Cars.com Best Bets for New Pickup Trucks
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The following new models were not considered when making the above selections:
Cars.com Best Bets are intended to reflect reality. While a good number of the nearly 1 million Ford F-150 full-size pickups sold each year are true work trucks, the pickup category and its sales have been growing because people increasingly buy them for personal use. Encouraged by the proliferation of the crew-cab body style — the type with four full doors and a roomy backseat — the pickup has become an SUV-alternative family mover.
Personal pickup truck use is far more homogeneous than is work use. Work-truck buyers know more about their particular needs than we do. What's good for one may be irrelevant for another. No wimpy trucks need apply, but we don't pick nits over specifications. You can find all you need to know about a truck's standard and optional capabilities by sifting through the data we provide. We would probably take fuel economy and emissions into account, but they're all pretty much the same: really, really bad.
What does that leave? Safety, real-world performance, refinement, comfort, features, innovation and value. The safety picture is looking up for full-size trucks. All the pickups considered except for General Motors' score Good in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Crashworthiness Evaluations. The other criteria, again, are based on consumer use.
- 2006 Dodge Ram Mega Cab
- 2006 Honda Ridgeline
- Redesigned Nissan Frontier
- Redesigned Toyota Tacoma
Best Bet Selection Methodology
Cars.com Best Bets are intended to reflect reality. While a good number of the nearly 1 million Ford F-150 full-size pickups sold each year are true work trucks, the pickup category and its sales have been growing because people increasingly buy them for personal use. Encouraged by the proliferation of the crew-cab body style — the type with four full doors and a roomy backseat — the pickup has become an SUV-alternative family mover.Personal pickup truck use is far more homogeneous than is work use. Work-truck buyers know more about their particular needs than we do. What's good for one may be irrelevant for another. No wimpy trucks need apply, but we don't pick nits over specifications. You can find all you need to know about a truck's standard and optional capabilities by sifting through the data we provide. We would probably take fuel economy and emissions into account, but they're all pretty much the same: really, really bad.
What does that leave? Safety, real-world performance, refinement, comfort, features, innovation and value. The safety picture is looking up for full-size trucks. All the pickups considered except for General Motors' score Good in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Crashworthiness Evaluations. The other criteria, again, are based on consumer use.
