2024 Toyota Tacoma vs. Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado: Midsize Trucks Throw Down!

Chevrolet’s updated Colorado is an impressive truck—impressive enough to have won our coveted Truck of the Year award for 2024. It’s worth noting the Colorado and its classy near-twin, the GMC Canyon, were the only midsizers in this year’s TOTY competition; the 2024 Toyota Tacoma wasn’t yet available, and the 2024 Ford Ranger was held up by strike-related shortages. Now, however, we’ve gotten our hands on both promising rivals. We know they’re greatly improved over their predecessors, but can they topple the Chevy?  

Meet the Competitors

The breadth of the Colorado lineup was one of the factors that clinched its TOTY win, but for this comparison we chose to go straight down the middle with the $36,795 Colorado LT 4WD, the general practitioner of the bunch. Our test truck arrived with a host of comfort, convenience, and technology options plus a trailering package, all of which brought the sticker up to $45,835. 

One of the biggest challenges in putting together a comparison is matching prices between our contenders, but Ford and Toyota came through, delivering trucks priced within $200 of the Colorado. Ford offered up a 2024 Ranger XLT 4x4. Starting at a base price of $41,490, our test truck added a towing package, a spray-in bedliner, and a handful of other options for an as-tested price of $45,650. Toyota, meanwhile, supplied a Tacoma TRD Sport 4x4 with a 5-foot bed and automatic transmission; we must note those last two as only the Tacoma offers long-bed and manual-transmission options. An upgraded stereo increased its $44,095 base price to $45,845.

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Colorado, Ranger, and Tacoma From the Inside

Our first order of business was to climb inside and check out our rides. The Colorado’s cabin was familiar territory, but we still found a lot we liked: high-quality materials, a sensible control layout, and a grown-up feel. We loved the digital instrument screen with its multiple configuration options, and although the Colorado’s infotainment screen was the smallest, we thought it worked the best—especially since the Chevy can display a moving map in its instrument panel, which the other trucks don’t do. Our biggest complaints were the cramped back seat and the lack of storage space, both around the dashboard and under the back seats. 

Contrast that with the Toyota Tacoma. Its back seat was every bit as tight as the Chevy’s, but the Tacoma was the champ when it came to odds-and-ends cubbies and storage under the back seat. The Toyota’s dash struck us as a little gimmicky, but we liked the body-color trim and big, chunky controls, which are easy to use with gloves on. Surprising, though, was the number of switch blanks. This was the most expensive truck here, so what were we missing?  

The Ford Ranger struck a nice middle ground. The tall center screen looked impressive, although some drivers thought it had too much real estate to cover with a quick glance. We appreciated the power-sliding rear window—the Chevy had a manual slider, the Toyota had none—but the twist-key ignition seemed out of place in a $45,000 vehicle. And what was up with the beige seats? Matched only by a swath of cloth on the armrests, they seemed like a half-hearted attempt to add visual interest, but they were already showing stains. That said, what really won us over was the back seat, which was far more generous in its dimensions than the other trucks’, even if it lacked the Toyota’s storage options.

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Driving Our Midsize Pickup Competitors

Our next step was to get some hard numbers, so we hustled our trucks off to the test track. All three weighed about the same—the 4,453-pound Ford was the lightest, the 4,604-pound Chevy the heaviest—but power from their turbo-fours varied greatly. The 310-hp Chevy was first to 60 in 6.7 seconds, followed by the 270-hp Ford at 6.9 seconds and the 278-hp Tacoma at 7.4. Credit the extra two ratios in the Ford’s 10-speed transmission, versus the eight-speed Chevy and Toyota.  

In our braking tests, the Toyota pulled up from 60 mph in 121 feet, while the Chevrolet took 129, both delivering panic stops with minimal drama. Not so the Ford, which lurched, hopped, and chattered its way to a 140-foot stop. The Ranger also had the lowest skidpad grip and was slowest around our figure eight, while the Colorado was grippiest and quickest, although our expectations were modest given the all-terrain tires on all three trucks. 

Test data doesn’t always correlate to real-world driving impressions, so we set off on our test loop, departing the northern end of Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley for Simi Valley and the canyons that lie between them. Right away, the Chevrolet stepped out front as the best-riding truck in the group. We found it comfortable and almost carlike, although like the others it exhibited trucklike jiggles on the sectional concrete of State Route 118. As we climbed the Santa Susana Pass, the Chevy spoke softly and carried a big stick: It was by far the most refined, but it also reminded us that it had the biggest and most powerful engine. The lack of an effective lane centering system was its biggest flaw, and the fact that there’s a lane centering button the biggest confusion.

The Ford’s lane centering worked flawlessly; would if we could say the same for its powertrain, which was slow to respond to downshift requests and caused the engine to surge when they finally happened. One tester opined the Ford had a fine engine hamstrung by poor transmission tuning. Another pointed out the problems go away if you simply leave the Ranger in Sport mode, although that makes the steering heavier. The Ranger had the best driver’s seat, more generously padded than the Toyota’s and offering more thigh support than the Chevy. Its ride was nearly as good as the Colorado’s, right up until it wasn’t; it kicked hard over bumps that the Colorado absorbed without shock.

Still, we found the Ranger to be far more comfortable than the Toyota, which jiggled and joggled over nearly all road surfaces, a real surprise given it has the only coil-spring rear suspension in this group. The Tacoma’s cabin let in the most wind and road noise, and although we liked hearing the whine and whistle of the turbo, the engine sounded like it had gravel in the valvetrain, an affliction shared by the Ranger. (The Chevy’s engine note was the best of a bad lot.) Lane centering was excellent, although it weaved a little more than the Ranger.

