Waiting for my wife's Toyota Venza I drove a new Toyota Tacoma and here is my take. Tacoma loaded 4x4.
Drivetrain.. I felt the V6 lacked low end grunt it tries to make up for this with a six speed automatic that seems to hunt for the best gear a bit to much. Once moving along at 50 or so it has good power but nothing special.
Ride.. It rode good although I felt the bed/body move around over bumps a bit to much. Frankly I believe it is the Toyota frame lacking stiffness to improve the ride while leaving a bit of flexible flyer.
Handling / braking.. Not much to report here it handled like a small truck and the brakes were solid.
Inside.. The dash was nice and modern if not a bit overdone/Hollywood. The seating position is better then the last model but still legs forward seating that I don't care for (You sit on the Nissan Frontier you sit in the Toyota Tacoma) it's sort of like that. The seats were some sort of (Pleather) fake leather that frankly was not real good and it felt like it would not last.
Price.. $41,000 I feel a bit much
Why I would buy a Nissan Frontier over the Tacoma..
Let's start with price you can buy a new Frontier 4 door 4x4 with the off road pkg for around $4,000 less! Now what do you gain or loose.
Drivetrain.. The Nissan VQ40DE V6 4.0 deffenetly has more low end Torque or it deffenetly seems so and it does not hunt for gears like the Tacoma 6 speed. Reliability?? We really don't know but reports are the new V6 in the Tacoma has had a few issues. The Tocoma gets better millage can't recall what off hand.
Ride, Handleing, and braking, The Yota rides better but much of that better ride comes from the frame being less stiff and I would be willing to bet not nearly as strong as the Frontier. (I owned a 06 Toyota 4Runner before my 2012 Nissan Pathfinder and I can tell you the frame is significantly stiffer and more beefy then the Toyota) The brakes seem better on the Yota and I don't notice much difference in the Handleing although the bed did not bounce around nearly as much on the Frontier again frame stiffness??
Inside .. The new Toyota has a nice modern dash but frankly I have no issues with the industrial Frontier dash.
So I am having trouble justifying the cost difference.
By the way both trucks were 4 door models and I drove a new Nissan Frontier 3 months ago.