{"id":9601,"date":"2024-10-28T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fashionista.dev\/?p=9601"},"modified":"2024-10-29T22:59:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T22:59:28","slug":"bison-vs-raptor-vs-trailhunter-the-ultimate-off-road-truck-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fashionista.dev\/index.php\/2024\/10\/28\/bison-vs-raptor-vs-trailhunter-the-ultimate-off-road-truck-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Bison Vs Raptor Vs Trailhunter: The Ultimate Off-Road Truck Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The American West can credibly stake its claim as the most beautiful part of the country. At least most of the year. But for a few short weeks each fall, the Northeast is spectacular, an overhead explosion of red, orange, and yellow attracts the masses to the Adirondacks, Appalachian, Poconos, and these mountains, the Catskills. Long a refuge for weary New Yorkers who need a bit of maple and birch in their life, it\u2019s also the perfect place and time to test the year\u2019s greatest off-road pickups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Tacoma has a handy panel in the center console with buttons and toggles for 2-Hi, 4-Hi, and 4-Lo, plus all of Toyota\u2019s excellent off-road systems. Multi-Terrain Select (MTS) optimizes traction for various surfaces, and Crawl Control\u2014a low-speed, off-road cruise control. On paper, we thought the Toyota\u2019s lack of a locking front differential would be an issue, but its clever software does such a good job of managing traction that we didn\u2019t miss it. Sure, we had to use the rear locker from time to time, but the Trailhunter\u2019s front sway bar disconnect helps improve articulation massively.<\/p>\n
“The Colorado uses its muscle, its hardware, but the Toyota has all the tech to make it seem just as capable,” says Head Of Video Mike Roselli.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of the three, it\u2019s by far the easiest to get in and wheel. You can tell Toyota is going for something a little different here, prioritizing off-road comfort and stability over eking out the last little bits of capability.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n \n \n \nAndrew Link | Motor1<\/p>\n
“To me, the Tacoma is for the person who wants to get to the trailhead, the person who wants to get to the off-the-grid campsite, or the really remote mountain biking trail. You\u2019re off roading to somewhere with this,” says Kay. “Where the Colorado is for the person for whom off-roading is the activity in and of itself.”<\/p>\n
This is also the only hybrid here, and Toyota\u2019s done an excellent job of integrating its turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder with an electric motor for near-instant torque all the time. The ZR2 is plenty torquey, with 410 pound-feet on tap, but the Trailhunter\u2019s 465 pound-feet is available from an incredibly low 1,700 rpm. Toyota also has better cameras, which are easier to see on the Tacoma\u2019s 14.0-inch center display, but the ZR2 might have the best camera view on any off-roader yet. There are front and rear cameras with their own built-in washer on the center differential, allowing an informative view of what\u2019s going on underneath the truck, not around it. Everyone else needs to have this, like yesterday.<\/p>\n
The Tacoma is really easy to drive off road.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I almost feel a little bad for the Ford in this particular test. Over Pucker Ridge, we needed to use both front and rear differential locks to get it over the obstacles, and later, it was the only truck we (I<\/em>) got stuck. Admittedly, it was a very challenging bit. There\u2019s a big mud splash, which we all hit at a decent speed for maximum drama, and then a steep uphill after the fact. You need to take a wide line up a right-hand bend with some speed to make it up the hill. I was up last, which meant that the hill was very slick. I took too tight a line up the hill and packed the tires with mud.<\/p>\n
The only thing that does the trick is airing down the tires, and once we do, I get positioned and make it up the hill. It wasn\u2019t too tough. Our instructor at NORA says it\u2019s about half my fault, half the truck\u2019s fault.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I think that the Ford was the hardest to drive,” says Roselli. “It was very skittish and it wasn\u2019t intuitive.”<\/p>\n
\nAndrew Link | Motor1<\/p>\n
This thing does trail work well enough\u2014it\u2019s got the right approach and departure angles, good 33-inch tires, and a suite of off-roading traction systems plus locking diffs, but we had to use those diffs a lot. And eventually, we had to air down to get up a particularly muddy hill. Unlike the other two, the Raptor lacks real rock rails, too. Instead, you get some pretty tough metal sideboards, but these will scuff and scrape against rocks often. The user experience is the worst here too, with lots of controls relegated to the touch screen, including the two differential locks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, there\u2019s a lot to like. The throttle mapping is excellent, and it\u2019s easy to drive this truck precisely at low speeds. Plus, the low-speed off-road cruise control system works very well and operates at higher speeds than Toyota\u2019s Crawl Control. We liked the V-6, too, which sounds a hell of a lot nicer than its competitors\u2019 four-cylinders, but the transmission came in for mixed reviews.<\/p>\n
