[lennyf]

I've been wanting to get a mid size pickup for a while now.
Daily Driver and the occasional Off Road excursion.
I like the new Ford Ranger Lariat FX4.
I really like what the Chevy ZR2 has to offer but after driving Porsche's, Audi's & BMW's for 25 years I'm a little sketchy.
Anyone here have thoughts ??

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by lennyf

I've been wanting to get a mid size pickup for a while now.
Daily Driver and the occasional Off Road excursion.
I like the new Ford Ranger Lariat FX4.
I really like what the Chevy ZR2 has to offer but after driving Porsche's, Audi's & BMW's for 25 years I'm a little sketchy.
Anyone here have thoughts ??

I'm in a Chevy Colorado V6 rental while my car's in the body shop. It's surprisingly good. The transmission programming is horrible, but it does have buttons on the gear shift that make it acceptable. I'd imagine the ZR2 is pretty fun.

It's a four door and fits with about a foot of total spare room in my garage. It's surprisingly wide though, it takes up a lot more room than a GTI, perhaps this isn't surprising.

I was just sort of looking around and thinking that the dash and doors and such all fit together pretty well and the Apple Play works fine. It's not a terrible place to be, better than the Camry I had last time.

[David70]

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...nda-ridgeline/

[King Rudi]

-1 I thought this would be about pick up lines for thick girls.

[overcoil]

Jeep gladiator in black
Michelin tires

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

Jeep gladiator in black
Michelin tires

I drove one today, for what it is it's pretty damn cool. The base model can be leased stupid cheap, I might get one to replace my old no warranty E70 winter beater.

[Germanauto]

The Ranger has gotten beaten up by the press but people are still buying them in droves.

I find the Tacoma cool and can see the appeal of the Jeep Gladiator. Seen a few already.

[TinkyWinks]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

I drove one today, for what it is it's pretty damn cool. The base model can be leased stupid cheap, I might get one to replace my old no warranty E70 winter beater.

That's good to hear. I've been drooling over this. I would like to get the Rubicon model, but I honestly don't know if I would use all the features of this ~$60k trim. Might consider the Sport + for a daily.

[brad850csi]

You guys don't get the X Class or Amarok? In the V6 versions they are really good vehicles

[Joe240]

X class and amarok not available in the US. Only get non luxury midsize trucks here. If the x class, or (God willing) BMW built a midsize truck, were sold in the US then I would have one of those in my driveway instead of the x3 m40i.

I owned a 2018 zr2 4 door for a little over a year. We had that, a ‘17 X1, and a ‘17 m240i in the driveway. While the truck wasn’t horrible to be in like others have mentioned, the refinement of the transmission and engine tunes were piss poor and made me only want to drive it when I needed something from Lowe’s/Home Depot, or was going off-roading. Otherwise, the BMWs were a much nicer place to be for a daily driver. I will say this, the truck towed fantastically and handled mud, rocks/boulders, small rivers a few feet deep, and trails above any expectation I could’ve had for it. But it sucked in the sand due to the heaviness and narrow factory tires. Living in Florida though, we have more than our fair share of sand when doing any kind of trails so this was a bit of a let down, but could be fixed with new wheels and tires. Being the only midsize truck at the time with a front locker made it the only choice for harder off-roading (for midsize trucks). And it was relatively quick as well for its size. The problems came when cruising when the transmission would hunt for gears and could never find the right one. The DFM only switched to 4 cylinder when coasting. Idling and cruising down the road at 50mph left it in v6 so got the fuel economy of a 15 year old v8 (averaged 17 mpg city/hwy). Ultimately, I didn’t off-road enough to justify the truck anymore. Traded the x1 and the truck for a ‘19 x3 m40i with the tow package. Small trips to the hardware store easily doable (fit 10 bags of soil in the trunk with the seats still up) and large trips I can grab a trailer if need be. Towed a Corolla from IL back down to Florida with ease and still got 22 mpg on that drive, and light off-roading if needed is doable. Most importantly is I get to enjoy the refinement that BMW brings to the entire package that Chevy failed to do.

If I had to do it again, I’d go with the gladiator or ranger in lower trim levels. Strictly because I know the drive train of the Colorado/canyon twins was a huge let down, and the premiums on tacos will never be worth it to me for what you get in the package (manual seats??? Seriously??? And no CarPlay/android auto, but you get Alexa??? What the absolute fuck Toyota).

