2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport vs. Chevrolet Colorado LT: Which Midgrade Midsize Pickup Is Best?

We might be used to seeing full-size Ford F-150s, Chevrolet Silverados, and Ram 1500s plying their trades on our highways and backroads, but the rest of the world relies on smaller pickups to do work. Most of those trucks proudly wear the iconic tri-oval Toyota badge on their grilles, though American automakers have been making a dent in Toyota’s global dominance over the past decade or so with models such as the Chevrolet Colorado.

Chevy’s been battling Toyota both here and abroad while riding a wave of critical acclaim for its stout midsizer. The previous-generation Colorado was a two-time MotorTrend Truck of the Year winner, and the new-for-2023 model recently earned our 2024 Truck of the Year title. But despite the Colorado’s consistent kudos, the Toyota Tacoma—the North American cousin of the hugely popular Hilux it sells to most of the rest of the world—has repeatedly taken home the U.S. midsize truck sales crown. And thanks to the launch of its all-new 2024 Toyota Tacoma, Toyota looks hellbent on keeping it that way. But is the latest Tacoma good enough to take down the surging Colorado? We decided to find out.

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Comparing the Tacoma and Colorado on Paper

The first truly new Tacoma since before YouTube was a thing, it's better in virtually every way than the model it replaces. It’s underpinned by a version of the company’s new TNGA-F platform, which is shared with a wide variety of its SUVs and pickups, including the Tundra, Land Cruiser/Lexus LX, Land Cruiser Prado/Lexus GX, and the Sequoia. Depending on spec, it comes in rear- or four-wheel drive, with coil springs up front and a live axle in back suspended by leaf or coil springs. Toyota also offers two different engine and transmission options, a base 2.4-liter turbo I-4 in three different states of tune, or an optional hybridized variant that adds an electric motor, upping horsepower to 326 and torque to 465 lb-ft on higher trims. Transmission options include a six-speed manual on select non-hybrid models, while most of the lineup gets an eight-speed automatic. The Tacoma is also available in extended and crew cab configurations, as well as with either a 6-foot long bed or 5-foot short bed.

Clearly Toyota considers choice important for its customers. So which Tacoma did we choose for this showdown? A solidly midgrade crew cab/short bed TRD Sport with coil springs and the non-hybrid turbo-four in its 278-hp and 317-lb-ft state of tune. It’s paired with an eight-speed automatic and true four-wheel drive with a two-speed transfer case. The Tacoma TRD Sport starts at $44,095, and our test truck stickered for $46,435.

Chevy buyers, meanwhile, have slightly fewer options. Built on an evolved version of the previous Colorado's platform and sprung with traditional coil springs up front and a live axle with leaf springs in back (off-road specials like the ZR2 sub in fancy shocks), Chevy builds the Colorado solely in a quad-cab, 5-foot short-bed configuration. It also only offers the Colorado with a 2.7-liter turbo I-4 available in a standard- or high-output form (a midlevel option was available for 2023 only), paired exclusively with an eight-speed automatic. Chevy offers three drivetrain options for the Colorado: rear-wheel, driver-selectable all-wheel, or a true four-wheel-drive setup with a low range like the Toyota.

Seeking an even matchup with the Tacoma, we opted for a midgrade Colorado LT. We then selected all-wheel drive (four-wheel drive is only available on the Colorado’s off-road trims) and equipped it with the high-output 310-hp 430-lb-ft I-4, which is a reasonable $1,285 premium on the Colorado LT’s $36,795 base price. Our nearly loaded Colorado LT test truck stickered for $45,835.

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Battle of the Beds

Pickup trucks live and die by their beds. Despite their similar sizes, there are some major differences between what the Colorado and Tacoma offer in that critical department.

For starters, their constructions are different. The Tacoma, as it has since 2005, features a composite plastic bed. The pros for this approach are that it's rust-proof, resistant to damage, and avoids the need for customers to drop a couple hundred bucks on a bedliner. It’s also lighter than steel, though our test Taco’s 1,407-pound payload capacity is middling.

