From the Archive: We strafe Mexico’s outback in five sport trucks from Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Nissan, and Toyota, and somehow don’t require bail money.
Из августовского номера журнала 1995 г. Автомобиль и водитель.
A few pointers you won’t get from Fodor’s on driving in Mexico’s Baja peninsula:
- Buy some Mexican car insurance just in case you’re broadsided by a decrepit LTD II. This handy paper doubles as a stay-out-of-jail-free card that keeps the Федеральные владения in good cheer when you intertwine with a local rust-bucket. Get it, unless you favor iron ankle bracelets as casual wear and are curiously aroused by Полуночный экспресс-style overnight accommodations.
- Cows have the de facto right of way down the length of the peninsula. It’s only fair, because there seem to be more of them than people.
- The McDolly King in Ensenada does not sell any kind of McNuggets. Unusually ripe and fragrant fish tacos, maybe, but actual copyrighted pieces of real chicken, no.
- Even though it sits 30 miles off Mexico Highway 3 and shows no signs of being bought by the Club Med crowd, Mike’s Sky Ranch stills requires reservations. And it doesn’t take American Express. Or Visa, MasterCard, or Diner’s Club. Pesos are grudgingly accepted. Call ahead and bring dollars.
Mid-size Pickups Ranked and Compared
If mini-dust storms, cratered byways, and big dirty fun are what you seek, a visit to the Sky Ranch in Baja California Norte, about 120 miles southeast of San Diego, will plunk you in the middle of it all. But coddle you it won’t. Built in the late Sixties by Mike Leon Sr., this casual outpost is not a luxury hacienda, and it hasn’t been since it hosted a control stop for a Baja 1000 off-road rally in the early Seventies.
The riding horses are gone, their stables occupied now by sport bikes, trucks, and Jeeps. Today, Mike’s is the kind of place where arriving in a filthy vehicle is a mark of honor. A place where the number of dogs on the loose may exceed the number of paying guests on any given night.
So naturally, it’s the primo place (well, okay, the только place) for intense dirt grinding—especially if you’ve corralled a group of five sport trucks with the drivetrains and rubber to tramp the trails with gusto.
To get to the Sky Ranch (so-called because it its 3800 feet up on the side of a hill—no relation to Sky King), we assembled this crew of extended-cab, high-output, automatically geared trucks. They are the Ford Ranger Splash, with its dirt-deviling ability and playfully carved haunches; the Chevy S10 ZR2, fresh off a remake and selling like seats to Air Jordan’s comeback game; the gracefully aging, Tennessee-brewed Nissan SE-V6; the Dodge Dakota Sport, the only midsizer in the group and the only one to do a fair imitation of a full-sizer; and the newest U.S. citizen, the California-crafted Toyota Tacoma SR5 V6.
Once we left California’s slick freeways, we romped through mud bogs and probed mini-ravines to judge which of these American-made compact trucks made the most of any road surface, gravel or asphalt. We limited our adventure to the driving, partly because of the abundance of empty stretches of road, and partly in deference to the Baja police who might still carry a grudge from our visit 12 years ago (a trek that ended in one mooning, a center-punched cow, one sunken car, and one arrest, both preceded and followed by evacuation).
Which of these sport trucks cruised the snarl of Tijuana traffic and great stretches of bad Baja road the best? Circled around Mike’s black-vinyl bar after a week’s worth of sampling, we sat down to choose the alpha dog. And before Mike’s generator shut down promptly at 9 p.m., making it so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, we picked that prime machine and let the runners-up fall into their places.
If you ever make it there, tell Mike that Автомобиль и водитель sent you and he’ll give you the bridal suite. That’d be the room with the kerosene heater.
And don’t forget to bring a flashlight.
Fifth Place: Toyota Tacoma SR5 V6
Already, we can hear the legions of loyal Toyota owners lighting their torches.
Toyota knows a thing or two about compact trucks—after all, five generations of them have built a bullet proof reputation and earned powerful loyalty among owners. The Tacoma is the sixth version of the basic small truck (but only the first to carry a name), and it’s as comfortable and neatly trimmed as an Avalon. So what are its drawbacks?
максимумы: Enough cams and valves for a Porsche, comfortable seats, Toyota finish.