But again, if BMW made a midsize pickup, I’d be on it in a heartbeat. Hell, make it unibody for all I care. I just need it to carry 500lbs in the bed minimum and tow 5-7k. Both doable with independent suspension so adapt the x3 platform. Take the x3 m40i, chop the trunk space, add a wall behind rear seats, extend the old trunk area another foot or 2 and you have a relatively capable vehicle. Better mpg/power from the B58 than any competitor engines in the midsize segment, specially when towing, better refinement all over, full time AWD makes it a fantastic DD for any environment (rain/snow/sun), and the way prices on midsize trucks are going, selling the top trim with all of these specs at $70k for a true luxury truck makes absolute fucking sense for a business case. The x3 is also manufactured in South Carolina so you could avoid import taxes. If I had the money to do it, I’d turn the one I have now into a working prototype for BMW and do mashups of it against all of the other midsize trucks doing everything they should be able to do just to prove it to BMW. I’d even market it for research to show the client base who’d buy such a vehicle. That’d be the whole supporting business case for them... but alas, I don’t have $100k in disposable income to do such a thing

[floydarogers]

Originally Posted by brad850csi

You guys don't get the X Class or Amarok? In the V6 versions they are really good vehicles

No doubt that Federalization (emissions and lights and such) and import duties (light duty trucks have always been subject to import duties) would make them too expensive.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by TinkyWinks

That's good to hear. I've been drooling over this. I would like to get the Rubicon model, but I honestly don't know if I would use all the features of this ~$60k trim. Might consider the Sport + for a daily.

Sport around $35k and leasing for $200 a month for 24 then giving it back makes a whole lot of sense to me, tremendous value there. IMO it's a Jeep and the difference between the cheap one and the expensive one with all the doodads isn't huge, still a Jeep. $60k for the loaded one I'm looking at other vehicles. My friend had a Rubicon and it was still shitty on the highway, still loud, but the same fun Jeep experience as a cheap one.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by lennyf

I've been wanting to get a mid size pickup for a while now.
Daily Driver and the occasional Off Road excursion.
I like the new Ford Ranger Lariat FX4.
I really like what the Chevy ZR2 has to offer but after driving Porsche's, Audi's & BMW's for 25 years I'm a little sketchy.
Anyone here have thoughts ??

Find a nice E91xi. Take it to a SoCal custom shop. Drop in an X3 suspension. Have the roof cut off the back, take the rear seats out, cut out the rear bracing, weld in some new metal. You'll have a BMW El Camino. Probably just as expensive as a Chevy ZR2.

[David70]

Originally Posted by brad850csi

You guys don't get the X Class or Amarok? In the V6 versions they are really good vehicles

Any pickup truck not built in a NAFTA country (USA, Canada, or Mexico) gets hit with a 25% tariff when imported into the U.S. therefore I think zero trucks are imported. We have had this tariff since 1964.

[erictrainer]

As mentioned above Jeep Gladiator...if you can wait for the diesel tho...I know that's what I'm doing.

[Soterios]

What do you want the truck to do? How off road does it need to be?

In terms of overall awesomeness (How good of a car is it) the Honda Ridgeline, while looking like a minivan, kicks the shit out of the others in terms of quality and function.

My daily is a 2019 Ridgeline RTL-E. It was dramatically better on the road then all the other options I drove.

It's the worst 'truck' for sure, but bumpy gravel roads are the worst this thing will ever see.

[JasonCSU]

I have a 2017 Tacoma TRD Off-Road 4x4 in the double cab short bed configuration and really like it for what it is. If the Colorado ZR2, JL Wrangler or Gladiator were on the market back in early 2017, I would have cross shopped those for sure.

[JasonCSU]

Originally Posted by Joe240

If I had to do it again, I’d go with the gladiator or ranger in lower trim levels. Strictly because I know the drive train of the Colorado/canyon twins was a huge let down, and the premiums on tacos will never be worth it to me for what you get in the package (manual seats??? Seriously??? And no CarPlay/android auto, but you get Alexa??? What the absolute fuck Toyota).

Supposedly the 2020 update to the Tacoma will finally have Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and a 10-way power adjustable seat. Manual seats don't bother me, but the current seat only being 4-way adjustable is aggravating.

[hellrotm]

ZR2 would be my pick. The Multimatic DSSV suspension is unmatched in the segment.

[Joe240]

Originally Posted by JasonCSU

Supposedly the 2020 update to the Tacoma will finally have Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and a 10-way power adjustable seat. Manual seats don't bother me, but the current seat only being 4-way adjustable is aggravating.

Manual seats don’t bother me if I was the only one using it. But since my wife and I would rotate vehicles, it was a bit more of a hassle. While the zr2 has power seats, it was also a pain having to find my driving position again when we’d let my brother in Law drive it for driving practice (he’s 19 now, was 17 at the time. Still 6’3” and 300+ lbs at the time). I don’t see why Chevy, or any of the other manufactures who use power seats, can’t use memory seats like luxury brands do. It’s MAYBE an additional $100 cost to a vehicle, but for my situation I would have paid $250 for the option to be included if offered.

[Joe240]

Originally Posted by hellrotm

ZR2 would be my pick. The Multimatic DSSV suspension is unmatched in the segment.

The DSSV was phenomenal. Able to hit a speed bump doing 10-15 mph and the truck would stay composed every time and controlled. Watching silverados and other full size and mid size trucks do the same was hilarious because the ass end would go flying and they’d be fighting the steering wheel.

Off-road they were great as well when flying down the beaten path at 40mph. By far the best factory suspension in a truck available. The Raptor can’t touch it either imo and that’s be the closest comparison. The TRD Pros definitely can’t do that.

[lennyf]

Current Tacomas are SHIT !!!!
Still have drum brakes in the rear and Camry engine & tranny. (NO THANKS)
But people still buy them.

I wish Honda would build an Off Road Ridgeline.