You can practically hear Yosemite Sam shouting, “Thar’s gold in that thar dirt!” as automakers shovel out new off-road versions of seemingly every truck, SUV, and crossover. Americans are so hungry for these tough mudders that a full pickup model line now includes, at a minimum, an off-road option package, a better-equipped off-road trim, and an off-road halo model.
For this comparison, we collected the most promising trucks from the middle tier, the Silverado 1500 LT Trail Boss, F-150 Tremor, 1500 Rebel G/T, and Tundra TRD Pro. We benched the GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 because it’s so similar to the Chevy but carries a nearly $6,000 price premium. The Nissan Titan Pro-4X was left out because it didn’t stand a chance.
All the trucks in this test are outfitted with skidplates, all-terrain tires, locking rear differentials, and lifted suspensions for crawling over boulders, scrambling up loose grades, and paddling through thick mud. While they don’t have the high-flying, desert-running ability of the Raptor or TRX, they aren’t poseurs. We confirmed that at Michigan’s Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park, where the trucks chewed through a seven-layer salad of snow, mud, sand, dirt, rocks, slush, and standing water. Of course, for most buyers, a full-size truck is a daily driver and occasional toy, so we spent just as much time driving suburban streets, rural back roads, and Midwestern highways. The winner is the truck that’s as capable navigating a gnarly, rutted-out trail as it is the wildest habitat in the concrete jungle, the Costco parking lot.
The Tundra has elbowed its way into the full-size truck conversation for as long as it’s existed. In TRD Pro trim, the new-for-2022 third-gen truck delivers a 437-hp, 583-lb-ft elbow drop on the domestic competition. Its hybridized and twin-turbocharged 3.4-liter V-6 is the most powerful engine in this test.
