FINALLY! I read this in print and have been waiting for this to come out on digital.
So its a pretty fair test but there are a couple of things worth noting:
1. The Colorado and the Tacoma averaged the same 19 mpg over the 1900 mile trip. At first glance it would appear as a win for the more powerful Colorado but bear in mind that the Tacoma TRD (as tested) does not have the off road spoiling front air damn from the factory. Chevy has stated that this air damn is worth at least 1 mpg highway, meaning that if they had tested the Tacoma with the air damn (like an SR5 or limited) than the numbers would likely have swung in favor of the Toyota.
2. They dinged the Toyota 4 points for towing because this particular press vehicle didn’t come equipped with a tow package...despite this test involving 0% towing. Its a very inexpensive kit that doesn’t affect performance and will almost certainly be on 100% of Tacoma’s equipped like this (v6 quad cab, trd). If it were equipped the Tacoma would trail the Colorado by a mere 600 lbs towing.
3. Yes it has drum brakes in the back. It also stopped better than the Colorado on worse (for the street) tires. Can we all decide that it doesn’t matter as much as some people think to have drum brakes?
Photo credit Car and Driver.