The 10 most off road-capable trucks and SUVs

Although the ranks of rugged body-on-frame-type vehicles have dramatically shrunken over the last 20 years, the selection of off road-capable SUVs and trucks has never been better. 

If anything, it's a sign of the natural evolution of vehicles. Most buyers don't want or need a vehicle that can scramble up a mountain, whether for sport or to reach a hiking trail or fishing spot. But for those who do, automakers now offer what might be the widest selection of dedicated off roaders ever. Few traditional SUVs without an off road-oriented model are left on the market; gone are the days of body-on-frame Ford Explorers that were neither especially useful on or off the pavement. In their place are unibody crossovers better attuned to the desires of suburban families and precisely-honed tools meant for dirt roads, sand dunes and technical trails.

Leftlane has spent considerable time off road in all ten of these vehicles, both on courses provided by manufacturers and in independent testing on our own trails. Picking the best of the best requires more than just a quick browse of the spec charts, even if those do help separate the mountain goats from the lamb chops.

Most of our top trucks feature generous ground clearance, locking differentials, two-speed transfer cases with an ultra high gear ratio for crawling and sophisticated traction control systems. Still, some vehicles are inherently more capable than others because of their basic suspension and body designs.

To keep things fair, we're only including new consumer-oriented trucks and SUVs available for the 2012 model year in the United States. We realize that buyers have varying definitions of driving "off road" that include everything from sandy beaches to bouncy trail riding, so vehicles were considered for their all-around competency rather than their ability to do a single task exceedingly well. Finally, we set a $60,000 price limit equal to about double the average price of a new car in the U.S. because only the looniest buyers might take a vehicle as expensive as a house in many cities on a trail.

The 10 most off-road capable new trucks and SUVs you can buy

10. Jeep Grand Cherokee. One of the most versatile vehicles, Grand Cherokee was reborn last year using a platform co-developed with Mercedes-Benz. Gone was the solid axle suspension, but an air system optional on Limited and standard on Overland models jacks up the fully independent setup to the kind of sky-high proportions that will have you looking down on just about anyone. A control knob like that used on Land Rovers tailors the traction control, ABS and suspension to any terrain. Despite its credentials, Grand Cherokees lack the tall sidewalls and super-flexy suspensions found on the most capable SUVs in the segment, so they have to rely heavily on power being sent to the right wheel at the right time.
Off road must-haves: Opt for the Off Road Adventure II package on a Limited ($1,655) and you'll get the Quadra Lift air suspension, skid plates, tow hooks and a few other goodies.
Great for: Raising the suspension and looking down on Range Rover buyers. While the Rover is an impressive vehicle, Grand Cherokee offers almost all the vehicular sophistication for a fraction of the price.

9. Nissan Frontier PRO-4X. Nissan offers one of just two midsize/compact pickups that we consider competent, so we're lucky that the Frontier is a pretty formidable off roader. Its PRO-4X package adds a locking rear differential and, on automatic transmission models, hill descent control. Simple and rugged, Frontier PRO-4X is much more useful over most terrain than a full-size pickup.
Off road must-haves: PRO-4Xs are fully loaded from the factory.
Great for: Loading the bed up with camping gear and heading to the woods for a weekend. 

8. Land Rover LR4. Land Rover might be synonymous with off roading, but the brand has found favor among city slickers who prefer big wheels and low profile tires that are about as well-suited to off roading as a pair of high heels are to hiking. To keep those wheels on the ground, Land Rover, like Jeep, now uses a fully independent suspension that provides a smooth ride on road but limits articulation off road. Despite those hinderances, however, the LR4 uses arguably the world's most advanced traction control system, which still makes it an incredibly capable off roader. But even Land Rover's off road driving instructors acknowledge that most owners won't even try to intentionally leave the pavement unless there's some slippery white stuff on the road between their Aspen vacation home and the ski lodge.
Off road must-haves: Buried among the luxury options Land Rover offers is a Heavy Duty Package ($750) that adds a locking rear differential and a full-size spare, two must-haves for leaving the pavement behind.
Great for: Trundling across the logging trails to the building site where your $25 million vacation home will be built.

