Toyota Tacoma got blitzed

[Larry]

Car and Driver is driving trucks, again. The comparison of pickups is a real piece of work. They even said that if they wanted a pickup to win it would be the Tacoma, but they picked something else, instead. The more I read C&D the more this stuff makes sense. In the Powertrain the Tacoma had 9 'bests' and the Honda had two (least noise at idle and 70mph!, very important categories at that) means nothing. In Off-road the Tacoma had 1 best and the Honda zero means nothing either. In the Chassis the Tacoma won the brakes and the Honda won the skidpad and lane change, Honda finally won a category. In the Vehicle category Honda and Toyota would have tied except the Honda holds one gallon more gas. So if we take the one gallon of gas into consideration we can now understand why the Ridgeline is the leader. I'll bet that all along Honda knew about that gallon of gas when they converted their minivan into the best pickup in the world. No more of this "pickupness" <-quote from C&D... in our pickups.

I say BULL$HIT, give me the Tacoma, if I want a pickup, I want a real pickup, in fact I want a Toyota.

 

[Northof49]

You couldn't pay me to drive a Ridgeline....that thing makes the Aztek look like a styling masterpiece.

 

[Mark86]

I don't know about anybody else, but "Honda" and "pickup truck" just don't seem to go together. None of the vehicles that Honda produces gives the rugged appearance. I would take the Tacoma over the Ridgeline anyday. I have to say, the one feature of the Honda that I really like is the locking trunk in the bed.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

.that thing makes the Aztek look like a styling masterpiece.

Now you're talking crazy,the Pontiac still rules the ugly styling category by far.
Also nobody ever claimed the Honda was an off-road vehicle but Honda has a lot of loyalists and they are gonna eat it up and you have Honda quality.
Not my cup of tea but Honda knows which crowd is their selling target. Besides the majority of all off road vehicles don't see any more rough terrain than the Ridgleline could handle. H2s are selling like crazy but I bet less than 5 out of a 100 see anything resembling what we consider rough terrain.

 

[Larry]

Toyota would sure do a lot better in these comparos if they would just buy some more advertising. Toyota just can't win enough of the important categories to not get blind-sided by something like too much "pickupness". I'll bet you that Nissan fans don't like playing second fiddle to a soccer mom special, either. After reading the article, it looks like they could have just skipped the driving part and made a bunch of charts and be done with it. If there was an Off-road' category they should have done some real testing.

 

[sharp4runr]

I have to say, the one feature of the Honda that I really like is the locking trunk in the bed.

Yes, thats the same compartment that holds your spare tire. That compartment is accessed through trap door in the truck bed So lets say you are hauling 50lbs of mulch and you get a flat tire, how do you access your spare with materials in your bed?

Motortrend gave the Tacoma truck of the year for a reason.

 

[Koz]

Car & Driver has a hard-on for Toyotas. They must be owned by GM or something. Their reviews are ridiculous and aren't worth the paper their written on, don't even make good toilet paper! :moon:

Koz

 

[Hank]

Props to the Taco for whooping everyone in acceleration! . 0-60 in 7.1 & qtr in 15.7@88. That's in the V8 4R territory! You guys are right about C&D, something fishy must be going on there. I can't believe they gave the honors to a crossover pickup truck. They should've tested the TRD Sport or TRD Off Road equipped Taco if they disagree w/the handling of the standard setup. That's STRIKE 2 for C&D!

 

[Larry]

I looked back at the article and now it's plain to see what happened. Look at the selection of vehicles. Four pickups and one mini-van. They sould have eliminated the Honda because it's not a pickup and eliminated the Tacoma because they don't like Toyotas. Then they would have a fair test. Then they could have redone the categories and wighted them in a reasonable manner to give the highest score to the winner. With their current method it does not matter that the Toyota won more categories that count, has better resale value, best record of repair and is the best all around value it's never going to win a C&D test comparo.

 

[chunderboy]

I guess the same people that are going to buy a honda for its pickup capabilites, are the same people that are going to buy the cadillac and the lincoln.

They just want the cool new isht, w/o thinking of capabilities

 

[olliebear]

Toyota just posted record sale and profits...

GM and Ford just posted record loses and junk bond status.

I guess most people just don't care what C/D says about Honda's Ridgeline...which is nothing more than an Avalanche that went through the spin cycle and shrunk....they just keep buying Toyota one after another...

Gimme a Taco or Tundra anyday.....but still waiting for Toyota to make a real truck.....1 ton 7 liters of diesel with 400 horses and 700 pounds of torque.....

 

[chillwihll]

hahaha I would be so embarrassed to drive the Honda Ridgeline.

 

[DaveS]

Isn't the Ridgeline just the open top version of the Odyssey?