Toyota's topflight machismo

After flagging sales chased the Big Three from the midsize pickup arena, Toyota and Nissan had the segment all to themselves, with the Toyota Tacoma cutting itself a 70 percent slice of the pie.

With that kind of market share, there wasn't much incentive to update the 10-year-old current Tacoma, until General Motors got back in the game with the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. That dynamic duo proved roomier, more powerful, more advanced, and more refined than the Tacoma. And Toyota wasn't about to let that discrepancy stand, not with annual sales of 165,000 units at stake.

In an effort for it to remain midsize pickup numero uno, Toyota has extensively redesigned the Tacoma for 2016. The new truck, which will begin showing up in dealerships in mid-September, boasts a new body and interior, an innovative new V-6 engine, and a fresh six-speed automatic transmission, plus a host of novel features, such as an optional sunroof (a segment first) and an available $650 locking tonneau cover for the cargo bed.

The new Tacoma, whose base price ranges from $23,300 for a rear-drive, extended-cab work truck with a manual gearbox to $37,820 for a leathery, top-of-the-line 4X4 with the automatic, proved a pretty affable small truck at a recent regional media introduction. It acquitted itself well both on the road and off.

The 2016 Tacoma's body design is quite macho, as you might expect from a vehicle whose customer base is 85 percent male and which is taken off-road by 45 percent of its owners. It also has some thoughtful aspects, such as a front end designed to protect pedestrians who are struck by the truck. (Marketing manager Cooper Ericksen told me the design is intended to push the pedestrian onto the hood instead of under the vehicle.) Also interesting was the lighter-than-steel composite cargo bed floor and walls, and the damping that lets the tailgate lower gently.

I wasn't as impressed by the raised hood vents on the sporty models I drove. I found the lump they created rather distracting.

The interior design was clean and straightforward. I found both the front and rear seats comfortable in the two Double Cab (crew cab) models I tested. The Access Cab was a different story. Like any other small extended pickup I've driven, the folding rear seats were uncomfortable and suitable only for Lilliputians. That rear area is really for dry, secure storage.

The three models I drove - the TRD Sport Access Cab ($32,950), and the TRD Sport and Off-Road Double Cabs, $33,730 and $34,340, respectively, were comfortable and quiet on the road. Indeed, the designers at Toyota scurried to improve the nascent Tacoma's quietude after finding out that the Colorado/Canyon truck was quieter than they had anticipated. But touches like an acoustic, laminated windshield and increased sound-deadening in the floor and headliner ameliorated matters.

I found the test vehicles handled well, with minimal body lean. They also accelerated smartly, thanks to the new V-6. The latter is a variation on the corporate 3.5-liter V-6 that derives maximum efficiency by employing both port and direct injection. This produces 278 horsepower - 42 more than the engine it replaces - and actually gets better mileage than the carryover 2.7-liter four-banger used in the cheaper models. With rear-drive and the automatic gearbox, it has EPAs of 19 m.p.g. city and 24 m.p.g. highway. The weak, 159-horsepower four registers 19 m.p.g. city and 23 m.p.g. highway.

The new truck's off-road facility was particularly evident when Toyota engineers got it axle deep in sand and then used its new electronic crawl control to help it yank itself out.