НИЗКИЕ: A rough-road ride and a sticker price that both are hard to stomach.
Mostly, the price tag. Our Tacoma was hamstrung by an as-tested quote of $27,562, admittedly decked out like a Park Avenue condo but no more so than the substantially cheaper Chevrolet and Ford trucks. The Tacoma came to the test costing nearly three grand more than the next-dearest Splash and nearly 20 percent more than the cheapest entry, the Dakota.
We didn’t have any complaints with the engine and transmission duo. The 3.4-liter V-6 borrowed from the T100 pickup, the only DOHC multivalve motor in this group, ponied up 190 horsepower. The four-speed automatic shifted swiftly, its upshifts smoothed by momentary slowings of ignition. All the more puzzling, then, that the Tacoma didn’t have a clear edge in performance, especially because its curb weight of just 3660 pounds was the lowest by a good margin. With a zero-to-60-mph run of 9.4 seconds, it checked in 0.4 second slower than the Chevy and just slightly ahead of the Ford and the Dodge.
Toyota says the Tacoma’s new front suspension has more travel and better ride-motion control, now that coil springs have replaced its torsion bars. In a four-point landing, the suspension swallows the impact easily, making you feel like Ivan Stewart blitzing the Baja 500.
Toyota Tacoma Tested!
The ride quality, though, is mysteriously unsatisfying. Small, sharp-edged bumps like pavement seams and dirt washboard jiggle the Tacoma around like a Handi-Cam on the set of TV’s “Baywatch.” The cargo box wags its tail in a resonant ripple that follows most longer ruts. Day in and day out, the Tacoma’s ride is too busy. It tended to exacerbate squeak , rattles, and steering-wheel shake in the interior—not typically a Toyota problem.
Amid Splashes and ZR2s, the Tacoma’s styling seems bland. The dash and door-panel shapes are certainly functional, but the Tacoma has neither the surface flair of the Ford nor the handsome appeal of the Chevy. Nearly all of these trucks could have put a “hold” on their allegedly decorative decal designs, but the Tacoma’s SR5 stickers were particularly prominent, sparkling brightly on its otherwise conservative flanks.
We won’t doubt its promise of quality reliability, but the Tacoma’s sweet powertrain and comfortable cockpit are tempered by surprising disappointments. Most notably, that steep sticker.
ВЕРДИКТ: Very nice, but just not enough truck for the buck.
1995 Toyota Tacoma SR5 V6
190-сильный V-6, 4-ступенчатый автомат, 3660 фунтов
Базовая/тестовая цена: 22,615 27,562 долл. США/XNUMX XNUMX долл. США.
Cargo bed, L/W/H: 75.0/60.8/15.9 in
Payload/towing capacity: 1670/5000 lb
C / D РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ТЕСТА
60 миль в час: 9.4 секунды
100 миль в час: 44.0 секунды
1/4 мили: 17.3 секунды при скорости 79 миль в час
Торможение, 70 миль в час: 0 фута
Сцепление с дорогой, противоскользящая накладка диаметром 300 футов: 0.65 г
C / D наблюдаемая экономия топлива: 16 миль на галлон
Fourth Place: Nissan Truck SE V6
Nissan’s 4×4 pickup used to be called the Hardbody in the mid-Eighties when its assembly moved to Smyrna, Tennessee. It looks the part, too—despite the wild graphics, it’s lithe and trim-looking and without an embarrassment of flares and bulges.
The athletic appearance is a little misleading. Among these trucks, the Nissan is not the one you’d drive to a sprint rally. The powertrain simply isn’t strong enough to keep pace here. And the stiff-kneed ride needs some automotive yoga to help it loosen up.
максимумы: Airy cabin, high seating position, car-like controls.
НИЗКИЕ: Thin on power, bouncy ride, short on headroom.
You’ll spend a lot of time north of 4000 rpm in this truck, a territory strange to most utility vehicles. The 3.0-liter V-6 labors to crank out 153 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque, both the lowest of this group. It pulls a 4020-pound oxcart through a four-speed automatic transmission that works its gear off to overcome the thin power. So equipped—there’s also a 134-hp four-cylinder, if you’ve got gobs of time to kill—the extended-cab truck takes a leisurely 11.6 seconds to muster up to 60 mph, the slowest trotting pace in the group by a full two seconds. Top speed is 95 mph.
