Best Trucks of 2012: Page 2
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Worthwhile alternatives to our Best Trucks of 2012 abound – particularly if you’re looking for the top choice in a specific category. None of the following will disappoint.
The Best Small Truck of 2012 is the Toyota Tacoma. This is America’s No.1-selling compact pickup by a wide margin on the strength of its handsome styling, rugged construction, and off-road capability. A new grille, revised dashboard and available Bluetooth and USB connectivity highlight model-year 2012 changes. Tacoma offers two cargo-bed lengths and along with the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon is the only compact pickup with three cab styles. Two engines are available. The 2.7-liter four-cylinder has a respectable 159 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque but with 236 horsepower and 266 pound-feet, the 4.0-liter V-6 is best for all-around performance. With the four-cylinder, tuel-economy ratings top out at 21/25 mpg city/highway 22 mpg combined with 2wd and 19/24/21 with 4wd; with the V-6 they’re 17/21/19 with 2wd and 16/21/18 with 4wd. Tacoma has been around in this basic form since model-year 2005 but continues to command top dollar. Resale value is strong and dependability ratings are tops in the class. Base price range: $17,685-$28,645.
The Best Midsize Truck of 2012 is the Honda Ridgeline. Engineering acumen trumps brute force in this pickup. Eschewing traditional body-on-frame, beam-rear-axle design, Ridgeline is the only pickup with car-like unibody construction and a fully independent suspension. The payoff is unmatched refinement, despite the relatively light weight and presence of a toughened substructure. There’s just one body style but it’s a spacious crew cab. There’s only one bed length, a short 5-footer but it’s got a unique 8.5-cubic-foot below floor “trunk” made possible by the independent rear suspension. Ridgeline also has one powertrain. It consists of a lively V-6 with 250 horsepower and 247-pound-feet of torque linked to a five-speed automatic transmission working through a medium-duty all-wheel-drive system. Styling is more milquetoast than macho, but towing and payload are competitive, at 5,000 pounds and 1,546 pounds, respectively. Fuel economy is a respectable 15/21 mpg city/highway, 17 mpg combined. And Ridgeline tops all compact and midsize pickups for initial quality in owner surveys conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. Base-price range: $30,060-$37,990.
The Best Luxury Truck of 2012 is the Cadillac Escalade EXT. “Best” in this context describes the most luxurious pickup truck, not necessarily the best pickup that’s also luxurious. Luckily, the plush, pompous Cadillac Escalade EXT is also a decent pickup. Credit the strength of its standard 6.2-liter V-8 (403 horsepower, 417 pound-feet of torque) and capable all-wheel-drive system. It’s got opulence to burn, with leather upholstery, heated and cooled front buckets, navigation, and remote engine start among the many standard features. Fuel economy is an abysmal 13/18 mpg city/highway, 14 mpg combined. But that’s due in part to the EXT’s origins as a full-size Escalade SUV. Indeed, the EXT is essentially an Escalade wagon with an open cargo bed divided from the cab by GM’s Midgate cargo wall. Fold down the Midgate and bed length expands from 5 feet to 8 feet, though you sacrifice the three-passenger rear bench seat in the process. Payload is a credible 1,230 pounds, towing maximum a useful 7,600 pounds, ground clearance a generous 9.2 inches. Base-price range: $64,110-$70,590.
The Best Inexpensive Truck of 2012 is the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon. Get ΄em while you can because 2012 is expected to be the final model year for these GM cousins. For budget buyers, that means clearance sales in addition to the deep discounts and generous incentives regularly offered on these compact pickups. Indeed, Colorado and Canyon satisfy less for imaginative design, engineering prowess, or driving pleasure than they do for function and affordability. But they excel in variety, offering regular- and extended-cabs with a 6-foot-1-inch bed and a crew cab with a 5-foot-1-inch box. Both beds have unusually tall sidewalls for hauling versatility. There are three available engines, including the only V-8 outside the full-size pickup class. The base four-cylinder engine has a workable 185 horsepower and 190 pound-feet of torque and rates 18/25 mpg city/highway, 21 mpg combined with 2wd and 18/24/20 with 4wd. For a few bucks more we recommend the inline-five cylinder with its 242 horsepower and 242 pound-feet of torque. It rates 17/23/19 with both 2wd and 4wd. For the really power hungry there’s the 5.3-liter V-8. It has 300 horsepower, 320 pound-feet of torque and rates 14/20/16 mpg with 2wd, 14/19/16 with 4wd. Base-price range: Chevrolet Colorado, $18,205-$31,050; GMC Canyon, $18,220-$32,520.
