M/T: Midsize pickup comparison

[kevm14]

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevrol ... omparison/

This is currently doing a 404, both as a link from the daily e-mail and a link from the main page. I've seen this before. Maybe the headline got in front of the publish-by timeline. It should be live soon I would think. Throwing the Ridgeline in seems kind of pointless to me but the other 3 are worth comparing.

[kevm14]

Ha. brutal!!

The Toyota Tacoma is the best-selling midsize pickup in the country, but from behind the wheel, it's hard to figure out why. "Toyota wins all the style points," features editor Scott Evans said. "Thank goodness for that because it has a lot of offsetting to do." It's hard to pinpoint just one flaw with the Tacoma because there are so many.

Most of us found the Taco to look the best both inside and out. Its cabin, with high-quality materials and killer styling, is particularly noteworthy when compared to the plain Chevy and Ford. Unfortunately, even the shortest of us had trouble fitting in the Tacoma's cramped cabin. Finding a comfortable driving position in the rock-hard seats is made difficult by a steering wheel that barely telescopes and a seat that doesn't raise or lower—the latter is probably for the best because even 5-foot-9 Scott reported his hair was brushing the Tacoma's headliner. The back seat is even more cramped—kids or dogs are the only creatures squeezing back here.

It doesn't get much better from there. On paper, Toyota's 278-hp V-6 should be plenty for this truck, but its power is only available if you're near redline, which the transmission doesn't like. It's as if gears two through five don't exist; you're either barely idling in sixth gear or screaming at 6,100 rpm in first.

Also frustrating are the Tacoma's sensitive brakes and stiff ride. The Toyota bucks like an unbroken stallion during even the most gentle limousine stops, and its suspension is oversprung. I know what you're thinking—"The ride sucks because it's got an off-road package, idiot!" Take it from someone who daily-drives MT's Ram Power Wagon—off-road capability doesn't have to mean punishing ride quality.

I freaking hate the Tacoma.

[kevm14]

The Colorado is the Goldilocks of the group. "I had no idea the Colorado was still so far ahead in terms of refinement and ride," Walton said. The Chevy is trucklike but behaved well both through bends and on badly maintained roads. Its powertrain won praise, too. "It feels peppy, and the transmission is responsive, especially compared to the Toyota's," Ayapana said.

Although Chevy has refined the Colorado's powertrain since it won its Truck of the Year awards, it hasn't spent much time on the interior. With the exception of its infotainment system, the roomy cabin has a Playskool quality to it, with oversized knobs and buttons for those who drive wearing their work gloves. It's functional but not aesthetically pleasing.

[kevm14]

The Colorado, on the other hand, couldn't have been more impressive. "The Chevy never felt out of breath on the winding roads leading to the farm," Erick said. "Good backup camera, too," he added after expertly backing the trailer up a narrow path between pens so we could unload.

[kevm14]

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: At MT, we don't always agree with each other. Although we always pick a winner for each comparison test, there's usually some dissent. However, this was a rare occasion when all four editors ranked our field identically.

In last place is the supremely disappointing Toyota Tacoma. The Tacoma is all hat and no cattle; it looks fantastic, but whether you haul air or hay, it's let down by a cramped cabin, narrow bed, grabby brakes, and an engine and transmission that work in tandem about as well as a pack of cats and dogs.

In third place, in a surprise to us, is the Ford Ranger. As we saw on the farm, the Ranger is capable. Its stellar powertrain has more than enough power to tow and haul, its platform handles weight well, and its extra-wide bed proved to be incredibly useful. But on the road, the Ranger doesn't measure up to our top two finishers. Its suspension tuning is (at best) compromised toward a duty cycle this truck will rarely see in America, and its cabin is cramped and dated. "The Ranger, being the newest truck here, somehow manages to feel the oldest and least refined," Walton said.

The second-place Honda Ridgeline is slavishly designed around the idea of the lifestyle truck, where it excels. But it's relatively (and surprisingly) capable, too. Its pickup box is exceptionally large for its size, and the dual-use tailgate is a much more elegant solution to the problem of unloading a pickup bed than the overly complicated multiposition tailgates on some full-size pickups. There's still room for improvement, though; we'd like to see a dedicated tow-haul mode and something done to improve ride quality when hauling.

Our unanimous winner for best midsize pickup truck is the Chevrolet Colorado. The Colorado so effortlessly walks the fine line between being a lifestyle pickup and a work truck. It has plenty of power for work or play, a buttoned-down ride that doesn't beat you up on your daily commute, a good back-seat package, and an incredibly functional bed. It's the uncompromised pickup—the one that drives like a compact but hauls like a heavy-duty. "It's like these guys are truck-building experts or something," Evans deadpanned. "Not hard to remember why this is a two-time Truck of the Year." No, it's not. As for how it measures up to the (Jeep) Gladiator in the arena? We're as eager as you are to find out.

Yup, that happened. Only a GM fanboy could think a Colorado is in any way superior to a Tacoma? Negative.