7. Toyota FJ Cruiser. A remake of the original Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, the FJ Cruiser might have some curious proportions, but its short wheelbase, high ground clearance and excellent approach and departure angles make it a very useful off roader. It's just a shame that its compromised styling gives it dreadful visibility.
Off road must-haves: The Off-Road Package ($740) brings with it Bilstein shocks and a locking rear differential, not to mention a trick retro-style multimeter gauge.
Great for: Those who want to look pretty cool while heading to their favorite camping spot. 

6. Nissan Xterra PRO-4X. Nissan's off road toolbox-on-wheels has been around for a while, but the general reshaping of the off road market has made us see it in a new, more favorable light. In some ways the last link to the SUV era of the 1990s, the Xterra feels a little dated but remains a sprightly off roader, especially with the PRO-4X (inspired by PRO-4 off road competition driving) package's standard locking rear differential. It's also the last SUV we can remember with a multi-leaf rear axle.
Off road must-haves: Channeling the spirit of the long-departed Pontiac Aztek, Nissan offers a tent ($252) that attaches to the back of the Xterra to provide 100 square feet of camping space.
Great for: Buyers who think of their SUVs as hose-out implements.

5. Ram Power Wagon. You can't buy a new Hummer, but the Power Wagon offers similar swagger. Building on the already robust Ram 2500, the folks at Chrysler robbed the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited's parts bin to add in automatically disconnecting swaybars and locking differentials. To finish the job, they tossed on a Warn winch and the kind of roof lights you see for sale next to CB radios at truck stops. What the Power Wagon lacks is subtlety; it's like using a machete to butter your toast.
Off road must-haves: We'd definitely order the spray-in bedliner ($450) so it would be easy to hose out guts of the various animals we might unintentionally kill. And the Technology Group's ($495) rear parking sensors might come in handy to reduce the number of pedestrian "incidents."
Great for: Drivers who want an in-your-face, go-anywhere beast that's as delicate and precise as Dick Cheney giving a eulogy. 

4. Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road. Tacoma gained a nip-and-tuck for 2012 that gives it a better interior (and a questionable exterior), but its basic ruggedness remains. Long a favorite of the Taliban, for better or worse, Toyota's smaller pickups are world-renowned for their durability and simplicity. Opt for the TRD Off-Road package and you'll get a Tacoma that sits about a mile off the road, can accommodate tires suited to a dump truck and includes a useful locking rear differential.
Off road must-haves: The TRD Off-Road package (around $3,700, depending on model), which includes Bilstein shocks, extra skid plates and, most importantly, the locking rear differential.
Great for: A hunter's vehicle for those who need something more maneuverable than a big pickup.

3. Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. For 2012, Ford updated its dune-bashing beast with an innovative front camera with a built-in spray washer in a bid to appeal more to buyers looking for a rock-crawling vehicle. And, even though Raptor looks and feels more like an unstoppable desert runner, the camera really helps overcome this big truck's inherently trail-challenging dimensions. Even though Raptor features what might be the world's most robust suspension, however, it was its bulk that kept it from the runner-up position.
Off road must-haves: The optional navigation system ($2,470) provides a much larger and more central screen for the front camera, while the exterior graphics package ($1,075) makes the Raptor look even more bad ass.
Great for: Flying through the desert in Southern California or crawling up the suspension-twisting obstacles around Moab, Utah.

2. Toyota 4Runner Trail. As we've said, this was a close one, but the Toyota seems more useful for more people. Toyota breathed life into its 4Runner lineup in late 2009 with its more rugged fifth-generation model. Extensively tested on California's demanding Rubicon Trail, the 4Runner Trail package brings with it increased clearance, a locking rear differential, a Multi-Terrain Select system that tailors the traction control for any terrain, and an innovative Crawl Control that helps 4Runner inch along at a veritable snail's pace over any terrain through careful use of the traction control and ABS.
Off road must-haves: Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System ($1,750) is pricey but exceptionally effective at increasing wheel travel by automatically adjusting the sway bars depending on terrain.
Great for: As its name implies, 4Runner Trail makes an excellent do-it-all trail vehicle thanks to its roomy, family-friendly interior and plush on-road demeanor. 

1. Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. There's not much to dispute about the Wrangler, especially since it gained a 260-horsepower V6 for 2012. One of few cars on the market to utilize rugged Dana 44 solid axles up front and out back, the Wrangler's coil springs offer the kind of suspension flexibility rock crawlers and trail riders dream of. Toss in its copious ground clearance, BFGoodrich mud tires, two locking differentials, automatic-disconnecting swaybars and an ultra-high crawl ratio and there's little here most buyers might see fit to upgrade.
Off road must-haves: Stick with the 4.10 rear axle ratio for better low-speed performance. We'd order the long wheelbase Unlimited unless our driving was strictly technical rock crawling.
Great for: Wrangler Rubicons are ready for just about anything right out of the factory. The new-for-2012 V6 and available five-speed automatic finally make it a usable daily driver, to boot.

News Source: http://www.leftlanenews.com

Comparison: Chevrolet Colorado vs. Nissan Frontier vs. Toyota Tacoma

Colorado Z71 vs. Frontier Pro-4X vs. Tacoma TRD Pro

Why does anyone drive midsize pickup trucks? Per a recent Maritz market research study polling new vehicle customers, it's certainly not to go bombing down rutted trails (7 percent of respondents off-road once a month or more frequently) or for the towing ability (67 percent don't tow anything). Of those who do tow, 8 percent knowingly hook up more than 3,500 lbs (and furthering a troubling and all-too-common trend, 35 percent fess they have no clue what the weight of the objects behind them are). So we casually asked friends and acquaintances with midsize pickups: Why?

The answers condense to "I like sitting up high," "I like the size," "I grew up driving a truck," "I want to carry something big once a year," or most simply, "I like it." Basically, trucks are day-to-day transportation that just so happen to have a bed astern. With the responses filed into the back of our minds, we were ready for a three-way between 2015 Chevrolet Colorado Z71, 2015 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X, and 2015 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. It may look like we deliberately gathered the off-pavement oriented trims for each model, but the selection was more circumstantial than anything else.

To help with the evaluation, I enlisted the services of two individuals: testing director and supplier of 880 pounds worth of sandbags Kim Reynolds and associate online editor Jason Udy, whose extensive small truck knowhow includes once cramming a 12.3-cubic-foot speaker box into an S10 ZR2. It was probably cool then (15 years ago). Our itinerary would hit the areas of ownership deemed most relevant to the target consumer. The banzai sprint headed south of the border with teardrop trailers in tow was put on hold once again.

We began with an activity I see bro trucks (I live near Broville O.C., aka Huntington Beach, California) do every day: race from stoplight to stoplight for no apparent reason. Except instead of putting other people in harm's way and cutting off buses while blasting new rock/new country/new hip-hop music, we accelerate our trio within the confines of the test track. The Frontier's 261-hp 4.0-liter V-6 and Tacoma's 236-hp 4.0-liter V-6 feel gutsy off the line; higher speeds are more challenging when going head to head against the 305-hp Colorado. Boasting more power and an additional gear, the Chevy's 0-60 mph time of 7.4 seconds keeps a clear advantage over the Toyota (by 0.3 sec) and Nissan (0.4 sec). But the distinctive experiences quickly segregate the Japanese trucks from the American one (even if they're all manufactured in the Central Time Zone -- Colorado: Wentzville, Missouri; Frontier: Canton, Mississippi; Tacoma: San Antonio, Texas).

Udy sensed the Frontier's V-6 had the "best low-end torque but could be the most coarse-sounding engine." "Industrial" is how I labeled Nissan's grunter, both in noise and perceptible dashboard vibration. Industrial will be a keyword whenever the Frontier comes. Reynolds mustered, "This feels so much cruder than the Colorado -- and old." Crude will be keyword No. 2.

