The unveiling of the Jeep Gladiator brings us to another conversation where we compare several of the midsize trucks to see which one is the best.

The key competitors to this truck are going to be the Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma, and Nissan Frontier. With that in mind, we need to take a look at the specs of these trucks to see which ones will offer the most for the drive and the performance we want to enjoy.

Engines and Transmissions

The top model when it comes to the overall powertrain will be the Ford Ranger. Even though this truck will arrive with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine under the hood, it does have the most torque for the drive at 310 lb.-ft. The horsepower of the Ranger comes in at 270, which is behind the 285 of the Gladiator, the 308 of the Colorado, and the 278 of the Tacoma, but the torque is where the Ranger excels. The Ranger also appears to be ready to lead the way with the transmission, which is a ten-speed automatic model that’s shared with the larger F-150. As you can see, under the hood, the Ford Ranger is the leader in this class.

Payload Capacity for the Midsize Trucks

Even though you might not use your pickup truck to handle truck stuff very often, you do need it to perform the pickup stuff when you need it to. The payload is extremely important and this is an area the Ford Ranger wins as well. The Ranger can carry up to 1,860 pounds while the Colorado shows up in second with a payload of over 1,500 pounds. The rear of this measure is brought up by the Tacoma and Frontier models which both have payload numbers that arrive at less than 1,500 pounds.

Towing Capacity

Towing is an extremely important aspect of the truck experience that you want to have on the road. Some of the big and heavy items don’t fit into the bed. The Jeep Gladiator does top this list with a tow rating of 7,650 pounds while the Ranger comes in second at 7,500 pounds, and the Colorado comes in third at 7,000 pounds. It’s important to note that the diesel version of the Colorado can handle 7,700 pounds, but as the only diesel in the class, it wasn’t part of the comparison made during the testing of these trucks.

Bed Sizes of These Midsize Trucks

The bed length and width matters when you have to fit items into the truck and carry them with you to your destination. The Chevrolet Colorado does lead the way with the longest beds in the class, the Tacoma comes in second for the long beds while the Ranger has the second-longest short bed. The Gladiator shows up at the second shortest bed behind the Frontier and the fact that it only offers you one bed length and only a crew cab model. This does put the Gladiator at the biggest disadvantage because it doesn’t give you many choices in this area.