EMME HALL: Are you thinking about buying a midsize truck? Well, don't. I mean, not like ever, but you owe it to yourself to wait for just a few more months until the new big three are available. Yep, the Chevy Colorado, the Ford Ranger, and the Toyota Tacoma have all made their way into their next generation.
And trust me, if you buy now, you are going to shortchange yourself big time. Now, we've only gotten the chance to drive the Colorado. And you can check out that video right here. But we're dying to get into that Ranger and the Taco, but unfortunately, that's not going to happen for a few more months.
We do, however, have most of the numbers for y'all, so let's break it down. Now, we're going to keep the heavy off roaders from each brand off the table for now. But you can bet your sweet bippy that we're going to pit the Colorado ZR2, against the Ranger Raptor, against the Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter as soon as we can.
And to keep things tight, we're also going to omit the Nissan Frontier, the Jeep Gladiator, and the Honda Ridgeline from this video. I mean, none of them are new, and my short attention span just literally can't deal. But if the Frontier and the Gladiator are on your list, we've got videos here and here. And who knows? They just might appear in a future comparison test.
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All right, let's get to it. First up, we're talking powertrain options. Now, the big takeaway here, folks, is that the V6 is all but gone, daddy, gone. We're talking turbocharged four cylinders all day long, my friends. Now, the Tacoma uses two different tunes of a 2.4-liter turbo four.
In the base SR, that's going to produce 228 horsepower and 243 pound-feet of torque. But other trims get more power. I'm talking 278 ponies and 317 pound-feet of twist. Now, both of these are paired with an eight-speed automatic, which y'all, it can't possibly be any worse than the current generation six-speed slushbox, am I right?
But here is the cool part that I'm stoked on. You can get a six-speed manual transmission. I know. Now, it tunes the engine down just a bit to 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. But like, who cares? It's a six-speed manual.
Now Toyota is the only manufacturer that's adding a bit of electrification into the game, throwing its new hybrid i-Force max turbo four into the mix. This was going to be available on the TRD Sport, the TRD Off Road, and the limited trims and is standard on the TRD Pro.
Now, here you're going to get 326 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque. And I don't want to hear any complaints about a hybrid in a truck when the end result is more than 200 torques than last year's V6. Your argument is invalid. The only problem is, you're going to have to wait a little bit while for that hybrid. It's not going to be on sale right away.
Now, the Colorado and its GMC brother the Canyon are all new for 2023 as well. They're powered by a 2.7-liter turbo four that is dragged straight out of that full-sized Silverado. In WT and LT trims, it produces 237 horsepower and 259 pound-feet of torque, while the tune the company calls turbo plus, that's standard on the Z71 and Trail Boss, with 310 ponies and 390 pound-feet of torque.
Now, the turbo plus is available on the lower trims as well. And both put power to the ground with an eight-speed automatic. But here's the cool thing, y'all. These are both the same engine. So you can roll into your dealer and pay for a reflash and come out with the next level of power.
That's pretty cool. Meanwhile, Ford, yeah, they don't play the tuning game. It's offering a standard 2.3-liter EcoBoost-- that means turbocharged-- and Inline four-cylinder engine with 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. And we've always really liked this engine.
But now the blue oval will offer an available 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6. And that's straight out of the Ford F-150 with 315 ponies and 400 torques. That's right-- V6's aren't completely dead. Either way, these engines are mated to Ford's 10-speed automatic transmission. So it looks like Toyota offers the least amount of power in the bunch, but hot damn if that hybrid doesn't look like the full can of beans.
But a truck has got to do truck things. I'm talking about configuration, towing, and payload. You'll be able to get a Taco in a four-door double cab or a new two-door, two-seat extra cab with either 5 or 6 feet of bed space. Now, Toyota has not released full payload ratings for all models yet.
But it has let slip that the maximum payload will be 1,709 pounds, but that's only on the TRD Off Road with the hybrid power plant. Towing is up to 6,500 pounds. But again, that's limited only to trucks with the hybrid under the hood or the TRD PreRunner extra cab spec. And as you'll see, it's the lowest number of the bunch.