"The engine note sounds as if it has half the cylinders it actually has," Reynolds observed of the Tacoma's powertrain, whereas Udy declared: "Great low-end torque. Loud exhaust, didn't like to rev, and sounded slightly strained." TRD Pro models are fitted with a TRD cat-back exhaust you'll hear a block away.The Colorado, not crude because its development targets were set in this decade, garnered praise. Udy again: "Initially I didn't like the sound and feel of the powertrain. It felt sluggish and didn't sound like it wanted to rev. Not as much low-end torque as the competitors' larger engines. By the end of the second day, the powertrain felt livelier. Smoothest revving engine and shifted smoothly." Driving on freeways exposes the truck's main weakness, when its six-speed auto hunts for fourth and fifth gears when toeing ever so lightly into the accelerator pedal. The repetitiveness of shifting down, up, and then back down again isn't easily ignored. Yet Real MPG was exactly as expected, with the 4,511-pound Chevy benefiting from its direct-injection V-6 and aerodynamics-aiding front air dam and active grille shutters for 18/22/20 mpg city/highway/combined. The 154-pound lighter Taco sits at 18/19/18 mpg, and the 45-pound heavier Frontier at 14/19/16 mpg, both of whose basic underlying bones are now a decade old. We anticipate bro trucks of the future to run as slick as the Colorado.

Done with the track, the next test was to figure out how well the trucks rode laden and unladen. Each has tires with tall, impact-cushioning sidewalls, but let's not forget pickups traditionally don't ride as harshly with a sizeable load onboard. As Udy and I milled around the parking lot adjacent to our ride quality road, Reynolds rolled in with the Frontier, its box squatting much closer to the top of the rear tires. "It makes a huge difference in ride," he yelled out the window at us. In a good way, of course. Reynolds is referring to the 880 pounds of payload, all the weight we could procure within our narrow comparison window. For the next couple hours, we shuffle the sandbags and ride- and interior-noise-measuring test gear from truck to truck. The Nissan and Toyota ride like entirely new trucks with nearly 900 pounds in the box. The Tacoma produced 9.2 percent less average vertical g at the driver's seat compared to its unloaded state (less signifies better ride control) and didn't pitch and bounce as much with the sandbags in its smooth-texture, fiber-reinforced Sheet-Molded Composite inner bed. The Frontier clawed back 12 percent vertical g with the sand. The gap might look small, but the seat of the pants -- which is also the location where the g force is tabulated -- registered a big change.

Apparently, Chevy didn't get the ride-quality memo. Our equipment detected 2.4-percent more average vertical g with the sandbags tossed into the Colorado Z71, and it was tough distinguishing between loaded and unloaded. Perhaps the greater payload capacity (1,489 lbs to the Frontier's 1,044 and Tacoma's 1,143) helped the truck maintain more steady performance. Nevertheless, Udy asserts the Bowtie truck has the "best handling feel" with its cab-isolating ride. Consult our bar graph to see how the ride objectively shakes out.

Out on the road without sand, the Toyota felt wobbly. Commented Reynolds, "Those tires seem to make it feel very balloon-ey -- exhibits slight gyrations, which I don't like at all," before conceding, "It seems way more oriented for off-roading (the exposed suspension bits are a visual tell-tale)." It's likely the combination of the TRD Pro's BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO tires and its off-road specialized suspension (longer-travel Bilstein shock absorbers, softer front springs, 1.75-inch higher front ride height over typical Tacoma) generating the on-road floatiness. But park the three trucks next to each other and you'd immediately realize which one you'd choose to tackle tough, remote terrain.

The Frontier fared a little better with Udy giving it a resounding "OK," but Reynolds was less generous. ("It rolls very quickly with turn-in, which greatly detracts from the experience.") We'd been in the trucks for barely two days and already saw the Colorado elevating the midsize bar to heights never before reached.

