Truck Sizing Explained

Edmunds classifies pickup trucks into four main categories: small, midsize, large and heavy-duty. By understanding your specific needs, you can prevent overpaying for capabilities you won't use, ensuring you get a truck that perfectly matches your lifestyle and workload.

Small trucks

If your towing and hauling needs are minimal to modest, or you're on a strict budget, a small pickup might be ideal for you. This is a new class of truck, although reminiscent of a design last seen during the 1980s. (Search "Subaru BRAT" or "Dodge Rampage" for a sampling.) Today, you'll find only two models to choose from — the Ford Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz — both characterized by four doors, a small cabin and a short bed.

The Maverick and the Santa Cruz are smaller than midsize trucks, such as the Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma, and less capable at towing, hauling and off-roading. The Santa Cruz is a bit more refined and car-like. It is more suited to active lifestyles, while the Maverick looks and feels more like a micro-truck. Both still offer useful utility, with 4.5-foot beds and up to 4,000 pounds of towing capacity. They're also easy to park and easy on gas thanks to their efficient four-cylinder engines. The Maverick is even available with a hybrid engine.

Midsize trucks

Midsize trucks are bigger and more capable than small trucks, with a higher capacity for towing and hauling. A midsize truck typically costs less than a full-size truck, although prices for a midlevel trim model can often match the base price of a full-size truck. It really comes down to how much capability you need. Many buyers prefer a midsize truck for the smaller footprint and ease of maneuvering and parking. If you're looking for a Goldilocks kind of truck, it could well be a midsizer.

The good news is that there are several choices. The Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon models (both nearly mechanically identical) combine workhorse utility with modern cabin and safety tech, improved fuel efficiency and more towing power. The Toyota Tacoma, meanwhile, is an impressive overhaul of what many consider the benchmark of midsize trucks. Changes include updated tech, a more comfortable interior, innovative off-road features and a hybrid engine.

The midsize Nissan Frontier was redesigned in 2022 and is offered with rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, two cab sizes, and two bed lengths. It is similarly capable of towing and hauling as its counterparts and is generally more affordable than its rivals.

Not to be outdone, the Ford Ranger was redesigned in 2024, giving it an all-new design inside and out. The Ranger is only offered with a single cab-and-bed combination, but it has widened its bed, so there is more space (enough to accommodate a sheet of plywood laid flat). Plus, it offers a maximum trailer capacity of 7,500 pounds.

If you're seeking a well-rounded truck that drives with the ease of a car, you might like the Honda Ridgeline. Based on an SUV-style body, the Ridgeline can't tow or haul as much as other midsize trucks. But it compensates with a comfortable ride, effortless steering, clever storage features, and a useful 5.3-foot bed.

With all of the changes, upgrades and improvements in this segment, there's never been a better time to shop for a midsize truck.

Full-size trucks

Full-size trucks split into two camps: light-duty and heavy-duty.

A light-duty truck has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 8,500 pounds or less. It's designed to handle lighter loads and towing needs than a heavier-duty truck. Light-duty trucks are often used for personal transportation, hauling supplies, or light commercial tasks.

Among light-duty trucks, the Ram 1500 is a standout. It offers the smoothest ride in the class and expertly mixes rugged capability with an upscale interior. Ram also offers the TRX, a supercharged off-road performance truck.

Another top pick is the Ford F-150, which can be configured as a basic work truck, a luxurious toy hauler, an extreme off-road machine, or almost anything in between. It offers a half-dozen engine choices, including a hybrid V6, and the most towing and hauling capacity of today's light-duty pickups. The F-150's sheer versatility makes it one of our favorites.

The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 holds its own with a wide mix of engines and configurations, and the mechanically related GMC Sierra 1500 Denali sets the standard for pickup truck luxury with its chrome-encrusted exterior and opulent cabin.