Nissan Frontier Tested, Compared, and Analyzed
On the 405 freeway descending toward Baja, the Nissan acquitted itself smoothly enough to rise above the rough-riding Tacoma in the final rankings. It’s not fluent in the latest road-absorbing lingo, though. It pogos over long, low bumps, and on California’s textured concrete it never really seems to stop moving and settle down. On the pitted stretches of Mexican pavement, the ride was annoyingly active. And on the roadless legs of our journey to Mike’s Sky Ranch, it rode so hard that it pitched taller drivers into the sunroof, bouncing stiffly from one bump to the next and erasing what was left of a hairline.
The low headliner and shallow headroom don’t help matters much. In other respects, however, the Nissan’s cabin is remarkably adept at imitating an Altima or Sentra interior. The driving position was the best of this working man’s group, with a proper four-spoke steering wheel positioned at lap height and clear gauges placed ideally on the low-cowl dash. Though the steering wheel doesn’t have an airbag—the Nissan was alone in offering no airbags whatsoever, and in having only rear-wheel anti-lock brakes—it does have a jump feature that swings the wheel to its highest travel point for easier exit.
The Nissan’s steering feels accurate and light, and grip leveled off near 0.64 g, not inconsiderable for a high, nose-heavy truck with off-road tires. None of these trucks braked particularly well, and the Nissan lodged in the middle of the group at 206 feet from 70 mph.
If your off-roading needs include a sport truck that coddles you like a modem sedan, the aging Nissan won’t disappoint. But if you’re looking for a wider portfolio of fun, including heavy doses of speed and poise on unpaved roads, it misses the final cut.
ВЕРДИКТ: Lean and mean, but needs more powertrain muscle.
1995 Nissan Truck SE V6
153-сильный V-6, 4-ступенчатый автомат, 4020 фунтов
Базовая/тестовая цена: 22,019 23,583 долл. США/XNUMX XNUMX долл. США.
Cargo bed, L/W/H: 73.5/53.3/16.8 in
Payload/towing capacity: 1200/3500 lb
C / D РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ТЕСТА
60 миль в час: 11.6 секунды
100 mph: — sec
1/4 мили: 18.6 секунды при скорости 72 миль в час
Торможение, 70 миль в час: 0 фута
Сцепление с дорогой, противоскользящая накладка диаметром 300 футов: 0.64 г
C / D наблюдаемая экономия топлива: 14 миль на галлон
Third Place: Dodge Dakota Sport
What do we make of the biggest, oldest, and guzzlingest member of this roughhouse crew? A third-place finisher, strong for the reasons you’d buy a truck and not a ready-made image-mobile.
The Dakota’s long suit is utility. The squared-off comers and slab sides tell no tales: it has the biggest bed, the deepest cabin (with a tiny but true bench wedged in behind the front buckets), and the longest wheelbase. Overall, it extends nearly a foot beyond the next-longest Chevy.
максимумы: Gutsy V-8 torque, full-sized truck utility.
НИЗКИЕ: Thirsty engine, yesteryear interior shapes and textures.
The brawny powerplant found underhood in our Sport-trimmed Dakota had eight cylinders, two more than every other engine. The 5.2-liter V-8 offers up 220 horsepower and, better yet, 295 pound-feet of God’s own torque. It’s truck-like in the best sense, with plenty of smooth power in any gear. By leaving it in two-wheel drive on loosely graded dirt roads, we were able to kick up enormously satisfying roostertails and completely block out the sun for drivers following behind.
The penalties of its size and strength are predictable. The Dakota’s imposing curb weight of 4220 pounds dulled the zero-to-60 run to 9.6 seconds, and it tucked away a gallon of Pemex unleaded (magna sin, which is sometimes not one of the seven deadly ones) every 13 miles.
Dakota Reviews and News
In spite of its advancing age—vintage 1987, remember Mike Dukakis?—the Dakota’s body felt firm, not flexy. Maybe as a result of all that weight and plenty of wheel travel, it had a comfortable, loping ride on freeway stretches. The Dakota had the second-best speed through the lane change, with decent steering feel and progression for something so large. The brakes were somewhat difficult to modulate, but the Dakota was the only truck to stop from 70 mph in less than 200 feet, though only by a foot.
