Originally posted by bigals87z28@Feb 24 2004, 05:47 AM
the Tacoma is considerd Toyota's one and only truck to battle it all, and it easily gets outclassed by the GM trucks. I sat in a Tacoma, and the difference between interiors of teh GM and Toyota are the shapes of plastic. The floor shifter feels like its made of plastic, the wheel has too much up and down play, MAJOR gaps can be found. And the seats are made for a 14 year old chick. The Tacoma is by far the worst truck on the market today. The 220hp I5 puts out more power, if not as much power as Dodges Dak which IMO is the class leading mid sized truck. And frontier! Its supercharged, and it still only puts out 210hp in its top trim! And it looks like crap, as do all Nissan trucks. Talk about plastic fanastic. The front end of all of nissans trucks are just molded in plastic, and dipped in chrome.
And I like the 6 disk CD in dash player in the Colorado's. Dont see that in the Dak...
I think they were talking about the 2005 Tacoma coming out in a few months. It's got a 4.0L 240hp V6, and upgraded interior. The 2005 Frontier also has a new 4.0L V6 with 250hp and, of course, interior upgrades.
I think the Colorado/Canyon look great and will still look better than the other small trucks, but it's obvious that they won't be biggest powerhouses on the block for long.
I know there have been turbo concept versions of the I5 with 350hp, but I don't really think a turbo gas engine is appropriate for a truck either. Perhaps for the lowered sports-only trucks, but for a 4WD that you want to tow with, I'd have concerns over the the durability of a gas/turbo. I don't think gas engines are meant to cruise on boost like diesels are.
Beyond that though, I don't know what GM can do. I've looked under the hood, and I believe GM when they say the I6 won't even fit. The only way to crank up the horsepower significantly on the I5 without a turbo/SC, is to crank the revs up even higher, and they are already plenty high with these engines.