Pickuptrucks.com Mid-Size Challenge

I had that frame of mind too, going waaay back to the 80's when domestic manufactures pumped out 100% pure, uncut crap. My first new car was a Toyota Tercel. After driving a completely clapped out chevy chevette that was previously operated by a utility company (they sold them used dirt cheap, what can I say...), I felt like I was driving a Rolls Royce Phantom off the dealers lot! I was a very loyal Toyota fan for many years.

Lately, my experiences have been pretty "blah" with Toyotas. We had an Avalon for a while, I hated that car with an unnatural passion. We could never get the brakes to stop shimmying, the floaty suspension was downright dangerous at times, the cooling contraption for the seats never worked, and there was always some mysterious piece of plastic somewhere in the cabin that had dislodged itself from parts unknown. My taco is solid enough, but it has every common fault everyone has ever mentioned here. Vibrations, manual transmission linkage sounds like it's about to disintegrate from day one during clutch operation, the cheapest/lousiest "6 speaker" stereo unit that can possibly be sourced from whatever god-forsaken 3rd world s***-hole Toyota buys this junk from (replaced, of course), and so on.

The point being, just about all current car manufacturer offerings are on nearly equal footing these days from a quality standpoint, IMO. Toyota has lost this advantage. It still remains in peoples minds, and resale is still solid, but that too will equalize soon enough. We replaced the Avalon with a GMC acadia, which so far has been a tank. A far better vehicle than that awful Avalon. Looking around for a car for my kid, the corolla and camry are at the bottom of the list. Honda accord, mazda 6, heck even the new chevy Malibu are far more attractive offerings and I'm sure of roughly equal quality.

Anyway, my "fanboy" days for Toyota (I've had 4 tacos and 1 tundra) are over. When the time comes, I will look them all over and pick with absolutely no brand loyalty at all.

 

Well said.

 

Well good luck with that. I cant ever imagine a Malibu or a madza lasting as long as an camry/corolla. The Honda is a good car IMO.

 

The test drive/broke transmission expert. Quick, run to a Costco and grab the free samples but don't buy anything of course. Do you have a gofundme page cause I am happy to donate?

 

I agree.... Toyota has been at the top for so long, it takes much more effort to stay there. With the world the way it is, EVERYONE is cutting costs and squeezing the processes to get more profits. It's only natural that the 'quality' of yester-year is gone. Meanwhile, everyone else is trying to match that.

For us - buy what you like, what suites your needs, has what you want and is priced right. No loyalty anymore.

 

Here is another comparison.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...hevrolet-colorado-vs-toyota-tacoma/ss-BBvtFdI

 

This is the Tacoma engine with different tuning which gives it more horsepower but less torque in this application.

 

Has anyone seen a turbo diesel version of the GM twins in the flesh?

 

The build quality on the gm twins is not the same as toyota.

It literally takes you sitting in the truck to figure that out. The Colorado feels flimsy with is build. Tacoma feels solid in every asset.

See what both trucks look and feel like after 50k. That's gonna tell you all you need to know and I already know.

Now gm full size. They put serious money in there quality of those trucks.

 

I would like to see an 8-speed transmission in the Tacoma in the future to help with fuel economy. Maybe after the new Ranger, Frontier and Jeep pickup appear on the market in the next few years.

 

Every review i read points to the ridgeline as a better truck. Curious to see how it would perform with better tires

Toyota dropped the ball on the powertrain and powered seats. Those can all be fixed but too stubborn to admit defeat.

 

I would still consider the Frontier if the price were right. Beside the Tacoma, it's the only one with a manual transmission offered, and personally I don't mind the interior or lack of tech stuff at all, but at $33K for a PRO4X, it's too big a depreciation hit. At $26K it would be a good deal, but dealers are not really knocking much off them.

 

Dealers aren't knocking much off because right now Frontiers are selling like hookers at a logging camp.

A Pro-4x model is difficult to find in stock in my area, and the days of $4k off sticker are gone.

 

I just don't get the engine complaints. I haven't driven the auto yet so maybe that's where the confusion is.

I can assure you the current engine, with manual transmission, and the 4.3 diff is one fun to drive combo. I absolutely love it. Do I wish they put the tundras 4.7 in it. Yes, but everyone's always going to want more.

 

The vast majority will be sold with the auto, and the V6/Auto combination Tacoma has lost every comparison it has been in against the GM twins or the Ridgeline.

While all the reviews admit that the Tacoma is superior to the others off road, the fact is that even people who off-road a lot are only spending maybe 5% of their time there.

For the 95% of the time that it's seeing daily driver use, it seems every review knocks the weak engine/trans combo.

Maybe that will improve after the transmission TSB filters out to more trucks.

 

I wouldn't trust every review you see online. Ive driven plenty of Colorado's at work as fleet vehicles. There quality is absolute shit. Give it 40-60k miles when everything starts rattling and falling apart. Never been inspired by a gm mid size. Full size is a whole different story, but the feel of sturdiness you have when you enter a Tacoma isn't there in a Colorado.

Every review on the internet shits on the tundra, but praises the fords and chevies. Driven all of them too as fleet vehicles, as my dad's vehicles. There's nothing special that would account for some the reviews you see. I don't really trust them myself.

Another thing I noticed on gms, more so the mid size is after a while the steering wheel play and suspension play gets horrible. It gets to the point where you got a quarter turn on each side where nothing happens. No matter what. Every one of them I've driven any where from 20-50k. It starts happening.

 

If only a few reviews mentioned it, that would been thing.

But EVERY review points it out.

And projected or suspected problems cropping up at 50k are not even a concern for those who are leasing their vehicles.

The only review that matters is your own since you are the one putting your money into it.

But that doesn't mean that other reviewers who compare vehicles for a living don't have valid points.

In the end, getting what makes yourself happy is the only metric that counts.

 

I haven't seen it I every review. Seems like it's popping up more lately. Wasn't something I saw on reviews at all before I came to this site actually. When doing research for my truck. I watched a lot of test review videos on you tube. Seems like Tacoma was the pick for most of them.

This forum is good for some information, but also great if you want to feel shitty about your truck.

 

Looks like the Colorado has more problems out of the gate to me!!!

 

People always think the grass is greener, always looking for the next best thing. It's not there in the mid size segment no matter how much they market it.

Like someone else said. All these new engine and trannies. Every few years. They do that to get people excited, but how much time did they spend in it. How reliable will it be