With the arrival of the new 2019 Ford Ranger, the mid-size pickup is back in a big way in North America. There’s now no shortage of choice in the segment thanks to the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma and Honda Ridgeline, so each automaker’s respective offering had better be good if it wishes to be competitive in such a saturated marketplace.
Edmunds recently pitted three of the major players in this segment against each other: the Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road, Chevrolet Colorado Z71 and Ford Ranger FX4. Each of these trim levels is fairly similar, representing the more affordable off-road variant of each truck, so the car buying publication set out to see which of them offers the best balance between on-road comfort and off-road capability before deciding on a winner.
Via Edmunds on YouTube
Despite the Ranger being the most up-to-date truck (at least for our market, anyway), Edmunds was unimpressed with aspects of its interior layout and functionality and was underwhelmed by its off-road performance and on-road comfort. The Tacoma received deserved criticism for its lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and also its aging powertrain, which lacks refinement and torque, and slow steering. The reviewers like the Tacoma’s interior, however, which is tough-looking and practical.
The Colorado, meanwhile, was described as having an interior that is a “mixed bag” with functionality but otherwise impressed in on-road and off-road testing. The reviewers were impressed with its overall comfort as well.
The Honda Ridgeline, if you’re wondering, was excluded from this test due to its lack of off-road capability. The Jeep Gladiator is also not yet available for comparison tests like these, to our knowledge, and thus can’t be compared against these trucks. The Gladiator is expected to start in the low $30,000 range for the base model, so it won’t be priced much differently than these trucks when it goes on sale later this year.
Check out the full review embedded above to see which of these new mid-sized trucks is crowned the segment king.
Comments
The Colorado remains the best truck in the segment. It’s not always best at everything (towing, MPG, interior, ride comfort, etc) but it is consistently 80%.
I hope the third gen Colorado gets the 2.7T from the Silverado. And the duramax gets an update and 8spd. And a base engine with 250hp would be nice. Hopefully with it moving to the T1 platform it loses a couple hundred pounds and we get a High Country trim to counter the Canyon Denali.
I wonder if the Canyon will get an AT4 trim for 2020
It already got the AT4 treatment, it’s like the Trailboss version of a GMC Canyon. Remember the Trailboss on the Colorado before the ZR2? It isn’t a ZR2 performer but it is a good off-road truck. I rather have that then the ZR2, although I love it I rather have a more functional truck more than an off-road based truck.
Unless I’m mistaken all the Canyon has is the All Terrain package which is comparable to Z71. It’s not AT4 caliber. GMC is rolling out the AT4 model throughout its lineup, it’s a matter of time until the Canyon gets it. Question is when and how function vs fashion will it be
Hopefully Canyon AT4 includes
Automatic 2 spd transfer case
G80 diff
2” lift
31” Duratracs or similar
Rancho 7000s
Wheel to wheel nerf bars
ZR2 hood
Skid plates
I have the Canyon and could not be happier.
I am just shocked on how Ford did not take advantage of the fact they were the latest on the market.
The FX 4 package appears to be a problem. The standard suspension has gotten as much criticism.
I just hope GM continues to refine these truck more than some trim packages and colors. They can dominate this class if they really want to.
This is the second review with similar results. Just this one they eliminated the Ridgeline since it was not able to do some real truck things.
The Ranger is a major disappointment. It seems like Ford put zero effort into the truck. They definitely decided to bring it to the US as a fleet product first and retail product 2nd.
It’s also tiring to continue to hear these car journalists bring up the mythical reliability of the Tacoma. The 3rd gen has many quality issues that Toyota refuses to address and the truck has consistently ranked last among midsize trucks in CR’s annual reliability survey. Not to mention it’s famous rust rot frames.
And Edmunds liked the interior! The inside of the Tacoma is my least favorite of all of these trucks. It doesn’t even have a power seat and the actual seating position sucks. Also lots of cheap feeling bits inside and a very dull look.
AMEN! I’m a long time Toyota owner (289K on my Sequoia, for instance), and I sell trucks at a GMC dealer. Toyota makes a great powertrain, but they are boring as can be from day 1, and the paint and seatbelt tensioners and door latches and air conditioners and just about everything else outside of the power train fails rather predictably.
So the Nissan Frontier is just ignored? You can find YouTube videos showing the Frontier beating Honda and Tacoma in road + off-road comparisons. And you can get a 6-cylinder for around $26,000. Try that with the other brands. JD Power just named Frontier the most reliable midsize pu. Don’t you people read the news?
Take it up with Edmunds. They made the video, not GMA.
If this was 15 years ago the Frontier would be cutting edge
The Frontier is also #1 in the segment for fastest depreciation… 🙁
I like the Frontier. I worked at a Nissan store for a while. They’re good, not amazing. But I wish every manufacturer would adopt Nissan’s bed tie down track system (I forget what they call it). I work at a GMC store and it’s heartbreaking to tell customers how much their trade is worth when they bring in a Frontier of any age. Nissan sells so many vehicles they hurt their own market on resale, and the boring factor plays in as well. And Nissan Financial is great about rolling negative equity into their loans. When someone asks us to do that for them we actually communicate it to the finance guys as needing “a Nissan deal”. So we see a lot of people who are even worse off than just the Nissan depreciation.
I have a Frontier on the lot right now. Fantastic condition and competitively priced. No one inquires about it. And when someone comes in for a truck we don’t have, like a used Canyon or Colorado or Tacoma, I can’t get them interested in the Frontier. Even when I point out that someone else already took care of the bulk of the depreciation problem for them… 🙁
GM is in the drivers seat in this segment. They need to keep up with continual improvements and great engineering to stay out front.
Agreed 100%! But GM have a terrible tendency to let the bean counters run amok on class leading products. Either allowing the current top vehicle wither on the vine too long, or its successor being merely competitive with rival products.
Now if they could figure out how to shave a couple hundred pounds out of the Colorado/Canyon and extract a little more MPG. The interior is also due for a revamp and upgrade.