Does the Colorado Need to Fear the New Tacoma?
Today, the embargoes are up on the 2016 Toyota Tacoma, and many reviews seemed positive. Being the best selling mid-sized truck, the competition is clearly seeing what’s up with the new Tacoma. After scouring through the reviews though, we’ve come up with a good answer on if the Colorado needs to fear the new Tacoma, and that answer is a resounding “no.”
But why? The new Tacoma is designed as a lifestyle truck for people who like to go off-road and enjoy the great outdoors. Emphasis is placed on that, with the Crawl Control, rear drum brakes, and good ride height. But where it doesn’t see a lot of improvement is in the “being a truck” department.
First off, the Tacoma is still rocking rear drum brakes. When hauling, disc brakes make sense, since they dissipate heat better.
Secondly, while the Tacoma has improved specs over the previous generation, the 6,800 pound maximum towing capacity is less than the 7,000 pounds of the Colorado (gas versions).
Speaking of gasoline, the Colorado will have a diesel option available later this year that increases towing by 700 pounds and will surely bring home fuel economy figures in the 30 miles-per-gallon range.
The Colorado is capable of off-roading, especially with the Z71 package and the tires available on the Trail Boss version, but the Colorado is a truck first, off-roading vehicle second.
The Tacoma is much like Ford’s Raptor, and is designed to go off-road first, and function doing truck things second. While there might be people who cross-shop the Colorado and the Tacoma, it doesn’t appear that either brand has anything to worry about from each other.
What do you think? Let us know over in the forums!
