Ranger Raptor vs Canyon AT4X vs Tacoma TRDOR -- an owner's take

[BlckHwk23]

Hey everyone, I’m sure those of you who have not gotten your Rangers are agonizing over the review threads to get an idea of the overall experience of owning a Raptor. Some of you may be on the fence knowing that your order won’t be built until late this year, maybe next.

Bet that competition is looking mighty fine glistening in the sun on those dealer lots, whispering, “Hey Dave, it’s ok….all that bragging you did to your buddies about how you were gonna get a Raptor….it’s gonna be the best thing ever! You said…..just forget all that. You can buy me right now. Take me home to the wife and kids. Show them how big, bad, Dave got special "MSRP" pricing and brought me home to the family.”

I bet those whispers, once easily ignored, are becoming more persistent, gnawing at your thoughts, making you question your loyalty to a product that seems so far out of reach. Well I say ignore them!! Sit!! Listen to the tale of three trucks as told by me, BlckHwk23, your guide to the driving, styling, and daily quirks of three most different trucks indeed. I have driven all of these trucks within the last three months and owned two, and they each have their strong suits and not so great quirks.

Let us begin this comparison with styling. This is the most subjective category of this comparison so take it with a grain of salt.

Appearance:

Toyota Tacoma TRDOR:

This is a good looking truck. The approach and departure angles are fantastic, and the general styling takes your standard box design and adds some flair to it with angles and concave surfaces. My favorite angle of this truck is sideview. The rear spoiler reminds me of a clone trooper with the vertical fin on top of the helmet. Overall, the height of the truck is ok, but unless your taller than 6'1" or you have longer legs, it's a little awkward getting in and out because the floorboards sit so high. Out back, I'm not really a fan of the three vertical tail lamp slits. Yes they're sequential operation which is cool, but they just seem like they're missing something, almost like they're out of place. Overall, I'll say the Tacoma looks the part of an off-roader and is a fairly aggressive design IF you've never seen a Canyon or Ranger Raptor out on the road.

GMC Canyon AT4X:

Score one for the GM designers on this truck. I honestly thought I would prefer a Colorado ZR2 over the Canyon design language, but once you see one in real life, the Colorado just looks so plain. Although this angle doesn't show, if you see even just a regular Canyon on the road head-on.....man do they look mean. They are wiiiiide. Overall the design reminds me of the warthog in Halo. It just looks so ready for punishment, like it was meant to be driven hard.

Now I'm showering praises over the design language of the Canyon and that seems like a good thing right? Yes and no. If you took a regular Canyon AT4 or even an SLE and put them all side by side, the AT4X wouldn't necessarily jump right out at you. Does it have bigger tires, and more accent colors? Sure, but it doesn't look any meaner than the base model either. The AT4X is meant to be GMs halo off-road trim no matter what truck it's on. With that pedestal you would think GM would pull out all the stops and give it that extra little flair, but that simply isn't true.

And as soon as I gave that point to GM designers I'm going to take it away for GM bean counters getting to make the decision to skimp in the most ridiculous areas you would think. LED tail lights? Check! LED turn signals.....umm no. Well surely the box must have some awesome bed lighting right? Yeah no, that gonna be an extra $600 from the GM Parts catalog for box lighting. Ok ok, I can live without box lighting, because I still have a super bright LED CHIMSEL right GM???? oooooo....yeah sorry guy, umm so GM took the last gen incandescent CHIMSEL and slapped that baby right in there. But hey it does light up, so that's something...oh hey and if you're thinking of updgrading the incandescent bulbs to LED, boy are you gonna have a fun time finding the right bulb that doesn't overheat and hyper flash, doesn't cause interference with your radio, or doesn't include slapping a heat sink on your car somewhere, because boy howdy does GM have their software locked down!

Ford Ranger Raptor:

Come on....you're on the Ranger 6G forum. Did you think this wasn't going to be the best looking of the bunch?? Where the Tacoma and Canyon both have that futuristic look to them, the Ranger takes the traditional box design and focuses more on making it the meanest looking most off road ready of the bunch.

