More Power, Less Fuel

Under the hood, the Tacoma offers two very distinct choices: a carry-over 2.7L four-cylinder engine good for 159 horsepower and 180 lb-ft of torque, or a brand new 3.5L V6 that grinds out 278 horses and 265 lb-ft of twist thanks to the presence of direct injection and variable valve timing. The long-lived 4.0L V6 that has haunted Toyota truck engine bays for so many years has been banished to the 4Runner stockpile where it continues to ply its trade, which is good news for Tacoma buyers who had been seeking a more modern power plant upgrade.

If you can afford the initial outlay for the V6, then you should make the jump: there’s no fuel savings to be had with the old school four-cylinder, making it an almost perfunctory box on the options sheet that few customers will likely check off. The six-cylinder features the option of a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic gearbox (the four-cylinder makes do with a five-speed manual), while both can be paired with four-wheel drive.

So convinced is Toyota that the four-banger will barely cause a ripple in the ordering habits of Tacoma customers that it failed to include any examples for us gathered journalists to drive (nor were any manual transmissions in the cards). As a result I can only report on the V6’s road manners, which came across as willing if perhaps not noticeably quicker than the previous truck’s larger-displacement engine. Down on power compared to the Canyon and the Colorado’s V6, the Tacoma did nevertheless feel at least as spry with the pedal to the floor while passing.

When comparing the Toyota Tacoma’s handling and ride to its newly redesigned GM rivals, a more distinct difference presented itself. While steering and body roll have been improved for 2016, Toyota has elected to leave much of the rest of the Tacoma’s chassis alone, which means it still drives like the truck that it is. This stands in contrast to the Colorado and Canyon, which have seen a fair portion of the handling liabilities associated with their body-on-frame designs dialled out by the deft hand of their suspension engineers. The end result: Chevy and GMC have created a mid-size pickup that drives not unlike a crossover SUV, which is territory that the Tacoma comes nowhere near to sniffing.

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