Reynolds on the Colorado: "Its ride is more car-like than truck-like. Its smaller-than-full size results in a dramatic improvement in nimbleness. Full-size trucks can be quite ponderous." Logically, a more compact footprint is why today's massive 1500-class truck hasn't completely taken over the pickup segment despite few mid-sized offerings. Many consumers can't justify or don't want the mass of a larger Silverado 1500, Titan, or Tundra. Reynolds remembers when Ford Rancheros and Chevy El Caminos were perfectly acceptable truck alternatives. They had the obligatory bed for the occasional utility run and you could still drive them without worrying about inadvertently encroaching on other street lanes or not being able to find parking.

Soon we were conducting our own parallel-parking trials. Low-effort electric power steering, minimal B- and C-pillar intrusion, and a lovely backup camera display on the standard (on Z71) 8-inch touchscreen made parking the Colorado painless. The Frontier's steering comes in a hopeless blend that's both slow (20.4:1 with 3.5 turns lock-to-lock) and industrial-strength heavy while parking. The Tacoma's rearward display appears on a 6.1-inch color screen, and the truck's outward visibility isn't bad. A few things threw me off, though: The taller seating height made it more difficult to gauge bumper-to-bumper distance, the hydraulically assisted power steering weighting would suddenly become heavy as the steering wheel passed true center, and the short-stroke brake pedal meant I had to be mindful of how much foot pressure I was holding. Coming off the sensitive brakes even a smidge has the truck lunging forward or backward, almost too quickly.

There wasn't much of a contest with the interior accommodations either, with everyone preferring the Chevrolet's vastly more modern cabin as a place to spend time in. After fiddling with each trucks' sound systems, Udy said: "Inside, the Colorado had the most comfortable seats. The materials and power lumbar helped. Best rear seat space and visibility. Nicest infotainment system, though no real nav. Best storage cubbies." Navigation would cost $995, including a required $500 Bose premium seven-speaker audio system.

At initial inspection, some of the Tacoma's switches and the surfaces on the dashboard, panels, and headliner look like they're shared with a mid-1990s Camry. Udy jotted down for the Toyota: "Harder to see over front headrests from back seat. Infotainment system and dash layout seemed old." The Frontier elicited a stronger reaction: "Back seat is claustrophobic. I wanted to climb out. Felt confining even with the window down, which was only the front half of the door. Materials felt cheaper, and the infotainment had a small 5.8-inch screen and graphics -- hard to read." I was most surprised the Nissan's roof rack (installed as part of the $2,100 Pro-4X Luxury Package) didn't adversely affect cabin noise since the truck turned out to be the quietest during a 65-mph cruise (23.9 sones). It's peaceful as long as the V-6 isn't trying to accelerate the truck. The Chevy and Toyota managed 24.7 (3 percent more than Frontier) and 27.1 sones (13 percent more).The Colorado infuses us with optimism that there's still life to be found in the midsize truck realm. If Chevy can assemble an exceptionally contemporary interior, replete with four USB ports (two for back-seat dwellers) and OnStar with 4G LTE Wi-Fi hot spot, who's to say Toyota and Nissan, and maybe even Ford and Ram in the future, can't do the same?"Its power is smoothly delivered (almost car-like), and its steering points into a corner quite well for a truck," Reynolds determined of the matchup-winning truck. "What's not to like? If I absolutely had to have one this would be it."For the 83 percent of Maritz survey takers who claim they'll haul something in that big box behind them at least once during the course of ownership, we believe they'll be very satisfied with the Colorado.

3rd Place: Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

Reynolds speculates Frontier buyers are more interested in the cool lifestyle activities the truck encourages (bike riding, canoeing) than the truck itself. He's probably right.

2nd Place: Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro

The Tacoma hides its age better than the Frontier, and off-road buffs know exactly what they're getting into. At least we hope they do (as they're going off-road).

1st Place: Chevrolet Colorado Z71

The previous-generation Colorado hadn't resigned on glowing terms, and Chevy didn't have to re-enter today's small-truck market. They hit this one out of the park.

Source: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/trucks/1412_2015_chevrolet_colorado_nissan_frontier_toyota_tacoma_comparison/