While I have no doubt the Tacoma is a great off roader, it just looks like a truck with beefier tires and a lift kit. It's not wider, doesn't have that attitude, nor does it particularly feel during day to day driving like it was designed for hardcore off-road use. It's more than an appearance package, but only just.

The Canyon certainly looks a lot more aggressive than the Tacoma. Go to the top AT4X trim and you've got a certified bad ass off-roader, trust me, I've tested it. Where the Canyon falls short is basically the same place as the Tacoma. GM did a wonderful job giving the Canyon all the necessary kit to perform in the most austere conditions, but they don't seem like a cohesive design. Like the Toyota, the Canyon suffers from all that off-roading kit looking like it was tacked on. It's no wider than a regular Canyon (save for the little fender flairs with marker lights), and there is no real differentiator from a base model to the AT4X except for bigger tires, rock rails, red tow hooks, and the side marker lights. I could do that on any Canyon and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless you knew what to look for.

The Raptor design is just different. It feels purpose built for one reason alone. Go faster than necessary off-road. Everything about the Raptor design just feels cohesive. It has large fender bulges to house the bigger tires and long travel suspension. The wheels and tires fill the arches very nicely. The flowing lines make it seem as though it is one piece, carved from granite to crush any obstacles in it's path. It's so hard to put into words why the Raptor is just different that the other two trucks. It feels truly special.

Driving Impressions, interior quirks, and tech reviews coming in the near future.

Sponsored

 

[Raptor4444]

I'm, not sure this is an apt comparison using the top halo trims of Chevy and Ford against a mid tier trim from Toyota.

A lariat FX4 is a much more apt comparison

 

[BlckHwk23]

I'm, not sure this is an apt comparison using the top halo trims of Chevy and Ford against a mid tier trim from Toyota.

A lariat FX4 is a much more apt comparison

i can only tell you my experiences with the vehicles I’ve actually driven which includes the TRDOR. Is the TRD Pro better feeling off-road and on? Most likely, but spoiler alert, the tech inside it absolutely SUCKS. More to follow

 

[Richard Conley]

Hey everyone, I’m sure those of you who have not gotten your Rangers are agonizing over the review threads to get an idea of the overall experience of owning a Raptor. Some of you may be on the fence knowing that your order won’t be built until late this year, maybe next.

Bet that competition is looking mighty fine glistening in the sun on those dealer lots, whispering, “Hey Dave, it’s ok….all that bragging you did to your buddies about how you were gonna get a Raptor….it’s gonna be the best thing ever! You said…..just forget all that. You can buy me right now. Take me home to the wife and kids. Show them how big, bad, Dave got special "MSRP" pricing and brought me home to the family.”

I bet those whispers, once easily ignored, are becoming more persistent, gnawing at your thoughts, making you question your loyalty to a product that seems so far out of reach. Well I say ignore them!! Sit!! Listen to the tale of three trucks as told by me, BlckHwk23, your guide to the driving, styling, and daily quirks of three most different trucks indeed. I have driven all of these trucks within the last three months and owned two, and they each have their strong suits and not so great quirks.

Let us begin this comparison with styling. This is the most subjective category of this comparison so take it with a grain of salt.

Appearance:

Toyota Tacoma TRDOR:

This is a good looking truck. The approach and departure angles are fantastic, and the general styling takes your standard box design and adds some flair to it with angles and concave surfaces. My favorite angle of this truck is sideview. The rear spoiler reminds me of a clone trooper with the vertical fin on top of the helmet. Overall, the height of the truck is ok, but unless your taller than 6'1" or you have longer legs, it's a little awkward getting in and out because the floorboards sit so high. Out back, I'm not really a fan of the three vertical tail lamp slits. Yes they're sequential operation which is cool, but they just seem like they're missing something, almost like they're out of place. Overall, I'll say the Tacoma looks the part of an off-roader and is a fairly aggressive design IF you've never seen a Canyon or Ranger Raptor out on the road.