Off the freeway and into the canyons, it was the Ranger that felt the most agile, a real surprise given its third-place performance in our instrumented handling tests. We liked the accuracy of its steering, even if brake-pedal feel wasn’t as good as in the other two trucks. The Toyota’s light steering made it easy to guide, but the bulging hood blocked visibility, and trying to drive it quickly in the curves felt like—well, like trying to drive a pickup truck quickly in the curves. Opinions were split on the Colorado; while it was easily the most refined and comfortable, some of our testers found it somewhat elephantine in the sharpest turns. Again, these are pickup trucks, not sports cars, a fact of which the Ranger seemed blissfully unaware.

A short jaunt on a badly beat-up dirt road took us back to home base. We drove through the ruts in constant fear of breaking the Tacoma’s low-slung air dam, but a closer inspection found someone else had beat us to that punch. The Ford lost traction first, but a quick switch to 4 high got it moving. No such need in the Chevrolet, which was the only one of the trio to offer an automatic mode for its transfer case—but it was also the only truck without a low range, which Chevy reserves for other versions of the Colorado.

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Someone Always Needs Help Moving

Driving manners are important for a midsize pickup truck, but so is the ability to do work. It just so happens that MotorTrend was in the process of moving offices when we carried out this comparison, and we thought shifting a little furniture would be a great practical test. (Something about driving a pickup seems to prompt all your friends to move.) 

Right away, the Tacoma’s composite bed proved to be a mixed blessing. It’s slick as plastic—because it is plastic—and although that made it easy to slide chairs into the bed, it also made it tough to keep our footing. At least one of our staffers has already taken a bad fall in a rain-slicked Toyota bed. The Tacoma was the only truck here with a utility track system, and thank goodness for that, because with only two tie-downs up front and floor-mounted D-rings toward the back, we’re not sure how else we would have secured the furniture. Still, we were reluctant to tighten the ratchet straps on the fragile-looking plastic cleats. Why aren’t they made of metal? We also noted the lack of power outlets in the Tacoma’s bed. 

Loading a sofa into the Ranger reminded us of the limitations of a 5-foot bed. Coincidentally, the Ranger had plastic around the tailgate handle that protected the paint from the overhanging leg of our couch. More important, the Ranger had its tie-down rings distributed front, middle, and rear, and that middle pair, located just aft of the fenders, proved very handy for lashing our bulky cargo into place. 

The Colorado was the only truck with cutouts in the bumper to serve as steps, and they made getting into and out of the bed a cinch for our shorter testers. The tie-downs—two at each corner—felt sturdy, but we missed that middle set as found in the Ford. Chevrolet offers additional accessory tie-downs that mount in the bed sidewalls, but we couldn’t find a utility track system in the Chevrolet option list, which seems like a glaring omission. The Colorado’s tailgate storage bin is a novelty, but it’s finicky to close securely, and we’re not sure how useful it really is.

Has the Chevrolet Colorado Met Its Match?

Roads driven and furniture hauled, it was time for us to pick a winner. There was little argument that third place would go to the Tacoma. A competent truck, to be sure, and we appreciated its superior back-seat storage and smooth powertrain. Still, aside from the trick folding back seat, we couldn’t think of a single area where the Tacoma took a decisive lead, and the slick surface and lack of tie-downs in the cargo box made it the least convenient. No question Toyota devotees will see the new Tacoma as a huge improvement, but open-minded buyers comparing it to its rivals will likely find it harder to justify. 

Second place was a much more difficult decision. We agreed the Chevrolet was the most comfortable of the three trucks, plus it had the best-looking cabin and superior displays. One of the reasons to buy a midsize pickup over a full-sizer is it’s way easier to drive and park, and of all the trucks here, the Chevrolet best pressed this advantage. On the other hand, the Ranger had the practical edge, with a significantly bigger back seat and better-arranged tie-downs, plus the option of a utility track system and the heaviest payload capacity. We didn’t tow as part of this test, but we noted the presence of Ford’s trailer-backup-steering system. That struck us as especially useful in a midsize truck, which would typically be towing smaller single-axle trailers, which are the most difficult to steer in reverse.  

The winner, it seemed, would be determined not by the trucks, but rather by the criteria. What’s more important, comfort or utility? This isn’t an easy answer, as a midsize pickup must be both an easy-to-live-with daily driver and a hard worker. All judges agreed the Colorado is the truck we’d rather drive every day. It’s more luxurious, refined, and comfortable than the Ranger. But the Ranger’s bigger back seat, well-thought-out bed, comprehensive towing aids, and low-range transfer case make it the more useful tool. True, the Ranger isn’t as nice to drive as the Chevy, but it’s not that much worse—and besides, these aren’t midsize sedans or midsize SUVs, they are midsize pickups. Work wins the day, and therefore the 2024 Ford Ranger wins this comparison test.

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3rd Place: 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport

Verdict: A huge improvement over the old Tacoma, but the domestics still do it better.

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2nd Place: 2024 Chevrolet Colorado LT

Verdict: By far the nicest midsize truck to live with on a daily basis.

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1st Place: 2024 Ford Ranger XLT

Verdict: If there’s a job that needs doing, the Ranger is the best choice.