You'll only get a crew cab with a short 5-foot box with the Colorado. Max payload here is 1,684 with the WT or LT trims. But all trims short of the ZR2 can tow up to 7,700 pounds. Get it, Colorado. Like Chevrolet, Ford is only offering the Ranger in a four-door or trim with a 5-foot bed.
Maximum payload here is 1,805 pounds. And that is for all trims, although only in two-wheel drive. All Rangers can tow 7,500 pounds when properly equipped. Oh, and before I forget, we also have a first look of the Ranger right here. So check it out.
Now, inside, it is a whole new ballgame. I mean, at least for Chevrolet and Toyota. The previous Ranger was doing pretty well, but man, have the other two stepped up the game. Now, the Tacoma now gets an 8-inch screen standard or an available 14-inch screen that lifted right out of the Tundra.
Both support wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and you can even get a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster setup, a digital key, and a digital rearview mirror. Now this Toyota is looking pretty bus, am I right? You can check out more in our first look video right here.
Now, I know you probably don't want to, but we got to talk safety here. Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, that is standard across the board with useful features like full-speed adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, and a new proactive Driving Assist, which acts kind of like a helper when braking into curves, and it will aid in steering and braking so you keep the proper distance from others on the road.
You can get a 360-degree camera, and there's even a new emergency driving stop tech that will bring the vehicle to a stop if the driver becomes unresponsive. So feel free to have a heart attack, y'all. You'll be fine.
Now, for the life of me, I do not understand why the optional blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert aren't included as standard on the Tacoma. But here we are, I guess. Now Chevrolet is finally getting its thumb out of its butt when it comes to interior tech and design.
The Colorado comes with an 11.3-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and Google built in. So you'll get Google Play, Google Assistant, and Google Maps. Also standard is an 8-inch digital gauge cluster Chevy's safety assist is standard with all the usual features of, but it doesn't include adaptive cruise control.
You're also going to have to pay extra for blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic braking, and a 360-degree camera. And to that I say, boo. Now Ford gives us a 10.1-inch or a 12-inch center screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. You'll also get a standard 8-inch digital gauge cluster or an available 12.4 inch digital dash.
But the company's full co-pilot 360 suite of active safety features, those don't kick in until the mid XLT trim. But hey, that at least includes full speed adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitoring. But Ford has a one up on the competition with the active park assist 2.0, and that can help automate parking into both parallel and perpendicular spaces.
So we don't have fuel economy numbers for the Ranger or the Tacoma. So let's move on to the price. At least we've got a little bit more information on that front. I mean, kind of. Like, no news for the Tacoma as of just yet, except that it's going to go on sale later this year with the i-Force Max Hybrid models arriving in early 2024.
However, looking at the current Tacoma, it starts at just shy of $30,000. It goes all the way up to $50,000 or so, including Destination but before options. I'd wager that Toyota will want to keep that base model around $30,000, but it will likely hike the price of a loaded TRD Pro well into the mid 50s. I know.
Now, the Colorado is available now. And we've got pricing. The WT starts just shy of $31,000 for a two-wheel drive version. But you can spend just over $41,000 before options for the Z71 trim in four-wheel drive. Both of those numbers include Destination.
The Ranger comes to the market this summer, unless you want the 2.7 liter V6. For that, you're going to have to wait until late fall. But Ford has not said how much the top Lariat trim will cost. Well, OK, never mind on that last bit because Ford just dropped a whole boatload of prices right in my lap just as I finished recording this.
A Lariat SuperCrew will run you just over $45,000 delivered. That makes the high-volume XLT seem like a bargain at $37,000. Oh, and I promised I wouldn't talk too much about the Ranger Raptor in this vid, but it's just so cool, I figured you should know that it starts at about $57,000.
So I have this theory that midsize trucks have always kind of been the Jan Brady of the truck world, with manufacturers paying much more attention to the full-size Marcias thanks to their greater profitability. But you know what? Jan trucks can be great trucks.
And this current crop just proves my point. We can't wait to get our mitts on these three and put them to the test. I'd love to see that V6 from Ford against Toyota's hybrid. And I really, really want to see what that $40,000 Z71 is like. Remember, folks, it's not just Marcia, Marcia, Marcia anymore. Now it's time for some Jan.