GMC Canyon AT4X:

Score one for the GM designers on this truck. I honestly thought I would prefer a Colorado ZR2 over the Canyon design language, but once you see one in real life, the Colorado just looks so plain. Although this angle doesn't show, if you see even just a regular Canyon on the road head-on.....man do they look mean. They are wiiiiide. Overall the design reminds me of the warthog in Halo. It just looks so ready for punishment, like it was meant to be driven hard.

Now I'm showering praises over the design language of the Canyon and that seems like a good thing right? Yes and no. If you took a regular Canyon AT4 or even an SLE and put them all side by side, the AT4X wouldn't necessarily jump right out at you. Does it have bigger tires, and more accent colors? Sure, but it doesn't look any meaner than the base model either. The AT4X is meant to be GMs halo off-road trim no matter what truck it's on. With that pedestal you would think GM would pull out all the stops and give it that extra little flair, but that simply isn't true.

And as soon as I gave that point to GM designers I'm going to take it away for GM bean counters getting to make the decision to skimp in the most ridiculous areas you would think. LED tail lights? Check! LED turn signals.....umm no. Well surely the box must have some awesome bed lighting right? Yeah no, that gonna be an extra $600 from the GM Parts catalog for box lighting. Ok ok, I can live without box lighting, because I still have a super bright LED CHIMSEL right GM???? oooooo....yeah sorry guy, umm so GM took the last gen incandescent CHIMSEL and slapped that baby right in there. But hey it does light up, so that's something...oh hey and if you're thinking of updgrading the incandescent bulbs to LED, boy are you gonna have a fun time finding the right bulb that doesn't overheat and hyper flash, doesn't cause interference with your radio, or doesn't include slapping a heat sink on your car somewhere, because boy howdy does GM have their software locked down!

Ford Ranger Raptor:

Come on....you're on the Ranger 6G forum. Did you think this wasn't going to be the best looking of the bunch?? Where the Tacoma and Canyon both have that futuristic look to them, the Ranger takes the traditional box design and focuses more on making it the meanest looking most off road ready of the bunch.

While I have no doubt the Tacoma is a great off roader, it just looks like a truck with beefier tires and a lift kit. It's not wider, doesn't have that attitude, nor does it particularly feel during day to day driving like it was designed for hardcore off-road use. It's more than an appearance package, but only just.

The Canyon certainly looks a lot more aggressive than the Tacoma. Go to the top AT4X trim and you've got a certified bad ass off-roader, trust me, I've tested it. Where the Canyon falls short is basically the same place as the Tacoma. GM did a wonderful job giving the Canyon all the necessary kit to perform in the most austere conditions, but they don't seem like a cohesive design. Like the Toyota, the Canyon suffers from all that off-roading kit looking like it was tacked on. It's no wider than a regular Canyon (save for the little fender flairs with marker lights), and there is no real differentiator from a base model to the AT4X except for bigger tires, rock rails, red tow hooks, and the side marker lights. I could do that on any Canyon and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless you knew what to look for.

The Raptor design is just different. It feels purpose built for one reason alone. Go faster than necessary off-road. Everything about the Raptor design just feels cohesive. It has large fender bulges to house the bigger tires and long travel suspension. The wheels and tires fill the arches very nicely. The flowing lines make it seem as though it is one piece, carved from granite to crush any obstacles in it's path. It's so hard to put into words why the Raptor is just different that the other two trucks. It feels truly special.

Driving Impressions, interior quirks, and tech reviews coming in the near future.

Best looking BY FAR Toyota seems to be going closer to the big maw of a Lexus. GM too many sharp and right angles....and of course I don't think either can touch the 3L V-6

 

[Raptor4444]

i can only tell you my experiences with the vehicles I’ve actually driven which includes the TRDOR. Is the TRD Pro better feeling off-road and on? Most likely, but spoiler alert, the tech inside it absolutely SUCKS. More to follow

The tech inside the Toyota sucks?

