Being old enough to be around long before the internet, videos are much more helpful than magazine articles were but, in the end, I need to see it and/or experience it before I make a choice. Only my opinion matters when I buy. And no matter how hard an auto journalist tries not to, every story ends up with a slant. Yeah, I get it, it's not like there is a new vehicle being released every day, so content needs to be "created". And we will watch it anyway to see if anything new pops out regardless of whether we agree with the subject. Like your price comparison of the Taco/AT4, too many results are possible because each offer too many different things in the options. I had them within $1k the way I built them.
As for "predicted reliability", I think it's great to hear the industry numbers from CR, JD and others. Why not? It's only one more aspect of the purchase. We want all that info when we purchase anything, but some will put more weight into it than others. I find it hilarious that people give you crap over it. Data is just data, and you are just delivering it. It's like TFL's drag race, I'm sure some Tacoma fans argued about the results against the Colorado. They also (TFL) "rant" too much about their personal biases. "I don't like the door ajar warning! It won't go off!" No s**t, neither did the one in my 2003 Ram, get over it.
Other than that rant, Happy New Year everybody!