What’s the Best Mid-Size Truck to Drive To and From the Off-Road Park?
Key Points in This Article:
- Of the four trucks in our comparison, the Ford Ranger Raptor did the best in our on-road testing thanks to its fun-to-drive nature, test-leading ride quality and comfortable seats.
- What served the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison well off-road — its big 35-inch mud-terrain tires — hindered its performance on-road, and the truck’s tall ride height made it difficult to get into.
- The Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro and Jeep Gladiator finished in the bottom half of our on-road-focused testing, with the Tacoma’s user interface and interior quality scored lowest, while the Gladiator’s powertrain and steering feel brought up the rear.
Unless you live in a rural area, commute through national parks or intentionally have left the grid and world behind, you will eventually need to drive your off-road truck on some hard pavement. Maybe you need to use highways to get to the off-road park, or maybe your ORV does daily duty as your commuter vehicle, too; either way, how these trucks drive on the street is as important to us as how they drive in the dirt. It doesn’t matter if you have an amazing mountain goat of a rig that can scale tall boulders in a single bound every other weekend if it rattles your teeth loose on broken concrete every morning and evening.
2025 Mid-Size Off-Road Truck Challenge
Results | On-Road Driving
So as part of our 2025 Mid-Size Off-Road Truck Challenge, we included a day of on-road testing in order to get a full picture of how well these purpose-built machines perform where the vast majority of owners will use them: on-road most of the time, off-road now and then.
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How We Tested
For our on-road testing, our editors drove each truck on a roughly 30-mile route and scored them from 1-10, with 10 being best, in five categories: seat comfort, vehicle user interface, interior quality, powertrain and ride quality. With three editors as judges, each vehicle had a maximum of 30 points in each category and a max of 150 points total for our on-road scoring. Along the way, we discovered a lot of differences between these trucks, much of them reflecting the various brand philosophies and the customers these trucks are aimed at.
Here’s how the four trucks ranked in order of preference in our on-road testing. If you’d like to see which truck was the overall winner of our 2025 Mid-Size Off-Road Truck Challenge, see the above link to our results.
On-Road Testing Finishing Order (Out of 150 points)
1. 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor: 128
2. 2025 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison: 118
3. 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro: 104
4. 2025 Jeep Gladiator Mojave X: 101
1. 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor
- Takeaway: The Ranger Raptor is great at high-speed off-road driving, and it’s just as fun to drive on the street thanks to its responsive twin-turbo V-6 powertrain and sporty handling attributes.
While the 2025 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison managed to snag a victory in three off-road tests, we found that the Ford Ranger Raptor was our preference when the dirt ended and the pavement began. It scored a category win for seat comfort, as it offers an excellent driving position and enough bolstering and support to be good for longer drives. But it was the Raptor’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 engine mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission that won the day, earning a perfect powertrain score from our judges. Every judge heaped praise upon the combination, finding it to be wonderfully torquey, instantly peppy and beautifully responsive in low-speed driving or on twisty back roads.
“The engine and transmission combo is just fantastic,” wrote Detroit Bureau Chief Aaron Bragman. “Snorty, powerful, quick — it’s an absolute gem.” Senior Road Test Editor Mike Hanley agreed, stating, “The Ranger Raptor has the best powertrain of this group for on-road driving. It has linear, predictable power, is responsive and offers lots of torque from the turbocharged V-6 engine.”
The Ranger Raptor didn’t score quite so highly on vehicle user interface, however, with judges dinging it for the vertical orientation of its multimedia touchscreen when the other trucks in our test use a much more user-friendly horizontal layout. Road Test Editor Brian Normile noted, “The vertical touchscreen display limits camera views because of its lack of horizontal real estate, and its graphics and responsiveness are lacking among the trucks in this test.” And when it came to interior quality, two out of three judges found it to be acceptable, if not outstanding.
The transformation from regular Ranger to Ranger Raptor does bring some special, nicer materials, and the truck does offer good backseat space, but it’s pretty clear that it’s how the Raptor drives on the street, and its ability to change its personality with its drive modes, that makes Normile’s summary of the Ranger Raptor so spot-on when he says: “A sports car off-road, the Ford Ranger Raptor is the most carlike and comfortable of these trucks to drive on-road, too.”
