1) 2016 Toyota Tacoma. The Toyota Tacoma, which is redesigned for 2016, has long been at the apex of the small truck scene for several different reasons. 2) 2016 Chevrolet Colorado. 3) 2016 Nissan Frontier. 4) 2017 Honda Ridgeline. 5) 2016 GMC Canyon.

Current models in this class include the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ram 1500, Ford F-150, GMC Sierra 1500, Nissan Titan, and Toyota Tundra. Those form the backbone of the pickup truck market.

Full sized Chevrolet truck gas mileage has increased over the years because of innovations such as the active fuel management feature which switches the engine to run on four cylinders when idling and improvements in fuel injection systems. On regular gasoline it is 19 combined city/highway mpg 16 city 23 highway 5.3 gals/100 miles.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, diesel engines offer 30- to 35-percent greater fuel economy than comparable gasoline engines. Diesel fuel also has higher energy density than gasoline, which means less fuel is required to generate the same power as gas, improving overall fuel economy.