“Bro, $72,000 and the passenger doesn’t even get a power seat!?
“For something so big, the interior is cramped, too.
“And the stitching is all off.”
At first hello, my friend was not a fan of the latest Chevy Silverado LT Trailboss.
He didn’t hide his feelin…
Nightmare, more like. If I cared about off-roading, it would be in something far smaller and lighter. Which pretty well sums up my attitude on vehicles in general.
I think I'm at the point where I have a hard time taking a "full-size" truck (and the owners) seriously these days. They're really just for people who want to be seen. The only off-roading that will be done with most is a gravel parking lot. The loading height is too high. Its just performative masculinity, in my opinion. An 80's C-10 is the size of a previous generation Colorado. I can put a standard pallet between the wheel wells in my Frontier and will tow more than most will ever attempt with their full-size.
If your truck has 4 doors and a 4 foot bed you don't need a truck, you need a minivan but you're too much of a coward to admit it.
Christ, are we seriously doing the "nobody needs a truck" thing AGAIN?
You know what else nobody needs? A berkeleying sports car. Stop judging other people's choices.
Yeah IMHO the wheelbase is just too long at 157" for anything much more challenging than a forest service road. Our 100 series Land Cruiser is downright compact at 112" comparatively and it doesn't exactly feel small on the trail. For reference a modern 4-door Wrangler has a wheelbase of 118", but also has much shorter overhangs than just about anything on the market now and definitely shorter than the badonka-donk rear end on our Cruiser.
Is a crew cab pickup my dream off roader?
yup
I have spent most of my "motorsport" times offroad. Trails and 4x4 stuffs was and still is my interest. Most of the time I was in one of a few different "small" nissan trucks. Crew cab and extended cab. Same wheelbase so not a huge difference. All reasonable capable with good driving. Later I got to use a 4x4 tundra. Not massively larger than the "small" trucks but certainly noticeable, not in a good way. Mostly the weight difference was noticeable. Turning radius not as good.
After the Tundra i used a f-150 crew cab 3.5 ecoboost 4x4(which I loved driving). Bigger than the tundra, heavier and way too bouncy off road. Its hard to negate the weight when you are bouncing around and have it feel good.
for my wants offroad, its gonna be a smaller, lighter vehicle.
I also feel small is better for off roading; that' why I have a dirt bike.
As for the truck in question; I still can't wrap my head around a 70K pick up truck. Whenever I've had a truck it's been a workhorse and I expect it to get dings and scratches.
I like the idea of full size trucks off road. I often dream of getting a copart F150 and adding a Factory Five XTF Stage 1 kit.
I second the Factory Five XTF package for the F-150 as well.
If you think that's big... my son just bought a 2500HD. He thinks it's awesome. I think it's insane
“For something so big, the interior is cramped, too.
That's what i say about his wife's TLX. For such a large car it has a ridiculously small interior, and useless trunk. They bought it as a family car, but if they had more than one child it would be too small.
In reply to AClockworkGarage :
If your truck has 4 doors and a 4 foot bed you don't need a truck, you need a minivan but you're too much of a coward to admit it.
That is absolutely ignorant. One, the trucks that we are talking about have beds around 6' plus or minus (the one in the article can be had with a 69" or 79" bed.) Having owned a crew cab truck with a short bed for over 20 years, I can confidently tell you that it has carried hundreds of loads that I never would have dreamed of putting in my excellent for it's intended use Sienna. I can't recall a single time that I couldn't transport anything that I needed to because the bed was too short. They make/made long bed crew cab trucks, but they didn't sell well because the trucks were too damn long. For the last 20 years the vast majority of the truck buying public has voted with their dollars that they prefer a larger cab with a shorter bed.
David S. Wallens said:
Is a crew cab pickup your dream off-road vehicle?
Nope, not even close
For offroad, I also like small. On the Utah trails, my vehicles (an XJ and an old Land Rover) can take lines that a modern lifted/widened Wranger cannot.
Example - while driving Top Of The World a couple of years ago, i was in this.
And I spend a lot of time having to wait for these guys to lumber through. They had fewer options.
If I was to drive a pickup offroad (like, really offroad, not a dirt road), I'd want something like a Comanche or an older Tacoma at most. I kinda would like a Comanche :) I definitely would not like something that's 7" longer (!) than my 2500 crew cab with a 6'4" box.
According to the Chevy site, the Silverado Trail Boss does NOT get a (standard or optional) locking rear diff. I get why it's offered and sells, but it's a 'mall-crawler special' not an 'off-road special'. Even being the size, I would not choose that trim for meaningful off-roading, and the 2" lift mostly just makes it worse for daily, towing, and hauling.
However, I also have a full-size, 4-door, short bed truck, and I absolutely love it because it's far and away the best tool for my varied needs. Anybody who thinks it's just an ego or image thing when they see me daily driving it alone with an empty bed can berkeley right off.
This is my ultimate offroad vehicle. What you need for Armageddon.
Keith Tanner said:For offroad, I also like small. On the Utah trails, my vehicles (an XJ and an old Land Rover) can take lines that a modern lifted/widened Wranger cannot.
Example - while driving Top Of The World a couple of years ago, i was in this.
And I spend a lot of time having to wait for these guys to lumber through. They had fewer options.
If I was to drive a pickup offroad (like, really offroad, not a dirt road), I'd want something like a Comanche or an older Tacoma at most. I kinda would like a Comanche :) I definitely would not like something that's 7" longer (!) than my 2500 crew cab with a 6'4" box.
You've discovered something that's slowly been coming to light for the past several years. To quote popular YouTuber Matthew Wetzel (Matt's Off-road Recovery) "...you take a stock XJ and it won't off-road any better than anything else. Now simply add a "lunchbox locker" and a very mild lift and suddenly you've got a rig that will off-road better than practically EVERYTHING else..."
I think he's right. I sometimes wish I hadn't traded mine for a JK Rubicon.
I don't have a need for a back seat, so no.
Need a back seat? Cherokee. Need something with a bed? Toyota with solid axles.
Ain't nobody taking their double cab pickup in the woods where I live. They won't make it between/around the trees our trails snake through.
That's an awfully lot of body that won't fit nearly as much tire as needed for good off-road work. It would be ok for mud work, with a ladder frame and some big ass boggers, but it's way too big for any kind of trail riding. My regular cab S10 and extended cab ranger were too big for a lot of the local trails.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
You can take a trail 90 anywhere; just not in a hurry.
If I could only own one vehicle it would be a truck.
I quit FS trucks in 2016, too large, even then. My 2022 Colorado ZR2 ECLB is right size for me. 6' bed w/ AMP bed extender carries 10' lengths easily. Locking F&R diffs, climbs like a mountain goat. Last of the NA V6s. Capable and I paid just under $45K MSRP. Does everything I need.
I can't imagine a FS truck on a trail in the NE, maybe the plains and the desert be okay.
In reply to A 401 CJ :
I discovered it when wheeling with the Land Rover club a couple of decades ago. My '67 Series IIa was about the same size as the Jeeps that built the trails in the first place. The built up Defenders didn't have as many options, and they're tiny compared to a modern Wrangler.
I remember taking my Rover through some ATV trails through the forest in the late 90s.
Where I live this is the perfect off road vehicle. Most people buy a 4x4 for driving on flat sand with their full family inside and their fishing/beach supplies in the bed, and maybe a rod holder on the front.
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