The Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier have grown over the years from compact pickups to mid-size trucks, and now are much larger than the pickups that bore the same names in the past. The Toyota Tacoma starts at $16,365 and the Frontier starts at $17,770, but the base Frontier has an extended cab while the Tacoma is a regular cab.

2011 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab

2011 Nissan Frontier Double Cab

Both the 2011 Toyota Tacoma and 2011 Nissan Frontier are available with off-road packages that give them better tires and suspensions to tackle just about anything off the road.

Like all pickups, the Frontier and Tacoma are available with so many combinations of engine, transmission, bed length and cab size, so listing all of the possibilities for each truck would take a long time. Both trucks are available with four- or six-cylinder engines. The  Toyota Tacoma can be equipped with single, extended or double cabs, while the 2011 Nissan Frontier is only available with extended or double cabs. On the Nissan, the four-cylinder engine is only available with two-wheel-drive. The Toyota gives buyers the option of a four-cylinder, four-wheel-drive.

The economical option on both pickups is the four-cylinder engine. These small engines make as much horsepower and torque as V6s from the 1990s, so while you won’t win any speed competitions, you also won’t find yourself borrowing a neighbor’s full-size truck just to go to Home Depot. The 2011 Nissan Frontier is available with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that has 152 hp and 171 lb-ft of torque. The 2011 Toyota Tacoma four-cylinder engine is a 2.7-liter unit with 159 hp and 180 lb-ft of torque. The Nissan Frontier four-cylinder is rated at 19 miles per gallon city and 23 highway. The Tacoma two-wheel-drive four-cylinder is rated at 21 mpg city and 25 mpg highway.

2011 Toyota Tacoma Single Cab

2011 Nissan Frontier King Cab

Both trucks are available with 4.0-liter V6 engines. The Tacoma’s V6 has 236 hp and 266 lb-ft of torque. The Frontier V6 has 261 hp and 281 lb-ft of torque. The more powerful Frontier V6 with four-wheel-drive and an automatic transmission gets 14 mpg city and 19 mpg highway. The 2011 Tacoma V6 gas mileage is rated at 16 city and 20 highway.

The 2011 Toyota Tacoma with four-wheel-drive, an automatic transmission and V6 engine can tow up to 6,400 lbs with a V6 engine. A similarly-equipped 2011 Nissan Frontier can tow 6,300 lbs.