truck would be different. I test drove a red 2015 DC 2wd z71 v6, the first truck at my local dealer. I instantly noticed that even though this was the z71 off road package the front end of the truck was low. the front end itself looks great but it's just way low. It's really easy to see that chevrolet sacrificed a lot of clearance for the sake of mpg. The rake from front to back is pretty significant. I also noticed that the frame seems to sit much lower than the body of the truck, almost looks like it has a body lift on it. the spare tire sits at an awkward angle and really makes it noticeable from a side view. Inside the truck all of the materials seemed nice but i wasn't entirely blown away by it. On the road the truck drove great and had plenty of power (v6). It felt like it moved through the gears really smoothly. This truck really drove great but I couldn't get the previous GM issues i had dealt with out of my head.

At the end of my search i decided on the tacoma. I think the tacoma is the perfect blend of off road looks and ability while still having good road manners and reliability. The Nissan felt cheap inside and I really couldn't get past the chevrolet stance and the bad taste my previous colorado left in my mouth. GM might have ruined the brand for me in 2006. I love my new taco and i'm hoping to put 250,000+ miles on this bad boy.

 

Toyota has always made the best midsize/compact truck hands down. They wrote the standard for small trucks that others tried to copy.

 

While the 4.0 is not a Rocket by any means, I think having compared that to Chevy's V6 would have been a better example. There are no real world numbers out yet for the Colorado, but I bet the 4.0 in the Tacoma is still relatively competitive in this regard.

Also, this thing has been out what a month now? Haven't seen a new one yet on the road. However everyday I see a new '15 Tacoma Rollin around town with dealer paper plates.

 

all the colorado/canyons had to go back for airbag recall (so i hear, bonjour) is why u havent seen any new ones rolling around. there was a new one on a lot near my work for about 3 days and then it was gone, i assume it went back for the recall too.

 

I just went through the same process, but my selections varied wildly.

I was looking at trucks of all shapes and sizes, 3/4 ton and down.

The Colorado, too freaking big for a small truck. For the price, and options you might as well of gotten a Silverado.

I love the Tacoma and first 2 tanks through it I've averaged 20.8 MPG out of a 4.0

 

On 91 octane, our 10-year-old V6 makes more torque than the GM engine in the Colorado. To me, that says a lot about how the new GM offerings really aren't as revolutionary as so many think they are.