2. 2025 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison
- Takeaway: The Colorado ZR2’s big 35-inch tires have pros and cons when driving on pavement, but the truck’s thoughtful mix of physical and screen-based controls is a plus. We just wish the truck had a rearview camera mirror.
The Colorado ZR2 Bison is an amazing off-road truck, blasting its way through most of our four off-road tests with extraordinary supremacy. But when it came to on-road driving, the things that made it so amazing in the dirt were the same things that worked against it. It didn’t finish last in any of our five scored on-road test categories, but it only won one of them: vehicle user interface. Our editors really liked its dashboard layout with its blend of physical controls for a lot of functions and a big, bright touchscreen running a new Google-based operating system.
“The customizable digital instrument panel is bright and vivid,” said Hanley, “the Google Built-In infotainment system is responsive and intuitive, and it was easy to use Apple CarPlay with it.” Bragman agreed: “The interior is very comfortable, well laid out, and the fact that Chevy seems to have found the right mix of touchscreen controls for things you don’t touch often (headlights, traction control) and hard buttons for things you do (climate control, audio) is fantastic.”
But our on-road testing was also about driving and not just using the truck’s features, and here the Colorado enjoyed the benefits that come with having big 35-inch tires — and also exhibited the problems with having such huge rubber. “The big tires make for a bouncier, floatier ride on the road,” Hanley said. “It’s not as precise to drive as the Tacoma or Ranger, but it’s still better than the Gladiator.” One man’s bounciness is another judge’s comfort, however, with Normile stating, “The off-road suspension and gigantic tires let the Colorado absorb every bump and road imperfection for a pillowy ride.” But as the Ranger Raptor shows, you don’t have to be pillowy to be comfortable, and the off-road tires’ negative effect on on-road steering precision worked against the Colorado. The big tires also make for a tall climb to get up into the cabin, and there’s no grab handle to help the driver in. Our judges liked the power offered by the Chevy’s turbo four-cylinder engine, but not enough to overcome the balloon-like tires’ impact on how the Colorado drives.
Though we didn’t score outward visibility as part of our on-road testing, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the absolutely nutty placement of the Colorado ZR2 Bison’s full-size spare tire. It’s mounted vertically in the bed, hard up against the back of the cab, and it almost completely blocks your rear view. It might benefit bed usability, but you can’t see out the back window. This would be less of an issue if Chevy had fitted the ZR2 Bison with a rearview camera mirror, like you can get in other vehicles from the brand, but it didn’t.
“How the hell is there no rearview camera mirror?” Bragman said. “It’s in every other high-end GM product out there, and the one vehicle where it’s practically mandatory due to the crazy placement of the spare tire, it’s not even an option?” Normile felt the same way: “Driving on the highway with almost no rear view never felt safe.”
3. 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro
- Takeaway: The Toyota’s tires came into their own on the street, and the truck’s strong gas-electric hybrid powertrain was second only to the Ranger Raptor’s turbo V-6 in our scoring. We were less enthused with the truck’s various user interfaces and interior quality, however.
Bringing up the bottom half of our on-road test results was the 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. It scored last in three categories: vehicle user interface, interior quality and seat comfort, with the latter a shared loss with the Jeep Gladiator Mojave X. Unlike the Gladiator, it had no wins in any category, though it wasn’t far behind the Ranger in our powertrain and ride quality scoring.
A surprising highlight of the new Tacoma was its hybrid powertrain, which our judges liked better on-road than off. “The gas-electric hybrid powertrain makes a lot of torque that results in immediate responsiveness, and it’s accompanied by quick transmission downshifts,” said Hanley. The Tacoma’s tires, which are more street-friendly than what’s on the other trucks in this test, also helped it earn kudos for sharper handling and a comfortable ride. “While the tires may lack traction off-road relative to the other trucks in this test, on pavement, the Tacoma TRD Pro has the most grip,” Normile notes.