The bed’s non-texturized plastic is slick, making it easy to shovel loads out of it or slide bulky cargo up against the cab, but it can also be slippery under foot, especially when damp. The Tacoma’s tie-downs aren’t exactly well placed, either. The four floor-mounted D-rings (one in each corner) are more ideally suited for hauling toys such as dirt bikes; less so when it comes to longer or bulkier items. The added sliding plastic bed rail cleats help, but they do little to make up for the lack of fixed tie-downs.

The Colorado’s bed, on the other hand, is slightly longer and meaningfully wider. It’s built with steel, and like most pickups, it’s outfitted with a durable factory spray-in bedliner (a $475 extra). Ours could haul a stout 1,646 pounds.

Climbing up into the Chevy’s bed via the standard bumper-mounted steps reveal two fixed tie-downs at each corner (one near the bottom of the bed and the other near the top) and three punch-outs on the left, center, and right for added fixed tie-downs or accessories.

The Colorado also features a hidden storage compartment in the tailgate for use as a cooler for a few cans of your favorite beverage or more purposefully to stash ratchet straps and other odds and ends. (The lip of the tailgate also doubles as a handy ruler.) And unlike the Toyota at this price point, our test Colorado came with outlets in the bed to power everything from circular saws to camp fridges.

Chevy engineers clearly spent quite a bit of time addressing the most important space in any pickup. For those who regularly haul loads with their trucks or work out of their beds, the Colorado’s bed is simply better.

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Out on the Open Road

While Toyota engineers might not have spent as much time thinking about the Tacoma’s bed, they spent loads of time working on improving how their new truck drives. That was arguably the right call, considering we described the previous-gen Tacoma as a sloppy handler, with an underpowered Camry engine, poorly tuned transmission, and loads of brake dive.

The efforts paid off—it simply can’t be overstated how much of an improvement the new Tacoma is over the old one. The turbocharged I-4 powerplant deserves much of the credit. Although it’s a touch laggy until the turbo spools up around 2,500 rpm, the four-pot responds linearly to the gas pedal and revs quickly. Its eight-speed auto is still tuned too tall for the engine and real work, but the new transmission no longer kicks and bucks into gear, and despite a tendency to race to its top cogs, it's relatively quick to kick down into an appropriate ratio. We can’t help but wonder how much the experience would improve with the added torque of the hybrid system.

Steering feel is also drastically improved compared to the old Tacoma. Although it’s somewhat digital and isolating, the Toyota’s helm is well weighted and accurate—a welcome improvement over the heavy and vague feel from the previous-generation truck.

Not all that’s new is improved, though. Despite the belated shift from rear drum brakes to discs at all four corners, the Tacoma’s brake pedal feel leaves much to be desired. The stroke is long, with most of the pedal’s bite not occurring until you’re well into a third of its travel. It’s something you’ll get used to after a few stops where you wind up standing the Tacoma on its nose, but it wouldn’t instill us with confidence when towing or hauling heavier loads.

Although the Tacoma will largely meet consumer expectations as to what a traditional pickup drives like, the Colorado will likely exceed them. The Chevy feels like a more mature truck—a better tool, if you will—than the Tacoma. The most obvious difference is the glut of extra power on tap from its large 2.7-liter turbo I-4. After getting through some minor turbo lag, a huge lump of torque becomes available from the Colorado’s engine, making the Chevy effortless to pilot. The surge of muscle from the under-stressed engine gives the Colorado ample power when empty or laden down with cargo while also helping to mask a transmission flaw it shares with the Toyota—a tendency to race to the highest possible gear as soon as possible. That said, it’s worth noting that it was easier to coax the Chevy’s eight-speed into holding a more appropriate lower gear than it was with the Toyota. We suspect time spent studying how this very engine was implemented in the far larger Silverado 1500 was put to good use.

Even though the Colorado’s transmission tuning is similar to that of the Tacoma, its steering and brake feel are exceptional for the segment. The latter bites quickly but in a more linear fashion, and it’s easier to modulate. The former makes up for its slow, trucklike ratio with crisp response, progressive weighting, and good feel. Couple all that with its comfortable and composed ride, and you wind up with a pickup that’s as at home on narrow farm backroads as it is in urban downtowns.