Now I know not to take this user seriously. As someone who is picking up a raptor in a couple weeks, the Tacoma OR Premium and the Pro and Trailhunter have WAY more tech in them than the Raptor.

Or is that your issue with them? Too much tech?

 

[BlckHwk23]

The tech inside the Toyota sucks?

Now I know not to take this user seriously. As someone who is picking up a raptor in a couple weeks, the Tacoma OR Premium and the Pro and Trailhunter have WAY more tech in them than the Raptor.

Or is that your issue with them? Too much tech?

lol tell you what. Get behind the wheel of a Tacoma and after you’re done driving it let me know what you think of the non intuitive HVAC buttons, inability to turn off driving aids without being at a stop, and the terrible UI that defaults to you setting up a user profile to access a majority of the head unit functions. Take me seriously or not, but how the tech is integrated really sucks. Oh by the way, enjoy trying to turn on manual cruise control without getting “manual cruise control is not available with your current settings.” I know, I know….heaven forbid anybody point out that Toyota isn’t the best at something. Sacrilege.

 

[BlckHwk23]

Interior Impressions:

Tacoma TRDOR:

Overall the Tacoma interior is pretty well executed. It has cool “baskets” on the doors and center console that give it that Molle panel vibe. The digital display was easy to read and the buttons were logically laid out save for the steering wheel. As I alluded to in a previous post, the buttons are not very intuitive. Let’s start on the right side with the cruise control buttons. There are two different buttons to turn on the cruise control as far as I could tell in the week I drove it. The first button was the now ubiquitous radar cruise control everyone is familiar with. The second was a cruise mode button to the left of it that is meant to switch between radar and manual cruise control. The problem with this button is it frequently gave an error message statung the truck couldn’t be put into manual cruise mode until other driving aids were turned off. It didn’t say which driving aids, just driving aids. Listen, I get that some people complain about tech and there’s just too dang much, blah blah blah. This isn’t that. I love tech in vehicle. The more the better, but if it is difficult to use without first reading the owners manual that’s a big no go for me. If I want to know the finer points of how the system works or how different modes function, I’ll absolutely crack open that owners manual, but that shouldn’t be a prerequisite to even use it.

Tech notwithstanding, I was pleasantly surprised to see a manual headlight level adjust to prevent blinding other drivers when carrying heavy loads. Other reviews have said the Tacoma seating position has been greatly improved as well. Having never driven a previous gen Tacoma, I have no reference but I distinctly felt like I was forced to sit closer to the floor due to the lack of adjustability on the tilting steering wheel. I’ve found this to be an issue in my wife’s Highlander as well. The steering wheel just doesn’t seem to tilt up high enough. One final surprise was the distinct lack of room in the back seat. I was surprised with how little room was in the back seat compared to my Canyon despite the rear doors appearing much larger on the Tacoma.

The seats were very soft in the Tacoma which was good and bad as they seemed like they would break down after extended use and may not provide enough support during a long road trip.

GMC Canyon AT4X

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room here. “How could they choose white leather in an offroad truck?!?” So good news and bad news. Bad news, GM fooled a lot of you. The leather portions of the seat are not as expansive as you may think. The only leather parts of the seat are the perforated seat cushion and lumbar section. Good news, white vinyl is exceptionally resistant to staining and very easy to clean.

So, that argument aside let’s focus on the OTHER controversial part of the interior: GM opted to remove a lot of physical buttons and incorporated them into the Android based UI. One in particular was the lighting controls. Some of you may have heard reports of users unable to turn on their headlights because of a UI error. I can tell you from first hand experience it is true, because I was that user. I was driving along during a foggy morning and the vehicle decided it was light enough outside to turn off the headlights. With the amount of fog present I didn’t feel comfortable having the lights off, so I attempted to turn them back on using the quick access buttons in the UI. Unfortunately the vehicle decided that I didn’t need the lights on and grayed out the manual over ride button for the head lights. I also attempted to go into the UI and turn the headlights on with the dedicated headlight function which also didn’t work. I posted a video on the Colorado fans forum showing the condition and also contacted the NTSB but never heard anything back. According to GM engineers, the touch screen headlight controls were designed to be independent of the Android UI to avoid any potential inability to turn on headlights if the UI crashed. Clearly that didn’t work.

