Probably not many customers buy a pickup truck with the main idea of racing it. But nevertheless, drag races are a cool way to evaluate a vehicle’s capabilities on the road in terms of acceleration and grip. And yes, that also includes trucks.
South Africa’s Cars.co.za recently gathered seven of the hottest midsize trucks for a direct drag race to determine which one of them is the quickest in a standing-start battle. The video is not really scientific – there are massive differences in terms of power between the trucks – but it is, at the very least, informative. Let’s see the contenders and the numbers.
Gallery: 2024 Ford Ranger (North America)
The two stars here are the new Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok. Both bakkies (this is what they call them in South Africa) have the same output of 206 bhp and 367 lb-ft of torque. Their closest competitor, at least on paper, seems to be the Toyota Hilux with a 2.8-litre turbocharged diesel producing 201 bhp and the same 367 lb-ft of peak torque.
The Mitsubishi Triton is also featured in this race and while it has less power than the Ford/VW duo – 178 bhp and 317 lb-ft – it does an impressively good run mainly thanks to its lower overall weight. There’s also a contender from China in this drag battle – the Great Wall Motors P-Series, but it’s the least powerful of all seven trucks with 161 bhp and 295 lb-ft of torque.
Truck wars:
Another Japanese model is the Nissan Navara, which has decent numbers on paper – 188 bhp and 332 lb-ft of torque – but disappoints in the actual race. Last but not least, the Isuzu D-Max makes a solid mid-range battle with its 3.0-litre diesel engine, generating 188 bhp and 332 lb-ft of torque.
Source: Cars.co.za on YouTube