New Tacoma vs Colorado vs Ranger

[ChasingOurTrunks]

If I have to be in an accident on the street or highway, I'd rather be in my F 150!

Another issue is towing, a 24' pontoon boat or a 14' V nose toy hauler.

Narrow trails is why we have the Jeep. Speed is from the bike/trike.

There are a few advantages to smaller, but not often.

I’d rather not be in an accident at all but yeah, I can see there being advantages to being in a bigger truck. But, again, nothing the 150-series would do that the 250-350 wouldn’t be better at for a roughly similar physical Footprint. Same with the towing - though as I said, my little truck tows the loads I need just fine, if I needed to tow more it would make sense to go for a 250 or 350 and have some real options.

We like to do long distance touring and then not have to forgo the trail at the end; the mid-size does that well. We can spend all day - or multiple days - comfortably at highway speeds, but if we see a goat trail that looks interesting we don’t have to skip it and say “I wish we had brought our Jeep instead/as well”.

When I ran my GM's in AutoTrac in winter, it would just engage the front diff when it detected slippage at the rear wheels. Really didn't impact economy too much as I would have been switching into 4WD anyway.

Personally, I would take the 1-2 MPG hit to have instant extra traction vs me realizing I need to engage the 4WD, the time it takes for me to put it in 4WD and then the time it takes for the vehicle to engage 4WD...

AutoTrac would engage the front diff in milliseconds. (Not sure if the Ram and Ford systems work the same.)

I’ve not used the auto function in mine much but I’m told it really works well. I think there’s some kind of a clutch pack that will wear eventually if you keep it in auto all the time but I’ve yet to meet a real person who has actually worn one out, so it strikes me as not a big deal. I agree that it’s nice to have in those mixed conditions and a lot faster than switching manually, though I find most of the time in conditions I would reach for “auto” I end up just being in 4x4 instead. I will have to play around with this a bit more this fall to see how I like it in the mixed sleet/ice/dry conditions we seem to get out here.

 

[Todd780]

I’d rather not be in an accident at all but yeah, I can see there being advantages to being in a bigger truck. But, again, nothing the 150-series would do that the 250-350 wouldn’t be better at for a roughly similar physical Footprint. for a 250 or 350 and have some real options.


I’ve not used the auto function in mine much but I’m told it really works well. I think there’s some kind of a clutch pack that will wear eventually if you keep it in auto all the time but I’ve yet to meet a real person who has actually worn one out, so it strikes me as not a big deal. I agree that it’s nice to have in those mixed conditions and a lot faster than switching manually, though I find most of the time in conditions I would reach for “auto” I end up just being in 4x4 instead. I will have to play around with this a bit more this fall to see how I like it in the mixed sleet/ice/dry conditions we seem to get out here.

F150 gets better fuel economy while unloaded. There is that.
As my truck is unloaded 90% of the time that it's in use, that played a role in not going the 250 /2500 route.

Once the snow flew, I just left my GM's in AutoTrac till spring.

Did that with the following vehicles:
'99 Tahoe
'00 Suburban
'08 Sierra
'09 Suburban

Never ran into any issues.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My wife's old edge had a on demand AWD clutch thing. It had 270k on it when we sold it and we never touched anything with the AWD.

It was used quite a bit. I would guess ut was dragged out of the snow more than most edges... Needed more ground clearance.

 

[Todd780]

My wife's old edge had a on demand AWD clutch thing. It had 270k on it when we sold it and we never touched anything with the AWD.

It was used quite a bit. I would guess ut was dragged out of the snow more than most edges... Needed more ground clearance.

Like Overland style more ground clearance?




or full on Moster Edge?



Or maybe Lifted Donk Edge?

 

[Ozarker]

@ChasingOurTrunks agreed, I took the 150 for better MPG and lower price, like Todd, I rarely have my tuck "loaded", unless I am, then I switch on "Auto Home", which isn't on heavier trucks. I've had autonomous driving features on all my vehicles since '99.

AWD? Gosh, I kinda miss my old AWD Astro van!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Like Overland style more ground clearance?

View attachment 781623
View attachment 781624

or full on Moster Edge?

View attachment 781625

Or maybe Lifted Donk Edge?

View attachment 781626

Ours was the bone stock "I am stuck at the end of our road again, you may need the tractor this time" flavor.

So we got a Bronco and it has barely snowed since.

 

[Highlander]

This was the best fulltime 4WD system.
There was absolutely no need for inventing anything beyond this. And whoever attempted it has failed.

 

[jaywo]

My bronco has 4Auto and it works wonders in snow. Don’t have to switch ten times between 2wd and 4wd when going skiing and moving on smaller and larger roads which some of them are plowed some not.

Both the ZR2 and Raptor have 4A. Toyota does not, and that’s a big minus.