In terms of interior layout, GM designers nailed most of it. As much as I love the bolstered steering wheel of the Raptor, GM wins the steering wheel button layout wars hands down. The addition of the volume and preset channel levers on the back of the steering wheel really frees up the front of the of the wheel to include only necessary buttons like cruise control, and the direction pad. Exceptionally easy to get in and feel right at home working the controls. Unfortunately where GM giveth, they also take away. Just because it can be done doesn’t mean it should be. This was a mantra GM forgot to consult when they combined the turn signal, windshield wipers, and bright lights all in one stalk. Did it work? Yes. Did it suck? Also yes.

Another place that GM engineers nailed it was the info screens and the overall digital dash layout, to include HUD. I’m an iPhone user through and through because of my experiences with trying out several iterations of Android, but I have to say, the Android based UI in GMs vehicles is absolutely on point. I actually preferred using it over Apple car play because of how well integrated into the vehicle functions it was. You need directions? “Ok Google get me directions to west 15th street” Boom! Just like that a very large google map comes up on the 14” center display. But now I can’t see what song is playing you think to yourself. No worries, let me transfer that giant freaking google map to my 12.5” driver display. Oh by the way look out onto the road. See that full color 9” HUD pointing you to your destination? Pretty nice isn’t it?

Seating comfort was nice, and I like the large amount of adjustments I could make to my driving position. I prefer sitting higher in my vehicles because I find it more comfortable to have my legs bent more vertically than out in front of me. The Canyon allowed me to do that without feeling like I was about to hit my head on the headliner. Speaking of seats, of all the things I miss the most, it is definitely those ventilated seats. Truly a game changer.

The few gripes I had with the interior of the GM mostly had to do with penny pinching. Lack of physical headlight and fog light controls, lack of home link (I purchased a gentex auto dimming mirror with integrated home link to alleviate that), lack or power sliding rear window, and lack of full LED lighting interior and exterior. For $62,000 it seems very foolish for GM to exclude these things that come standard on a $35000 Mazda, or $40,000 Volkswagen, or insert other cheaper vehicles here.

Ranger Raptor:

So far this interior feels the most special of the bunch. From the high bolstered seats, the inclusion of code orange accents and suede inserts, the bolstered steering wheel with locator stripe, and soft touch materials everywhere, this feels like a $60,000 truck. I will say I am quite surprised at just how soft everything is inside, and I don’t mean in terms of feel, but more with the amount of give the material has. The steering wheel has definite give to it if you squeeze it lightly. The bolstering on the seats looks super aggressive but gives very easily (not sure if this is a bad thing or good thing yet). I am pleasantly surprised with the amount of room in the back seat compared to the other two as well. I have my seat adjusted to my preferred driving position, and I have at least 2 inches more knee room than the Tacoma and an inch or more than the Canyon. As much as I like the graphics in the screens and driver info center I have to hand it to GM and their outstanding Android UI. It’s just plain easier to use and provides more useful information at a glance. In terms of HVAC output I have noticed a few things that differ slightly. First, the Tacoma air conditioning is good. When you compare it to the Canyon or Raptor however, good is not great. In terms of sheer chilliness I’d say GM and Ford are nearly neck and neck. Where the GM outdoes Ford in my opinion is the adjustability of the front driver vents. I like to have cool air blowing on my hands and wrists on a hot day, to me that is the quickest way to cool down and remain comfortable without having to crank the AC to the absolute lowest setting. Because the Canyon has rear vents in the back seat area, the driver vents are able to swivel just that much more to cover my whole hand when holding the steering wheel at six and nine. I can say this for certain but because of the ack of rear vents in the Ford, I think the driver vents do not allow the user to focus all of the air onto the front seating position, instead being forced share even just a little cool air to help reduce temps in the cabin. Just my opinion and it wouldn’t seem likely that Ford would specially engineer the drivers vents just for the US market but I have seen crazier things.

if you’ve stuck with me so far, thanks for reading. I’ll be posting about driving impressions in the next wall of text.