Advantage? Colorado.

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Step Inside My Office

Overall road manners tip in favor of the Colorado. But things are much more even when we look at their cabins.

The Tacoma’s cabin is the more stylish of the two. Taking after its Tundra big brother, it features chunky dials, handles, and buttons, massive easy-to-read displays, and generous splashes of color. The front seat, for the first time in a Tacoma this century, offers a high, trucklike seating position that all but the NBA-tall editors on staff found comfortable. Visibility is surprisingly pinched, however, due to the stylishly high hood and small car-sized sideview mirrors. The Tacoma’s backseat is tighter than most in the segment, but adults will likely tolerate it for shorter trips. Children—both two-legged and four—will likely find the space sufficient, even if the truck lacks rear A/C vents.

The Tacoma makes up for the venting oversight with generous interior storage. Up front, occupants get a shared wireless charging-capable panel for their phones, massive cupholders, a deep center console cubby, a separate bin for wallets or keys, as well as ample storage in the door pockets and on the passenger side of the dash. There’s segment-best storage in back, too. The rear bench splits 60/40, tips forward to act as a shelf, or tips up to store items like tow hitches, ratchet straps, and other gear underneath the rear seat.

“Grown up,” would be a good way to describe the Colorado’s interior, though not all our editors were convinced this was a good thing. First, the good. Tastefully understated, the Chevy features crisp, easy-to-read, reconfigurable displays, and a solid mix of toggles, buttons, and knobs, all of which are easy to use with gloves on. The front seats are comfortable, supportive, and spacious, and the rear seat—while smaller than the last-generation model—is slightly more generous than the Toyota’s while providing must-have amenities like rear HVAC vents.

Still, there’s obvious room for improvement. To start, although the Tacoma offers enough storage for all the items you might bring on an adventure, the Colorado encourages you to travel light. Front-seat occupants have two cupholders, a single wireless phone charger between them, a small center console, and less than generous door pockets to stash phones and keys in. Space that could be used for more storage is instead wasted on the all-wheel-drive knob and a decorative electric parking brake surround.

In a Tesla-esque move, Chevy made a point to free up real estate by eliminating an independent headlight control knob, instead moving the headlight, foglamp, and auto high-beam controls to two different menus on the central infotainment touchscreen. As far as we can tell, there’s no net benefit to the user. There is, after all, still a stalk for the windshield wipers, and any space you might argue is freed up by the move—like the bank of switches on the bottom of the center stack—is wasted on features like a button that puts all the truck’s windows down but not up again. Instead, drivers now suffer the indignity of hunting and pecking at a touchscreen to ensure they can both see and be seen by other drivers.

It's safe to say that despite each truck’s strong points, shoppers will be making some compromises inside, no matter which pickup they choose.

Which Truck Is Best?

Ultimately, despite its massively better driving dynamics and thoughtfully engineered interior, the new Toyota Tacoma simply doesn’t improve in a meaningful enough way to rise above the Colorado. The Toyota still doesn’t drive as well as the Chevrolet, offers a nicer but tighter interior, and has a worse bed and lower towing and hauling capacities, making it objectively less useful for getting real truck work done than its rival.

The Colorado, on the other hand, has taken some big steps forward this generation, even if it’s taken a couple baby steps back. The Chevy team doubled down on the previous Colorado’s confidence-inspiring dynamics by adding a new engine that blends the power, torque, and efficiency we loved from its discontinued gas V-6 and turbodiesel I-4 engines into one package, while also improving its bed and cargo areas. Although the Colorado’s slightly smaller and less functional interior is a bummer, it ultimately doesn’t give us enough reason to recommend the Toyota over the Chevy.

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2nd Place: 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport

Verdict: The Tacoma is easily the most improved in its segment, but those who bother to cross-shop might find they like the competition better.

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1st Place: 2024 Chevrolet Colorado LT

Verdict: Despite some self-inflicted wounds, our 2024 Truck of the Year is unquestionably better than what we expect will be 2024’s bestselling midsize pickup.