Meanwhile, the Toyota Tundra is a legitimate alternative to the American truck brands. Redesigned in 2022, the Tundra's rugged style features a turbo V6 engine with more power and better fuel economy than the former V8, as well as updated comfort and tech.

Heavy-duty trucks

Heavy-duty models are more specialized workhorses and are required when you expect to tow and haul heavy loads. If your neighbor builds houses or tows a massive travel trailer, they probably have a heavy-duty truck in the driveway.

If you need to haul earth, rock or building materials, or tow a horse trailer, a fifth-wheel camper or even another truck, you'll need a heavy-duty pickup. The maximum capabilities of heavy-dutys are pretty evenly matched, and the differences between models are not as significant as those between midsize and light-duty full-size pickups. The main factors typically involve engine type (gas or diesel), towing receiver (gooseneck or tongue hitch), bed length, wheel size and axle ratios, among other details.

When picking from the current crop of heavy-duty trucks, which include the Chevrolet Silverado HD, GMC Sierra HD, Ford Super Duty and Ram Heavy Duty lineups, it's best to look for the features and technology that help you get the job done rather than the official maximum towing and payload ratings. Preferred styling and interior comfort play a role here too.

A used 2024 Nissan Titan XD is an alternative for some buyers. Discontinued after the 2024 model year, the Titan XD sits between light- and heavy-duty capabilities, offering the comfortable ride and road manners of the former with the extra muscle of the latter. The XD hadn't been updated for several years, however, and most light-duty trucks now eclipse its tow ratings. But it doesn't cost quite as much as other heavy-duty trucks, so it could be an option if your trailering needs aren't extreme.

Electric trucks

Love it or loathe it, the EV truck revolution is here, and electric motors make mountains of torque, and torque is the currency of modern-day trucks. EVs, including the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Rivian R1T and the GMC Hummer EV, can also deliver most of that torque instantly, unlike even the stoutest gas or diesel engines, whose grunt is mediated by transmissions, driveshafts, axles and often turbochargers.

Like the gas-powered F-150, the Lightning is built on a robust truck frame and is capable of full-size truck tasks. Towing capacity is limited to a still useful 10,000 pounds, and range is estimated at 320 miles on a full battery charge (although we've achieved up to 345 miles in the Edmunds EV Range Test). The Lightning also has enough capacity to run power tools and electronic devices and even send current to power your home.

The GMC Hummer EV is likewise built on a tough truck frame, but it takes luxury, off-road capability, and pricing to extremes. It offers 329 miles of range, all manner of off-road tech tricks, and a nifty CrabWalk feature, which points the front and rear wheels in the same direction for sideways and diagonal movements. The Hummer EV is also exceedingly heavy, tows just 7,500 pounds, and costs six figures. Though it's impractical for most buyers, the Hummer EV offers glimpses of innovations we can expect to see in future GMC and Chevy EVs.

The Rivian R1T blends performance, comfort, utility and capability into an intoxicating adventure mobile. It accelerates like an elite sports car, can tow up to 11,000 pounds, and will do about 315 miles on a full charge with its Large battery pack. Sized between a midsize and full-size truck, the R1T has some clever storage solutions, including a front trunk (the F-150 has one, too) that complements the short 4.5-foot cargo bed.

The Chevrolet Silverado EV impresses with its long range and versatile cargo-carrying design. And when it comes to truck stuff, the Silverado EV shines. The bed is already on the long side compared to its peers, and when you use the midgate, you can haul items nearly 11 feet long in the bed. No other electric truck besides the Sierra EV and Hummer EV can match it.

Finally, the Tesla Cybertruck, which went on sale in 2024, boasts impressive towing and payload capacities, a solid driving range, and breakneck acceleration. Its polarizing design is one of its standout qualities. Design aside, most drivers will appreciate the Cybertruck's comfortable ride and the fact that it drives much like any other Tesla.

Ready to find the ideal truck for your needs? Explore our comprehensive gas and EV truck guides and drive away with confidence.

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