 

[Highlander]

@jaywo

You seem to be happy with your Bronco. As many people are.
May ask you if you have a 2 door or 4 door version? And what Trim?
My wife wants it, but I tend to believe a Truck or Van is better for what I do.

 

[rruff]

This guy says the Trailhunter will have 1700 lb payload.

 

[Todd780]

My bronco has 4Auto and it works wonders in snow. Don’t have to switch ten times between 2wd and 4wd when going skiing and moving on smaller and larger roads which some of them are plowed some not.

Both the ZR2 and Raptor have 4A. Toyota does not, and that’s a big minus.

Exactly. That's the selling feature. Don't understand why 302A F150's don't have it when mid level Ram's and GM's do.

If Ram had the Hurricane Inline twin turbo 6 out when I was in the market, I very much could have ended up in a Ram instead of an F150. To be honest I actually prefer the styling (inside and out) of the Ram over the F150. I also prefer the Ram folding tow mirrors over the elephant ears that are permanently attached to my truck...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

@jaywo

You seem to be happy with your Bronco. As many people are.
May ask you if you have a 2 door or 4 door version? And what Trim?
My wife wants it, but I tend to believe a Truck or Van is better for what I do.

It varies so much depending on what you are doing.

My wife has a 4dr black diamond and loves it. It does run out of room fast without a support vehicle. We have a kid so the back seat has to stay up. And said kid is small so up until recently we had the pack and play, diaper bag etc too.

My baby is a old longbed ranger. 7' bed with a topper is downright cavernous. Might as well throw the stroller in so we don't have to carry the stinker, we gots the room anyway. Can have an open bed, topper or slide in camper depending on what we are doing But it is a two seater... we have three butts. It worked great for years on its own until that insurmountable wall happened.

So now for our offroad trips we take both if we can. Easier than pulling a trailer, probably not much more gas to feed the Ranger on its than to pull a trailer anyway. The cockpit of the Ranger feels much more open too which I kinda prefer so it doesn't hurt my feelings.

My DD is a F-150. Nice, quiet, will haul/tow the other two under the table in utter silence. Seats 6 and I can carry on a conversation with our 3yo in the back seat at 75mph. There is enough room there is no seat kicking. On the highway it would get low 20's on E10, E85 it has been getting 17-19mpg which I am not going to complain about. Crew cab 6.5' bed... it would be like an oil tanker on a trail. But I can put my camper in it too if I wanted and ever got around to making the tie down brackets.

She wants to go to the Bronco off roadeo thing in Texas this year, I have been lobbying to take the F-150...

 

[jaywo]

@jaywo

You seem to be happy with your Bronco. As many people are.
May ask you if you have a 2 door or 4 door version? And what Trim?
My wife wants it, but I tend to believe a Truck or Van is better for what I do.

I have a 4D Badlands with Sasquatch and Lux package and hardtop. 16K miles already including a ton of road trips and offroad. I would not change a thing with the options. Using the Lux features everyday, and Sasquatch is an absolute no brainer to get 35s, proper gearing, strong axle etc.
The 2.7 is super smooth and a joy to use both on and off road. The seats are incredibly comfortable.

Super happy with the Bronco overall. It works perfect for overlanding for a couple, using a RTT, a cargo shelf, a goosegear kitchen setup and fridge skide. If you camp with kids though and want to have the full setup (RTT, Kitchen, fridge slide) you will want a trailer or go with a truck + light camper which is what I am going to do eventually. If no kids I would keep the Bronco.

It really is an amazing vehicle except for these:
- wind noise
- plastic hard top. I would have preferred a regular top like on a 4runner which would also solve wind noise.

This guy says the Trailhunter will have 1700 lb payload.

He is mostlikely wrong. Toyota said the Hybrid gets 1700, but that’s going to be the most basic possible hybrid, not the fully loaded trailhunter.

 

[Grassland]

Sat in a Colorado trail boss earlier this week. Ok interior. Blows my mind skid plates aren't standard on a trail boss.
Back seat was ok with my driving position. But I'm short.
Didn't care for how little room there was with back seats folded up, as the tray/divider is large and most of it is taken up with the jack and iron.

What I did like is the $53k CAD sticker (the way I'd build one is more like 51k) and no dealer mark ups.
A Silverado custom 4x4 double cab is over $61k...

I'm trying to decide if the bed space and space overall is the better choice over having low range 4x4.

Guess we will see what the Taco is priced at and availability at the end of the year, and see if halfers ever come down in price.

Frontier PRO 4X is 53K, don't think it really competes favorably off road wise with the trail boss, or TRD off road.

 

[Mad German]

Tacoma-
1. No front locker: fail
2. Making the TRD Pro 3" wider via wheel offset, and NOT wider axles and longer LCAs & UCAs: fail
3. Inability to lock the rear in 2HI & 4HI: fail