 

[cc1999]

Found this new video going over and comparing the design of the Chevy/GMC vs the Ranger Raptor. Seems to breakdown several of the design differences. Thought it would be a good watch for those interested in this comparison topic.

 

[Raptor4444]

lol tell you what. Get behind the wheel of a Tacoma and after you’re done driving it let me know what you think of the non intuitive HVAC buttons, inability to turn off driving aids without being at a stop, and the terrible UI that defaults to you setting up a user profile to access a majority of the head unit functions. Take me seriously or not, but how the tech is integrated really sucks. Oh by the way, enjoy trying to turn on manual cruise control without getting “manual cruise control is not available with your current settings.” I know, I know….heaven forbid anybody point out that Toyota isn’t the best at something. Sacrilege.

lol tell you what. I have driven multiple by now and that's how I know you're playing some weird disinformation game.

You're flatly making things up. Stop this weird brand warrioring.

1. Non intuitive HVAC? I would love to know what is non-intuitive about physical HVAC controls? Are you really a truck driver that is calling aux switch like controls "non intuitive?". PLEASE answer this one. I really want to know as it is hilarious. You lightly touched on the lack of physical controls in the GM, yet go nuts on aux like physical controls?

2. What? You can absolutely turn aids off while driving............... Your post regarding not being able to change manual cruise while driving is a flat out lie. I quite literally just did that on a test drive a couple weeks ago

3. Huh? A new ranger also defaults to a setup screen LOL. This is a weird complaint

4. It is still hilarious you are comparing a mid trim against halo trims. No limited? No Offroad premium?

5. There is no issue with you pointing out that Toyota isnt the best at something.... There is something wrong with you literally making things up lol.

6. There was zero reason for you to get aggressive for me simply pointing out the comparison makes no sense and me asking if the tech was too much for you. Hilarious that set you off.


I'm picking up my Raptor and I dont feel the need to literally make things up. Like I would never say the new tacoma sat on lots through winter and caused years of rust on new Rangers... wait that isnt a lie

 

[Raptor4444]

Interior Impressions:

Tacoma TRDOR:

Overall the Tacoma interior is pretty well executed. It has cool “baskets” on the doors and center console that give it that Molle panel vibe. The digital display was easy to read and the buttons were logically laid out save for the steering wheel. As I alluded to in a previous post, the buttons are not very intuitive. Let’s start on the right side with the cruise control buttons. There are two different buttons to turn on the cruise control as far as I could tell in the week I drove it. The first button was the now ubiquitous radar cruise control everyone is familiar with. The second was a cruise mode button to the left of it that is meant to switch between radar and manual cruise control. The problem with this button is it frequently gave an error message statung the truck couldn’t be put into manual cruise mode until other driving aids were turned off. It didn’t say which driving aids, just driving aids. Listen, I get that some people complain about tech and there’s just too dang much, blah blah blah. This isn’t that. I love tech in vehicle. The more the better, but if it is difficult to use without first reading the owners manual that’s a big no go for me. If I want to know the finer points of how the system works or how different modes function, I’ll absolutely crack open that owners manual, but that shouldn’t be a prerequisite to even use it.

Tech notwithstanding, I was pleasantly surprised to see a manual headlight level adjust to prevent blinding other drivers when carrying heavy loads. Other reviews have said the Tacoma seating position has been greatly improved as well. Having never driven a previous gen Tacoma, I have no reference but I distinctly felt like I was forced to sit closer to the floor due to the lack of adjustability on the tilting steering wheel. I’ve found this to be an issue in my wife’s Highlander as well. The steering wheel just doesn’t seem to tilt up high enough. One final surprise was the distinct lack of room in the back seat. I was surprised with how little room was in the back seat compared to my Canyon despite the rear doors appearing much larger on the Tacoma.

