2016 Tacoma Limited vs 2015 Silverado LTZ 4x4

you should get a minivan

 

I've seen fleet drivers that will intentionally break a truck so they don't have to work. The pipeline/oil well truck we work on are owner-operated. They tend to value their trucks and cant have down time. hence, they rarely break

 

Not at our place. Our agronomists and managers are the only people with full time take home trucks attached to them. They get paid overtime and bonus based on hours worked. I'm taking tens of thousands of dollars on the line for staying at work and getting your hours in for bonus. So no, people aren't breaking shit just for fun. Plus, we track all maintenance, and it can be grounds for action if you don't maintain your assigned equipment as prescribed in the sever duty section of any manual. For example, my truck had all synthetic fluids as mandated by the company and I was able to order yellow stuff brakes to replace my factories at 70K all around. Our trucks are well maintained.

In my business you get sales on the road. No truck means you are off the road. Lost sales means lower bonus opportunity again...

We also tend to keep trucks past the lease agreements for our hourly delivery staff to use. They don't want to get stuck out in the middle of somewhere so they baby the equipment. The only people rough on trucks are the two summer students we get every year, and they get the shittiest trucks we have sitting around.

 

"Has . . . Gone"? All of the above have been issues since the late 70s (when I was brought home from the hospital in a Chevrolet)! I'm not a Toyota fanboy (having never owned one myself), but I keep my distance from Chevy's. I recognize that for every one of me, there is 1/3rd of another person who loves Chevy's, but I think common sense says Toyota.

 

Given my choices I would look at Ford long before a GM truck would hit my driveway. From experience of those who run them the new GM products consistently have issues. Not as bad as Dodge but close. I nearly went with the F150 V8 but for what I want in a truck the Tacoma was the right fit. Go with what meets most of your needs in order of use. The Toyota holds it's value so much better than domestics with a whole lot less problems.

 

I was hardcore into taco's for a while. On my way to the Toyota dealership to do a test drive, a Silverado blew pass me. I was impressed. I test drove a Sport, I wasn't Impressed. Then I test drove a Silverado LT, very impressed. It has the Ecotech 3 engine that does the cylinder deactivation, I'm getting 20 MPG in mixed driving, and that's not petting the throttle. 5.3L with 3.42 rear end is a great combo for power and fuel economy. I went with the 15' Silverado LT CC 4wd, got it for 36,9 OTD. Sticker was 43K but I got a bunch of rebates and dealer incentives . I asked the Toyota guy about rebates, he looked at me like I was from Mars. After I already bought my truck Toyota called me about test driving a Limited. I had to know what it was like. So I rode my motorcycle up to the stealership and test drove it. After riding in my full sized Silverado the Limited felt: cramped underpowered rough and lack luster. My Silverado has real black leather, when I open my door the smell of leather fills my lungs, it's intoxicating. I'm sorry but when a truck cost 40K, I expect real leather and powered seats. The smart thing to do is, TD both of them then go with what you like best. Reliability is a crap shoot, the 16' taco is a new Gen, it can't rest on rep of Gen 2. It's unproven and year 1. I've already started reading about some issues and it only been out about a month. Not knocking taco's, it's just that their priced in the full sized truck range, with mid sized abilities. The window is closing on the 15', their making room for the model changed 16' that has the 8 speed tranny and new facial with leds. Don't think you'll see any rebates or incentives on the 16's anytime soon.

 

OP, you said that you were choosing between the top of the line of each truck... What bells and whistles does the Silverado have that the Limited Tacoma doesn't?

 

Not to speak for the OP but the Silverado has:remote start, powered seats, tag a song on the radio then store it to your I pod, app on your phone that starts your truck and have heat on etc. for you. That's just on the top of my head.

 

Ah I see. I really don't understand why Toyota doesn't keep up. It's not like power seats and remote start are "more things that will fail".
I guess it's because they keep selling

 

For the win.

 

I've actually considered the possibility of a Silverado, but for a different reason. I do NOT want a larger truck, however I also do not need a back seat. If I get a Tacoma, it will most likely be an extended cab. But I can get a Silverado in a regular cab, and it actually ends up being 7 inches shorter in length than a Tacoma. I realize it is wider and slightly taller, but the shorter length sort of evens out the size difference IMO. And honestly, the third middle seat of a regular cab Silverado is actually more useful for an adult to be seated than those tiny jump seats in the extended cab Tacoma.

