Truck reviews

The Nissan Frontier has been a trusted workhorse for its owners for a very long time. The truck has been as reliable as it can get. Last year, a Chicago-based delivery driver, Brian Murphy, clocked one million miles on it! However, Nissan took the ‘don’t fix if it ain’t broke’ philosophy a little too seriously. At a time when automakers come up with significant changes even in facelifts every year, Nissan retained the same design language on the Frontier for 15 years! But, for the new, third-gen 2022 model, we get a revamped design that puts it in line with the modern trucks. The company introduced a new engine and gearbox for the previous model year and the same has been carried over this time as well.

The 2022 Nissan Frontier in the top-sped PRO-4X off-road trim arrived at TopSpeed’s headquarters recently, and here’s all you need to know about it.

Ford launched the F-150 Lightning earlier this year. The electric truck checks almost all the boxes and can be considered as the first mainstream electric pickup truck for the masses. There are a lot of electric trucks launched in recent years, like the Tesla Cybertruck, the Rivian R1T, the Lordstown Endurance, the Bollinger B2, etc. But, none of them offer the all-round capability that the F-150 Lightning does.

The Ford truck comes with all the bells and whistles one can ask for, and then some more. For now, Ford has launched it in one body style and three basic trims plus an exclusive work truck model, but expect it to grow in the coming years. With all the subsidies and credits, the F-150 Lightning works out to be the cheapest full-size truck in the market today! (more on this in the ‘Pricing’ section). From the looks of it, the F-150 Lightning seems to be an all-rounder that offers good power outputs, decent range, and a lot of tech features. Do you think it will be a runaway success, or will the loyalists look around at other trucks?

The Ford F-Series can be given the tag of ‘The Truck of America’ without a doubt. The F-Series has been the best-selling range for close to five consecutive decades. Although the F-150 gets the major chunk of the volume for Ford, there are many other heavy-duty models in the range that have been ruling the respective segments. We recently laid our hands on the 2021 F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab. This Limited trim F-250 featured a four-wheel-drive system and came with the V-8 diesel mill that puts out a four-digit torque figure! Read on to know more about it.

Toyota introduced the new, third-gen 2022 Tundra a couple of months back. The third-gen truck was due for a long as the second-gen model was in production for 14 years. The company tweaked it many times in its run, but it started to feel too long in the tooth when compared to its chief rivals. The new 2022 Tundra was expected to come with a lot of new specs and features and it didn’t disappoint.

The highlight of the new Tundra are its drivetrain options. The company ditched the old V-8 workhorse in favor of a V-6 that is offered in three configurations. Apart from this, it rides on a new platform and features a new suspension setup, has a sharper exterior, and comes with a tech-heavy, updated interior. It starts at nearly $36,000; up by over $1,500 over the model it replaces.

Like with any other year before, the 2021 SEMA Show will bring an impressive lineup of custom cars. Mopar for example will present a total of seven concept cars, one of them being the Ram 1500 TRX RexRunner. As its name suggests, the Ram 1500 TRX RexRunner concept is based on the production version Ram 1500 TRX but adds an impressive lineup of Mopar accessories and custom parts.

The new generation Toyota Tundra made a huge impression when it was launched in September 2021, so it was to be expected for it to be one of the stars of this year’s SEMA Show. One of the coolest concepts based on the new generation Tundra comes from Toyota Racing Development (TRD) and is called TRD Desert Chase Tundra.

At the 2021 Commercial Vehicle Show, Isuzu in cooperation with Arctic Trucks unveiled the special edition D-Max Arctic Trucks AT35. Isuzu has big hopes for the trucks and hopes customers customers will fall in love with the 4x4 capabilities of AT35, so the official sale date was set for February 14, 2022.

Ford offered the "Splash" package for the first time back in the 1990s when it was offered as an update for the Ranger pickup. Then, in June, 2021, the company trademarked the name again and initial rumors said it will be used for an electric pickup. Turns out those rumors were false, as the Splash is offered once again as an update package for the 2022 Ranger.

GMC has unveiled the Canyon AT4 OVRLANDX concept at the Overland Expo Mountain West. As the name suggests, it is based on the Canyon’s off-road trim, the AT4. Overlanding is a niche that’s picking up pace quite rapidly and automakers are offering accessories for the same. The OVRLANDX concept is developed keeping this in mind and it comes with goodies that will make your camping experience even better. Also, it comes with a lot of off-road equipment, thus elevating the AT4 trim as a whole.

For very many years, the Ford F-150 Raptor was the only off-road standalone model you could get straight from the factory. Ram, however, decided to come up with a rival for it and announced its intention by coming up with a concept performance off-road truck in 2016 called the TRX. Pretty much everything we saw there made it to the production version as well.

Fast forward to 2020, Ram launched the TRX as a Raptor-killer by upping the ante in almost every single department. The TRX was introduced with a supercharged V-8 that makes over 700 horses, impressive off-road equipment and specs, and an uber-premium cabin. Given all the bells and whistles Ram offered, there was no way this was going to be an inexpensive truck. Ram priced it at $69,000 at launch in the ‘base’ form. At that time, it was clearly positioned above the Raptor as they both had a significant price difference.