The seats were very soft in the Tacoma which was good and bad as they seemed like they would break down after extended use and may not provide enough support during a long road trip.

GMC Canyon AT4X

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room here. “How could they choose white leather in an offroad truck?!?” So good news and bad news. Bad news, GM fooled a lot of you. The leather portions of the seat are not as expansive as you may think. The only leather parts of the seat are the perforated seat cushion and lumbar section. Good news, white vinyl is exceptionally resistant to staining and very easy to clean.

So, that argument aside let’s focus on the OTHER controversial part of the interior: GM opted to remove a lot of physical buttons and incorporated them into the Android based UI. One in particular was the lighting controls. Some of you may have heard reports of users unable to turn on their headlights because of a UI error. I can tell you from first hand experience it is true, because I was that user. I was driving along during a foggy morning and the vehicle decided it was light enough outside to turn off the headlights. With the amount of fog present I didn’t feel comfortable having the lights off, so I attempted to turn them back on using the quick access buttons in the UI. Unfortunately the vehicle decided that I didn’t need the lights on and grayed out the manual over ride button for the head lights. I also attempted to go into the UI and turn the headlights on with the dedicated headlight function which also didn’t work. I posted a video on the Colorado fans forum showing the condition and also contacted the NTSB but never heard anything back. According to GM engineers, the touch screen headlight controls were designed to be independent of the Android UI to avoid any potential inability to turn on headlights if the UI crashed. Clearly that didn’t work.

In terms of interior layout, GM designers nailed most of it. As much as I love the bolstered steering wheel of the Raptor, GM wins the steering wheel button layout wars hands down. The addition of the volume and preset channel levers on the back of the steering wheel really frees up the front of the of the wheel to include only necessary buttons like cruise control, and the direction pad. Exceptionally easy to get in and feel right at home working the controls. Unfortunately where GM giveth, they also take away. Just because it can be done doesn’t mean it should be. This was a mantra GM forgot to consult when they combined the turn signal, windshield wipers, and bright lights all in one stalk. Did it work? Yes. Did it suck? Also yes.

Another place that GM engineers nailed it was the info screens and the overall digital dash layout, to include HUD. I’m an iPhone user through and through because of my experiences with trying out several iterations of Android, but I have to say, the Android based UI in GMs vehicles is absolutely on point. I actually preferred using it over Apple car play because of how well integrated into the vehicle functions it was. You need directions? “Ok Google get me directions to west 15th street” Boom! Just like that a very large google map comes up on the 14” center display. But now I can’t see what song is playing you think to yourself. No worries, let me transfer that giant freaking google map to my 12.5” driver display. Oh by the way look out onto the road. See that full color 9” HUD pointing you to your destination? Pretty nice isn’t it?

Seating comfort was nice, and I like the large amount of adjustments I could make to my driving position. I prefer sitting higher in my vehicles because I find it more comfortable to have my legs bent more vertically than out in front of me. The Canyon allowed me to do that without feeling like I was about to hit my head on the headliner. Speaking of seats, of all the things I miss the most, it is definitely those ventilated seats. Truly a game changer.

The few gripes I had with the interior of the GM mostly had to do with penny pinching. Lack of physical headlight and fog light controls, lack of home link (I purchased a gentex auto dimming mirror with integrated home link to alleviate that), lack or power sliding rear window, and lack of full LED lighting interior and exterior. For $62,000 it seems very foolish for GM to exclude these things that come standard on a $35000 Mazda, or $40,000 Volkswagen, or insert other cheaper vehicles here.