The Ford was the hardest to drive. It was very skittish and it wasn’t intuitive.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Ranger has 10 speeds to the Chevy and Toyota\u2019s eight. Super short gearing plus low range means you can do steep descents in 2nd or even 3rd without touching the brake pedal. But, the 1-2 upshift is almost always abrupt in the Ford, while it\u2019s very well smoothed over in the others. Better to use manual mode.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Ford\u2019s defense, the Ranger Raptor is not a rock crawler. But you also can\u2019t help but wonder why Ford hasn\u2019t done something similar to Chevy and Toyota, partnering with an upfitter for some steel bumpers, underbody armor, and other goodies. It can\u2019t be too expensive to develop, and like Chevy and Toyota, Ford could charge well over $60,000 for the truck. The Raptor would provide a great platform to build upon to reach even more off-roaders, many of whom don\u2019t live within reasonable driving distance of a desert.<\/p>\n
As much as the Catskills are an outdoor-activity paradise, it\u2019s actually sports-car country too. You\u2019ll find some of New York state\u2019s better twisty roads up here, winding along rivers and up the mountains, so handling matters. Here, the Raptor quickly starts to earn back points, with its fun, sport-truck vibe.<\/p>\n
\n \n \n \nAndrew Link | Motor1<\/p>\n
You get the typical soft ride we\u2019ve come to love in other Raptors, plus some neat toys like paddle shifters, and adjustable steering, exhaust, and Fox Live Valve dampers. It\u2019s actually quite a lot of fun to hustle this thing up a mountain road, and it\u2019s surprisingly quick, too. I could see people buying it for this reason alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is also the most subtle Raptor yet, and while most Raptor buyers might want more bombast, I think it has a lot of appeal as is. Other than the 33s, the letters “FORD” replacing the blue oval on the grille, and a couple of decals, it doesn\u2019t look all that crazy. If you want the capability, but not the attention, finally, there\u2019s a Raptor for you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Out on the trails, it doesn\u2019t take long to realize the ZR2 Bison is easily the most capable.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Raptor\u2019s lower hood means it has the best visibility of the trio, and everyone loved its cushy, yet well-bolstered seats and big metal shift paddles. Still, it feels the cheapest of the three on the inside, and the noisiest, with the most tire roar and exhaust drone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Toyota’s interior is hard to fault in terms of quality or ease of use, though Roselli did chafe at its busy design, and noted that it has by far the smallest back seat of the three. You\u2019ll struggle to get a child seat back there.<\/p>\n
It also has the firmest ride on the road of the three, but I think that\u2019s because Toyota is aiming this at overlanders who are going to load up the bed with hundreds of pounds of gear. Unladen, though, it\u2019s pretty stiff, but like all the new Tacoma models, it handles surprisingly well. It has the lightest, quickest steering, which helps make it feel a bit more car-like, and the powertrain is the best here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nAndrew Link | Motor1<\/p>\n
There\u2019s just so much torque available instantaneously, you hardly stress the engine. On a two-mile run up a hill on a 55-mph road, I never revved the Toyota beyond 2,000 rpm. Plus, you get goofy turbo wooshes and blow-off valve chirps from the snorkel, which are comically loud with the window down. The center screen is maybe a bit too big, dominating the dashboard, but the infotainment system is brilliantly simple. The only tricky thing here is configuring the digital gauge cluster, which takes a few minutes of futzing around to figure out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“If you need to fit a baby seat back there, that might be a dealbreaker,” says Kay of the Toyota, “but it also has all these small livability wins. The interior other than that back seat is great.”<\/p>\n
While we all felt the Chevy was a little too reliant on its touchscreen, overall, it has a great interior. It feels just as high-quality as the Toyota\u2019s, and it too has an easily operable infotainment system, complete with Google Maps and Waze built right in. (And GM products still have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.) Visibility is tough, though, as the hood is tall and the 35-inch spare blocks almost the entire rear window. Infuriatingly, GM offers a wonderful rear-view camera system on other cars, but not this, the one that needs it most.<\/p>\n