And yes, I can get a nicely equipped Silverado regular cab for a price similar to a nicely equipped Tacoma, and the Silverado will have the 5.3L V8. And the gas mileage is very similar as well. I think it will all come down to me test driving both and seeing which I prefer.

As for options, the Silverado does offer quite a few things that are not available on the Tacoma. Unfortunately some of those options are not available on the regular cab, but if you are going crew cab or double cab, here is a list of some of the things you can get:

remote start, heated AND cooled seats, power seats with memory, Apple Carplay and Android Auto, Tailgate opens with power lock system from remote, and trailer brake controller (if you tow).

The only feature I can think of that is available on the Tacoma but not on the Silverado is the keyless start. For some odd reason, none of the Chevy trucks are available with that.

 

OP, when in doubt, get the vehicle that makes you happy. The one you can see yourself still in love with after 5 or 10 years is the one you should choose, regardless of power or features. Get the one you can live with easiest.

A question though, why not compare a Silverado to a Tundra? IMO, it really downplays the Tacoma to compare it to a full-size because fullsizes will naturally have more features and power. I understand the pricing, but again, whichever truck makes you happiest. This came to mind when you mentioned the cooled seats - Tundra has them, along with a few other features.

 

if the silverado fits in your garage then I would get it. you really do get a lot more for your money and fuel economy is not far off. I was in the same boat as you but full size won't fit in my garage and I like a manual trans.
I've owned both a silverado, GMC sierra, and a toyota 4 runner, reliability wise they were all fairly reliable with only minor issues over a number of miles.

 

Well I am anti - GM .. there is my vote

Owned an 08 z71 and it was a POS
Wife owns an 11 equinox and guess what? It's shit. In fact it's at the dealer now cause the tranny failed at 40k miles. Gonna trade it in when it gets fixed .. this is the second time the pos left her stranded. My z71 left me stranded at least half a dozen times, will never own another GM.

Now if you said Ford full size or Tundra full size my vote might sway cause the taco is really small for someone wanting a bigger truck.

 

I had a 2010 5.3, 6spd auto, RCSB 4x4, Leather, PW, PL... not worth the 15 MPG and GM-rattles and issues




I'll take my Toyota's 4 cyl, 5spd, bench seat, crank windows all day over it

 

Agreed... After a woman turned across my lane and totaled my 2002 Tacoma, my bro-in-law let me borrow his GMC Sierra. Only had 65k on the ODO and it felt like it was falling apart... All kinds of rattles, cheap feeling/looking interior plastic, and worst of was the slipping tranny that felt like it was on it's last leg.

 

I drove a Silverado when I worked for the Forest Service out in Northern CA. Drove it through very bad fire roads for work. It has a good 4x4 system, but that front bumper scraped on everything. I suppose you can replace it with something that has better clearance. It had some minor issues: clock didn't keep time and some rattling. All and all it was a good work truck and I am sure the package you are looking at is WAY nicer.

That said, I went with a Tacoma 4x4, DCSB because I thought it was more fun to drive, better built, at least equally good 4x4/traction control, and more reliable.

 

Just my 2 cents, for what's it's worth. I traded in a fully loaded 2013 Ram Sport for my 16 Taco. I lost a lot of features like auto high beam headlights(would automatically switch back and forth between high and low when it sensed another car in front of or on coming, auto dimming and defrosting outside mirrors, powered rear sliding window, led rear tails, an amazing ZF auto trans(also used in Bentlys, Jaguars, etc., auto climate control that automatically kicked on heat as well as defrosting outside mirrors if it was colder than 32 degrees as well as kicked on ac if temp was above a certain temp(don't remember), remote start, a shit ton of power from the hemi engine with 3.92 rear end with mechanical lsd, and I'm sure there was more that I'm forgetting , but you get the point.

With all that said, I have zero regrets trading it in on my 16 TRD Offroad 4x4. I didn't have the need to tow 10k lbs, or any of the other full size capabilities. I had Hellwig front and rear sway bars on the Ram, yet the Tacoma exhibits way less body lean, and besides less power, the Tacoma is more enjoyable to drive. I have tons more space in my garage. I could go on and on but you get the point.

Also, without all the fancy features, I have less to worry about failing in the future, which is also why I didn't opt for the premium pkg in the Tacoma.

All in all its up to you. For the money you get way more for your dollar with any of the full size trucks but I truly believe if you don't need the capabilities of full size, at least 90% of people would enjoy a midsize truck. That is unless you're trying to makeup for other inadequacys with a big truck lol

Sorry for the long post...

 

...oh not mention depreciation and resale value variances... HUGE