2010 Toyota Tacoma 4×2 PreRunner

When the 2010 Toyota Tacoma 4×2 PreRunner first hit the market 15 years ago, it won over buyers with a bigger bed, expressive looks and improved performance compared to rivals like the Chevrolet S-10, Dodge Dakota and Ford Ranger. But with the S10 long dead (and its replacement, the Colorado nearly so), the Dakota doddering along and the Ranger operating on life support for more than a decade, it appears the Taco and its fellow Japanese rival, the Nissan Frontier, have won the mid-size truck title by default. That’s a good thing for Toyota, because the Tacoma needs an improved powertrain, better fuel economy and more refinement to provide truck buyers with a palatable alternative to today’s half-ton pickups.

Most pickups don’t attract much attention, but the 2010 Toyota Tacoma 4×2 PreRunner from Toyota in our driveway commanded a surprising amount of ogling, courtesy of its over-the-top Speedway Blue Metallic paint and a Subaru-esque (non-functional) front hood scoop. But while we’re quite certain that our $30,438 tester garnered a few stares, we’re still not sure they were all favorable. The front end’s design remains a bit obtuse for our tastes, with too many oddly intersecting lines and busy shapes around the grille and headlamps, with the decoy hood scoop only accentuating the problem.