The Best City Truck of 2012 is the Ford Transit Connect. Ford’s quirky tall-roof van was designed expressly for the confined environs of metropolitan Europe. It comes to America aimed primarily at delivery and trades people as the Transit Connect Van. But Ford also offers a passenger version as the plusher Transit Connect Wagon. The Wagon started out doing taxi duty and has expanded to target free-thinking families. Van versions seat two and have 130 cubic feet of cargo space. Wagons feature roomy seating for five with 50 inches of headroom, sliding side doors, and a capacious 78 cubic feet of cargo room that expands to 119 cubic feet with the rear seat folded. Despite those grand interior volumes, all Transit Connects have a tidy footprint – they’re 10 inches shorter than a Honda Accord – and a tight turning circle for easy maneuverability. The Wagon isn’t as quiet inside as, say, a typical minivan. But the ride is surprisingly compliant and large windows create panoramic outward visibility, a nice driving aid in city traffic. All Transit Connects have front-wheel-drive, a four-speed automatic transmission, and a four-cylinder engine with a just-adequate 136 horsepower and 128-pound-feet of torque. Fuel economy is likeable 21/27 mpg city/highway, 24 mpg combined. Ford also is fielding a commercial fleet of pure-electric Connects designed to go 80 miles per plug-in charge of their onboard battery pack. Base-price range: Transit Connect Wagon, $24,485-$24,635; Transit Connect Van, $22,860-$24,330.
The Best Towing Truck of 2012 is the Ford F-150 EcoBoost. Raw towing ability is the product of vehicle weight and engine power. A panoply of suspension hardware, axle ratios, and cooling systems comes into play, too. But the ideal is a relatively lightweight truck with a sturdy frame and a torquey engine. Ford delivers precisely that combination to claim an 11,300-pound tow rating for certain versions of its F-150. That’s 600 pounds more than any other half-ton-pickup. The key is Ford’s EcoBoost twin-turbo V-6. With 365 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque, this all-aluminum 3.5-liter has the output of a large V-8 but weighs less than the typical eight of similar power. That reduces the truck’s overall weight and enables to fully exploit the light-truck/strong-engine formula. As a bonus, the EcoBoost V-6 generates peak torque at just 2500 rpm, a couple thousand revs earlier than non-turbo engines of comparable power. And EcoBoost F-150s achieve that 11,300-pound tow rating with both 2wd and 4wd while rating 19 and 18 mpg combined, city/highway. The only non-EcoBoost 2012 F-150 with an 11,300-pound tow rating is a 2wd model with the 6.2-liter V-8, but it costs more and rates just 14 mpg combined city/highway. In reality, savvy pickup owners who regularly tow much over 9,000 pounds turn to three-quarter or even one-ton models to get heavier-duty frames and diesel-engine availability. But F-150 owners who pull loads of any size will profit from the added security of a standard trailer sway-control system that automatically activates the truck’s antiskid system to stabilize wayward trailer motion. A reverse camera that simplifies trailer hook-up also lessens stress. Base-price range for 2012 F-150s with EcoBoost V-6: $26,185-$49,790.
The Best Off-Road Truck of 2012 is the Ford SVT Raptor. The 2012 Ram Power Wagon will give the Raptor fits in low-speed off-roading. But the Power Wagon is a three-quarter-ton truck and our Best Trucks roundup concentrates on half-ton models. That in no way diminishes the Raptor’s ability to boulder bash with the best of them, while also delivering a high-speed desert-racer dimension no rival matches. SVT stands for Special Vehicle Team, Ford’s in-house customizers. SVT mostly focuses on higher road performance and the F-150-based SVT Raptor certainly isn’t slow thanks to its standard a 6.2-liter V-8 with 411 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque. But Raptor’s real assignment begins where the pavement ends. Fortified with all manner of hard-core suspension and traction-enhancing technology, special 35-inch tires, and unique body panels, this 4x4 can fly over desert berms at 60 mph but also claw through ruts at the walking pace maintained in most off-roading. That low-speed capability is further bolstered for model-year 2012 with addition of two new features: A standard Torsen front differential automatically shuffles torque to the front tire with the most grip. And a wonderfully useful front camera displays on a dashboard screen a view of the hazards lurking just ahead but blocked from the driver’s sight by the hood. Raptors seat five and come as the extended-cab SuperCab with a 920-pound payload capacity and a 6,000-pound towing limit or as the roomier four-door SuperCrew with a 1,020-pound payload ceiling and an 8,000 trailer limit. Both use a 5-foot-5-inch cargo bed. About the only thing this predator can’t achieve is good fuel economy: it’s rated 11/16 mpg city/highway, 13 mpg combined. Base-price range: $43,565-$46,465.
The Best Fuel-efficient Truck of 2012 is the Toyota Tacoma. The most fuel-efficient 2012 truck is the Toyota Tacoma with two-wheel drive, the four-cylinder engine, and a five-speed manual transmission. In that form, this tough compact pickup rates 21/25 mpg city/highway, 22 mpg combined. With the available four-speed automatic transmission, economy slips to 19/24/21 mpg. The same Tacoma with 4wd rates 18/20/19 mpg with the manual transmission and 18/21/19 with the automatic. Those are great numbers for any truck, though the 2012 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Hybrids rate 20/23/21 mpg with both 2w and 4w. They’re full-size pickups that blend a gas V-8 with electric-motor power and have large, comfortable crew cabs. But they start at $38,100, and base prices top $50,000, before options. So you’ll spend in the showroom to save at the pump. If you’re hewing to a budget in both places, the Tacoma is your truck. Base price range for four-cylinder 2012 Toyota Tacomas: $17,685-$23,675.