in my city there is a big price difference btw the entrada and the drake- what causes the price difference?
seems both are a Porcelain casting with similar internals?
The street price diff between the entrada and the cst744e eco drake is $40-ish. With the new tank option cst744en, it's somewhat more. Be sure you're comparing apples to apples. Sometimes, Toto comes out with a new product and positions it in a certain spot for marketing purposes, but doesn't adjust the price of the other toilets. For example, the Ultramax II has CEFIONTECT, Universal Height, and the Dual Cyclone, but it was priced less than the original Ultramax if you got the original Ultramax version that had ADA Height and CEFIONTECT. Cost of production is just one factor in wholesale price, and in plumbing supplies, there is a widely-varying markup by distributors and suppliers for the same product. There is also the need to defray research and engineering cost by the manufacturer, which in the case of the 1G products, for example, was likely substantial. So the "cost" to th manufacturer, and the "price" set at varying levels of the supply chain, are influenced by a lot more than just the amount of porcelain involved.
As Terry points out, Toto has positioned the Entrada as an entry-level Toto (hence the name, which means "entrance" in Spanish), but has designed one heck of a good product at that price point. Which is why he is selling a ton of them.
I'm thinking that if the Drake didn't have such a significant installed base and strong following, it might be on the chopping block.
As to the "commercial grade flush" statement with regard to one and not the other on the Toto web site, it's marketing fluff, consistent with how the Entrada is being positioned price-wise.