Chevrolet Colorado vs. Toyota Tacoma

As a used car dealership in Pueblo, Southwest Motors carries has pre-owned trucks in stock. Two of our hottest sellers are the Chevrolet Colorado and the Toyota Tacoma. Both models offer all the qualities you’d expect from a midsize pickup truck, yet each one has different specialties that appeal to different kinds of drivers. Here’s a look at both models to see which one is a better fit for you.

Visual appeal

On the other hand, the Colorado opts for a simpler, more traditional profile with clean edges and a lack of gratuitous accents.

A range of power capabilities

Most truck shoppers in Pueblo will probably ask this question first: Which truck is stronger? The answer isn’t surprising, as the performance of Chevy-branded trucks is legendary.

Between the base-level engines on the Tacoma and Colorado, the Colorado usually offers higher power output. Its 2.5-liter four-cylinder outdoes the Tacoma’s weak 2.7-liter four-cylinder. Its 3.6-liter V6 also outdoes the 3.5-liter V6 optionally offered on the Tacoma. As the crowning jewel, the Colorado offers a diesel engine that’s been rated to tow up to 7,700 pounds.

Safety first

You probably do some rough driving with your truck now and then. If so, you want the most protection for yourself and your passengers in the event on a collision. The Tacoma is packed with more airbags. Plus, Toyota is known for giving its vehicles tons of included safety features in its signature Toyota Safety Sense packages. That’s how recent Tacoma models come standard with features like forward-collision warning with automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane-departure warning.

The Colorado can have many of these driving assistance features but are only on higher-level trims or add-ons that will cost you extra.

Innovative utility features

What truck owner doesn’t love having fun features and useful novelties on their vehicle? Chevrolet tends to offer some innovative features for its trucks that Toyota doesn’t match — or, at least, not until a few years later. For instance, the brand-exclusive CornerStep rear bumper has been giving Colorado owners a leg up for years. The Colorado also offers highlights like an EZ Lift-and-Lower tailgate, in-bed lighting, an in-tailgate storage compartment, and bountiful tie-downs (over a dozen!).

The Tacoma does offer some nifty features like its insulated in-bed storage system, but it’s not the technology trendsetter that Chevy trucks are.

Size (and style) matters

Although the Colorado and Tacoma are technically in the same class and offer similar bed-cab configurations, you’ll notice that the Colorado’s dimensions tend to stretch a bit further. Both the extended and crew cabs of the Colorado tend to provide a few more inches of legroom for riders in the front and back rows.

An upside to the Tacoma’s compact cab is its abundance of digital, modern displays and buttons — which far surpass the outdated, cheap-looking dashboard controls on the Colorado. Again, the Chevy truck strives for utilitarian simplicity (and a cheaper price), while the Tacoma aims to be more sumptuous.