While this is a truck that you definitely want, is this a truck that you actually need? A white 2021 Ram TRX arrived at TopSpeed and we find out the answer to that.

Given the growing popularity of expensive trucks, Shelby has come with an F-150 iteration of its own. It comes with changes inside and out, and also under the hood. The Shelby F-150 now makes close to 800 horses! It also comes with an upgraded suspension setup. If you are disappointed the standard F-150 Raptor didn’t come with a power boost for the 2021 model year and you don’t want to wait for the Raptor R, this will float your boat. The only catch is that it has breached into the six-digit price bracket.

Ram is going through a purple patch right now and it doesn’t want to take its foot off the gas pedal. After beating the Chevy Silverado and the Ford F Series in the second-quarter sales this year, Ram is keeping the ball rolling by adding spice to its arsenal. The automaker launched the 1500 Limited 10th Anniversary edition earlier this month and has now come up with a couple more special edition trucks. This time, they’re based on the Laramie and Rebel models.

Ram has introduced G/T models for the 1500 Laramie and the 1500 Rebel that come with aesthetic upgrades and an updated exhaust system. They are priced at a premium over the standard models and will be available within the next couple of months.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Ram brought luxuriousness to the pickup truck segment. Take the 1500, for instance. The higher trims are plush enough to put similarly priced sedans and SUVs to shame. This has even forced companies like Chevy and GMC, and Ford to up the ante and come up with premium offerings.

Ram knows this, too, and isn’t very modest about it. To commemorate the 1500 Limited truck, the epitome of luxuriousness in the Ram 1500 lineup, the automaker has introduced a new 10th Anniversary Edition. The way Ram hyped it, it seemed like the truck will wear a big sticker price; but, it comes at a premium of just $3,000 over the standard Limited model, which isn’t too bad.

Ford has come up with a new compact pickup truck called the Maverick. The Maverick was leaked and spotted multiple times in the past. Ford teased in last week and gave us a glimpse of what to expect. Now, the truck is finally out. The Maverick will serve as the entry-level truck in Ford’s lineup and will slot below the Ranger. It will be offered with two different engine options, including a hybrid, with front-wheel-drive configuration as standard and an all-wheel-drive system as optional. The best part, however, is its price. The 2022 Ford Maverick is launched with a starting price of $19,995. Not bad, huh?

Riding high on the success of the Ranger in Europe, Ford launched a special edition of the truck based on the Ranger Raptor. Called the Ranger Raptor Special Edition (no marks for creativity there), the truck comes with aesthetic upgrades and wide tracks. It rides on the same drivetrain without any power bumps. The automaker is pushing it as a ‘badass’ edition of the truck. But, what’s so badass about it?

Ford launched theF-150 Lightning EV last week and it mostly drew positive responses. The talking point was the sub-$40,000 price for the commercial variant, which would result in being cheaper than the standard F-150 after factoring in the federal tax credits and state incentives. The automaker had not revealed the specs for it then, but we do have them.

The company has coined this commercial trim as the F-150 Lightning Pro. As a sub-$40,000 EV, it looks alright on paper. But, look at it as a work truck – which it is – and you will be disappointed.

The Santa Cruz was one of the most anticipated vehicles from Hyundai for the better part of the last decade. The company unveiled it as a concept back in 2015 at the Detroit Motor Show and there were a lot of eyes on it since it was the automaker’s first pickup truck. Fast forward to 2021, the Santa Cruz is finally unveiled and the automaker has taken a different approach to it. Hyundai is referring to the Santa Cruz as a Sport Adventure Vehicle and not a pickup truck. We don’t know what the reason for this is, but the Korean automaker is coming across as a little defensive here and not as a niche-maker.

That said, the truck, err., SAV, does look pretty fancy and seems to be quite rugged and tough. The truck will be available from the summer of 2021. Also, doesn’t BMW also call the X7 an SAV? The ‘A’ there stands for ‘Activity’, I believe.

Illinois-based Maxlider Motors is famous for creating custom Broncos. This includes proper conversions as well as restorations. The company rolls out almost 100 Bronco every year out of the factory and seems to be on the verge of expanding its horizon now. Maxlider Motors has developed a Midnite Edition for the 2021 Ford F-150. It includes new shoes, suspension upgrades, and the likes. But, surprisingly, the aftermarket company left the engine untouched. From the looks of it, the package looks swell. Care to buy it?

Mil-Spec Automotive is back with another classic Hummer build. Called the M1-R Vision, the build comes with a snazzy exterior and interior, and a turbo V-8 that makes 500 horses. The Michigan-based tuner noted that while the truck has gone heavily under the knife, it has retained all the good stuff and taken out the bad. Yes, this is an extinct breed and Mil-Spec seems to have a good job, but is it worth spending over a quarter-million dollars on?

Roush Performance has come up with its version of the 2021 Ford F-150. There are aesthetic upgrades, suspension system upgrades, and some changes inside the cabin. While the package seems pretty straight-forward without any major mechanical changes, Roush has limited it to just two trims from the lineup, that too when equipped with the V-8 mill and four-wheel-drive system. Roush has priced it at a little under $18,000, which obviously excludes the cost of the donor vehicle.