But powertrain performance and steering feel are largely where the praise ends, with our judges not won over by the Tacoma’s plasticky interior, unusable backseat and poorly integrated multimedia system. While some judges praised the curious IsoDynamic front seats that have built-in shock absorbers, the penalty to backseat passenger room is significant. “The minimal effect the IsoDynamic seats have isn’t worth the utter elimination of backseat space that comes with them,” Bragman said. Normile agreed: “The IsoDynamic seats practically turn the Tacoma TRD Pro into a grand tourer, rendering the backseat more useful as a parcel shelf than a place to put passengers.”
We also took issue with the Toyota’s multimedia system, which felt like it was designed by an entirely different team than the rest of the Tacoma’s electronics given how little interaction there is with the truck’s other controls and settings. “The interfaces for both the digital instrument panel and touchscreen infotainment system are harder to use than they should be,” Hanley complained. “It’s hard to find different information in the IP due to unintuitive menus, and some of the infotainment system’s menus seem bare.” Normile agreed on this one, too: “While the giant touchscreen is easy to use, adjusting other settings via the Tacoma’s digital instrument panel and steering-wheel controls is maddening. It should not be so difficult.”
4. 2025 Jeep Gladiator Mojave X
- Takeaway: The Gladiator’s interior quality and design are standout elements, but the truck’s Wrangler roots don’t serve it well on the street, particularly its solid front axle that’s a big detriment to steering precision.
Bringing up the rear is the Jeep Gladiator Mojave X, which is a bit of an outlier in this group when you consider its design and construction. This becomes especially apparent on-road, where the Gladiator’s Jeep Wrangler roots become glaringly obvious. It tied the Tacoma for last place in seat comfort and came last in our powertrain and ride quality scoring.
The powertrain in particular felt woefully out of date in this field of turbocharged tech. While it’s fairly bulletproof by now, the Gladiator’s old 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 felt underpowered and crude. “Minimal power from the Pentastar V-6 makes the Gladiator struggle to get up to speed on the highway, and there’s little in reserve for passing,” Normile commented. And the Gladiator’s solid front axle, a rare setup these days, didn’t help its handling prowess at all. Hanley noted, “Steering inputs are more of a suggestion than a directive in the Gladiator, which wanders back and forth on the road.” Bragman agreed, stating “the solid front axle does nothing to help the Gladiator’s handling. I found myself constantly correcting to maintain the lane even when there was no side wind to push the truck around.”
However, the Gladiator did win one category: interior quality. While the judges didn’t care for the truck’s seats all that much and some found the driving position to be cramped, the materials quality of the interior and its use of color looked and felt truly outstanding. “Interior quality is excellent, with on-brand rugged-looking trim, and high-quality panels and materials,” noted Bragman. Normile agreed, stating, “The Gladiator’s in-cabin materials are of the highest quality in this test, and the subtle green accents are an upscale touch.” And there was praise for the Gladiator’s easy-to-use multimedia system and plethora of physical buttons and controls. “Uconnect 5, plus this iteration of the Gladiator’s 12.3-inch touchscreen, are a winning combination, with the best combination of graphics, responsiveness and user interface,” Normile stated, while Hanley praised the truck’s buttons: “The presence of physical controls and buttons is refreshing to see as more and more vehicles move to touch-sensitive controls, or put more controls in a touchscreen.”
Alas, the Gladiator’s old-school driving dynamics made it feel quite behind the times compared with the other mid-size pickups in this test, and its unique, upscale interior (and class-exclusive removable top and doors) weren’t enough to beat trucks that felt far more comfortable and easy to live with on a daily basis.
Living With an Off-Road Truck On-Road
At the end of the day, when it’s time to drive home from whatever off-road adventure you’ve had, comfort, ease of use, quality and just general livability are key. From our extensive testing of these four models, we found the Ford Ranger Raptor to have the best combination of all those things; plus, it offered a healthy dose of on-road driving fun that the others simply lack. That honey of an engine and transmission combo, paired with drive modes that actually do change the nature of how the truck responds, made the Ranger the one we’d all pick to drive home in from the off-road park every time.
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