Ranger Raptor:

So far this interior feels the most special of the bunch. From the high bolstered seats, the inclusion of code orange accents and suede inserts, the bolstered steering wheel with locator stripe, and soft touch materials everywhere, this feels like a $60,000 truck. I will say I am quite surprised at just how soft everything is inside, and I don’t mean in terms of feel, but more with the amount of give the material has. The steering wheel has definite give to it if you squeeze it lightly. The bolstering on the seats looks super aggressive but gives very easily (not sure if this is a bad thing or good thing yet). I am pleasantly surprised with the amount of room in the back seat compared to the other two as well. I have my seat adjusted to my preferred driving position, and I have at least 2 inches more knee room than the Tacoma and an inch or more than the Canyon. As much as I like the graphics in the screens and driver info center I have to hand it to GM and their outstanding Android UI. It’s just plain easier to use and provides more useful information at a glance. In terms of HVAC output I have noticed a few things that differ slightly. First, the Tacoma air conditioning is good. When you compare it to the Canyon or Raptor however, good is not great. In terms of sheer chilliness I’d say GM and Ford are nearly neck and neck. Where the GM outdoes Ford in my opinion is the adjustability of the front driver vents. I like to have cool air blowing on my hands and wrists on a hot day, to me that is the quickest way to cool down and remain comfortable without having to crank the AC to the absolute lowest setting. Because the Canyon has rear vents in the back seat area, the driver vents are able to swivel just that much more to cover my whole hand when holding the steering wheel at six and nine. I can say this for certain but because of the ack of rear vents in the Ford, I think the driver vents do not allow the user to focus all of the air onto the front seating position, instead being forced share even just a little cool air to help reduce temps in the cabin. Just my opinion and it wouldn’t seem likely that Ford would specially engineer the drivers vents just for the US market but I have seen crazier things.

if you’ve stuck with me so far, thanks for reading. I’ll be posting about driving impressions in the next wall of text.

Yeah, aint reading all that after you flatly lied in your original post. I asked a simple question and you got testy because someone dare mention that your comparison makes no sense.

 

[BlckHwk23]

Yeah, aint reading all that after you flatly lied in your original post. I asked a simple question and you got testy because someone dare mention that your comparison makes no sense.

whatever floats your boat bud.

 

[SCFast]

I'm picking up my Raptor and I dont feel the need to literally make things up. Like I would never say the new tacoma sat on lots through winter and caused years of rust on new Rangers... wait that isnt a lie

There is no winter in Northern Mexico. For what it's worth I ran a Ford Bodyshop and dealt with customers potential warranty concerns including doors not closing and surface rust on truck frames and parts.
I now work at a shop that happens to do all warranty work for a local Toyota dealer, I have had to replace Tacoma frames under warranty due to rust, I do complete repaints on Toyotas under warranty due to failing paint at least one a week, I just had a 24 Tacoma in here fresh off the truck to align body panels and address paint defects, New tundras in here for failing stone guards and panel gaps, paint ghosting etc.
Toyotas aren't crap but the 24's don't do it for me and interior is well...Mediocre at best, the same as when I went and saw the first 2016 Taco my longtime Toyota dealer got in when they came out and first time dinking around inside I immediately said no thanks an ordered another 16 4runner. I have had 1 Tacoma, 2 4runners an FJ and GX460 so I have nothing against them

 

[MJE]

Thanks for posting up your thoughts. Good read. Looking forward to experiencing the option for myself too.

 

[Geotoxic]

Yeah, aint reading all that after you flatly lied in your original post. I asked a simple question and you got testy because someone dare mention that your comparison makes no sense.

To be fair, TRDOR Premium is the same price as the Ranger Raptor. I'd say it's a valid comparison as I no longer am interested in the TRD Pro due to the speculated price of 60k+.

 

[BlckHwk23]

I’ll answer the question again and give it it’s own spacing so it’s clear to everyone why this comparison was set up the way it was.

I'm, not sure this is an apt comparison using the top halo trims of Chevy and Ford against a mid tier trim from Toyota.

A lariat FX4 is a much more apt comparison

I haven’t driven any other trucks than what I’m giving my opinions on in this post. I can’t give an opinion if I haven’t sat in/ driven/ experienced a vehicle. Doing so would be foolish.

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