\n \n \n \nAndrew Link | Motor1<\/p>\n
In a vacuum, the 2.7-liter four-cylinder and eight-speed automatic are good, but up against the Toyota and Ford, it lacks oomph and responsiveness. Yet, that\u2019s the only problem with the way the Bison drives. Despite big, heavy 35s, the Bison has freakishly good ride and handling. Thank that fancy Multimatic suspension, which makes this pickup feel like\u2026 not a pickup.<\/p>\n
The suspension has always been the party piece of the ZR2. Multimatic usually supplies these dampers to high-end performance and race cars, and they work genuine magic here. If this only had the powertrain responses of the Raptor or Trailhunter, we could say definitively that this is the best on the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Chevy is shockingly quiet, too, with way less wind and tire noise than you\u2019d expect. But, it lacks the advanced driver-assist features of the Toyota and Ford, both of which augment adaptive cruise control with steering assistance on the highway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though this is an off-road test, it still\u00a0really<\/em> matters how these trucks perform on road. That\u2019s where they\u2019ll spend most time, and for many buyers, these will be daily drivers. Practicality and livability are a big deal, and there\u2019s no clear winner on the road. The Ranger has a sense of fun on pavement that the other two lack, plus a generally practical interior and a nice bed; The Toyota is probably the most practical overall, and it has the best powertrain for driving on road, yet the tiny rear seats are a huge drawback; The Chevy has the best ride and handling by far, and a nice interior, though you can\u2019t ignore the huge spare tire in the bed, nor the comparative lack of grunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“There\u2019s always little things that\u2019ll piss somebody off about each one of these,” Associate Editor Anthony Alaniz says, neatly summing things up.<\/p>\n
Off-road it\u2019s easier to separate the three. At Hunter Mountain, there wasn’t a ton more to learn compared with the previous day on NORA\u2019s trails\u2014other than the fact that they all do good mud splashes\u2014but the place did provide us an opportunity to reflect on the trio. (And, take more pretty pictures.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sheer brawn of the ZR2 Bison is hard not to love. It\u2019s probably the most enthusiast-aimed off-roader here with the best hardware and a good traction-control system to make the most of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nAndrew Link | Motor1<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a ton to like about the Toyota, too, and it feels precisely targeted at a specific buyer. This is the truck for the couple who loves to get out in nature, and simply wants the best tool for the job. It\u2019s sort of what the Tacoma long has been, just with the capability ramped way up and a superb hybrid powertrain.<\/p>\n
And even though the Ford was outmatched here in many ways, it\u2019s still a deeply charming vehicle. It exists somewhere on the spectrum between the original F-150 Lightning and the other Raptors. And in terms of sheer practicality, it\u2019s probably the best of this bunch, though Roselli prefers the extra lights, cubbies, and cameras in the Tacoma\u2019s bed.<\/p>\n
Each has its own use case, and each will appeal to different sorts of buyers. So, it\u2019s futile to declare an overall winner. Myself and Roselli love the ZR2 for its absolute capability off and on road. Kay and Alaniz love the Toyota for its ease of use, and because it\u2019s the truck best suited for facilitating outdoor adventures. And I still like the Ford as a street truck that can still handle itself off-road.<\/p>\n
Even though they\u2019re all around the same size, and cost within $5,000 of each other, these are remarkably different vehicles. If you\u2019re in the market, you\u2019ll have to weigh what\u2019s important to you, and how you\u2019ll use the rig.<\/p>\n
\nAndrew Link | Motor1<\/p>\n
Admittedly, we could\u2019ve done all of this with “lesser” versions of these trucks\u2014a Tacoma TRD Off-Road, a Ranger Tremor, and a Colorado Trail Boss. But how could you not want one of these? There\u2019s an undeniable cool about all of them\u2014Roselli, the most avid off-roader and gear enthusiast of the group, has a shit-eating grin for the entire two days. These appeal to our innate desire to want the very best, even if its capabilities far exceed our own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where once this segment was nonexistent, now, mid-size off-road pickup buyers are spoiled for choice. And that\u2019s a very good thing.<\/p>\n