Facts about Colorado\Canyon and Tacoma reliability

I'm in the market for a new truck. My 2001 is just (frame) rusting apart. I'm looking at 3rd gen Tacomas, Z71s and ZR2s. I've read a lot on the Internet about "oh Colorados spend more time in the shop" or "Tacomas are overrated and overpriced" etc...... I thought I would post some plain simple facts.

These numbers come from Wikipedia and carcomplaints.com. I didn't dig in far enough as to the 'severity' of the complaints or the 'cost to fix'. Too much work. Trim is not considered, but all trims are basically on the same platform.

Tacoma sales in recent years:

2016 191,631
2017 198,124
2018 245,659
Tacoma complaints over those years: 2016-392, 2017-185, 2018-42, 2019-3
Percentage of complaints by sale: Tacoma 2016 - 0.2%, 2017 - 0.09%, 2018 - 0.02%

Colorado\Canyon sales in recent years:
2016 108,725 + 37,449 = 146,174
2017 112,996 + 32,106 = 145,102
2018 134,842 + 33,492 = 168,334
Colorado complaints over those years: 2016-239, 2017-68, 2018-46, 2019-3
Canyon complaints over those years: 2016-93, 2017-21, 2018-9, 2019-0
Percentage of complaints by sale: Colorado/Canyon 2016 - 0.23% , 2017 - 0.06%, 2018 - 0.03%

I think the bottom line is, don't buy the first or second year model of a new generation of vehicle from ANY manufacturer. Let them work the bugs out first. Both of these trucks are comparable in reliability. Just go drive a 2018/2019 Colorado/Tacoma and make your decision based on what feels better to you and pricing.

Also, and this will be a long argument, 'longetivity' isn't reflected in these numbers but there are just as many Chevy fans as Toyota fans that swear by a 15-20 year old vehicle.

Myself, I haven't driven these newer models yet, but I will. I am actually looking at a 2015 Tacoma. Great reliability and reviews for the end of the 2nd Gens.

 

I was just looking at this again, and it seems as if the GMC is pulling the Colorado down in reliability. Probably all of GMC's electrical issues.

Interesting how many more Colorados are sold over the Canyon.

 

The 2015 Tacoma is overpriced in my opinion. Even if you manage to get a low mileage certified 2015, your warranty is still limited. It seems the smart money is on a new vehicle with a warranty.

 

I'm in that group that just isn't quite sold on the Gen 3s. I did find a 2015 for $25K TRD Off Road with 6sp MT. But I am hesitant to pull the trigger on an older vehicle. I have always bought new in the past. I could get a 2019 SR/SR5 and beef up the suspension/lockers on my own over time.

 

That's what did it for me this go around. I also was amazed at the price of a used Tacoma vs. new. Ultimately I wanted a new truck with a full warranty that I knew exactly what had been done to it and where it has been.

 

Don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia!

carcomplaints.com, never heard of them. Could be sponsored by GMC/Chevy!

REAL FACTS: Tacoma's are more expensive because they are reliable. Chevy's are cheap, because they are cheap!

 

I was looking at a later 2nd gen and came to the same conclusion. Made more sense to buy new. Better loan interest rate, longer warranty, more features, and I was able to get the exact truck that I wanted.

 

How many miles is on it?

 

I'm surprised the Colorado sales numbers are that high period given I see about 1 Colorado for every 100 Tacomas.

 

Who is the reporting agency that is submitting the vehicle problems to carcomplaints.com, is it reliable statistics?

 

No matter which truck one buys, they will always find a tipping point reason to articulate. Same holds true about the truck you didn’t buy with regard to negative narratives. It was a tough decision for me when looking at Tacoma vs Canyon (Denali with diesel engine)... ultimately settling on the 2018 Limited for my own personal wants/needs/likes. I quickly found there is no such thing as the “perfect truck”... and several compromises had to be realized. Finally, those that have invested into large purchases will, for the most part, continue to accentuate positive media and downplay the negative. Good luck in your search..!

 

That site claims 210,000 reviews since 2000. Divide that by the 19 years they've been going... just over 11,000 reviews each year for all vehicle manufacturers. Divide that by the number of auto manufacturers selling in the us (conservatively 20 or so). That leaves an average of approximately 550 complaints per company each year... then it's divided even smaller per each vehicle model of that year (Tacoma, Corolla, Prius, etc) which brings it in the double digits. I wouldn't consider their data something to base anything off of.

 

I wouldn't base my purchase on Wikipedia or carcomplaints.com(never heard of it till now).

I work in the service dept at a Toyota dealer, and have seen all 3 generation sold new. I purchased a 16', and have been happy
with it(I'm above above the 100k mile mark).

If you want a 2nd gen, you don't have to justify it to anyone but yourself.

 

The sales numbers I believe are accurate, as several sites reported the same numbers as WikiPedia. Carcomplaints is, supposedly not a biased site, however, they only have a sample of a the total public. I checked another popular site "TrueDelta.com" which doesn't rate the Colorado so well. If anyone knows of a better site, post it.

 

I do stand corrected guys. Maybe we should just take this thread down. https://lifehacker.com/five-best-car-comparison-sites-1670698359/1672447056

 

I agree. That surprised the hell out of me. But those are the same numbers from various sites.

 

Sorry, almost didn't see your post. I think it was 44K which isn't bad for a truck 4 years old.

 

Where are you getting these numbers? Agree, carcomplaints is only a sample size.

 

The recalls do sort of even out between the Tacoma and the Colorado. But again, longetivity.....

 

Just to clarify, my goal was to see what percentage of sold vehicles have had problems.

Carcomplaints allows consumers to enter their own issues. They must also pull data from somewhere else for the TSB (Tech service bulletins) and Recalls.

TrueDelta appears do the same thing as carcomplaints and seems more popular.

Edmunds just does reviews; they don't have a place to actually complain, post a review yes, but not a problem. The reviews on Edmunds are pretty close for both vehicles by both their experts and the consumers. The Tacoma was just a little ahead.

KBB is like Edmunds. I just quickly checked a 2018 SR5 against a 2018 LT Colorado and the experts had the Tacoma ahead 4.4 to 4.2, but the consumer reviews had the Colorado ahead 4.4 to 4.1. Those are out of 5 stars. I thought that was interesting.

Regardless, the sample rate will be small because only a small percentage of the sold vehicles elicit problems and not everyone with a problem will go to one of those sites and report it. I was only trying to be helpful guys. Take it or leave it.