The years have been kind to the Dakota’s shape. A freshened monochrome grille subdues the billboard-like front end. Our Sport model came with a light bar that made it look like an emergency support vehicle and some questionable decals, but there’s nothing terribly risqué or dated here.
The interior benefits from the addition of a driver airbag and a new steering wheel, but it still could use a total redo. The shapes are all flat and square, more K-car than Ram. The dash is tall and imposing, and the door panels are flat as Kansas and not as well-upholstered. The seat cushion tilts forward and down, forcing an awkward relationship between the driver and the pedals.
The Dakota’s most appealing feature may be its bottom line. Reasonably equipped—without power windows but with the V-8, four-wheel drive, a cassette deck, and a light bar—the mid-sized Dodge costs $160 more than the least-expensive truck here, the S10 ZR2. Tall-haired locals at the nearby steakhouse might ignore you, but the guys at the lumber depot just may institute valet parking for this one.
ВЕРДИКТ: A mid-sized truck with heavy-duty versatility.
1995 Dodge Dakota Sport
220-сильный V-8, 4-ступенчатый автомат, 4220 фунтов
Базовая/тестовая цена: 18,687 23,202 долл. США/XNUMX XNUMX долл. США.
Cargo bed, L/W/H: 78.0/53.7/17.2 in
Payload/towing capacity: 1450/5100 lb
C / D РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ТЕСТА
60 миль в час: 9.6 секунды
100 миль в час: 80.5 секунды
1/4 мили: 17.5 секунды при скорости 78 миль в час
Торможение, 70 миль в час: 0 фута
Сцепление с дорогой, противоскользящая накладка диаметром 300 футов: 0.64 г
C / D наблюдаемая экономия топлива: 13 миль на галлон
Second Place: Ford Ranger Splash
We didn’t anticipate more than a ripple of excitement from the Ford Splash, what with the same “twin I-beam” axle that we blamed for the Ford Explorer’s clumsy handling from 1990 through 1994. Its V-6 engine and automatic, also shared with the Explorer, didn’t send anyone into ecstasy either.
Guess what? We warmed up to this hot-yellow hauler on Baja’s desolate stretches of dust. Enough, in fact, to slip it a second-place ribbon.
максимумы: Flashy styling, off-road agility, and standard features aplenty.
НИЗКИЕ: Jittery highway ride, drivetrain that could use some more refinement.
The timid need not apply for Ford’s daring flareside mini-truck, in light of its narrowed haunches and fluorescent stick-ons. Inside, however, the meek will be coddled by almost as many creature comforts as are found in an Explorer. The Splash’s caramel-colored dash looks expensive, and its ergonomics are good. Thoughtful features abound, like a coinholder, an outside bed light, and a roll-up shade to hide valuables behind the front seat. With features like standard dual airbags, a power driver’s seat, and a CD changer, our Splash’s price remained in the temperate zone at $24,601.
More on the Ranger
The powertrain features the largest engine that Ford offers in any Ranger, the 160-hp pushrod V-6. This long-lost descendant of Ford’s European 1960s-vintage V-6s shakes just off idle and sounds thrashy. It turns zero-to-60 runs into 9.5-second journeys—strictly an average showing. The four-speed automatic seems distantly connected to the engine, and occasionally it dithers over when and how quickly to shift. The Splash could also use a less choppy freeway ride.
In the rough stuff, though, the Splash is nearly as hot as the fire-engine red Chevy S10. Ironically, the soon-to-be-replaced swing-axle front suspension is part of the appeal. With light but accurate steering, the long-travel suspension makes nosing through ruts and over rocky outcrops a pleasure, not a chore.
With its composite rear fenders, the Splash’s lighter-than-normal tail was quick to rotate through a bend. Much of the time we left it in two-wheel drive so we could poke out the tail, but even in four-wheel mode the Splash felt frisky. And the much-maligned V-6 found a niche—its low-end authority made blasting out of deep bog, well, a blast.
We’ll bet the Splash sells mostly on looks alone. If the shape turns you on, you’ll be pleased to discover that there’s more here than a fancy pair of pants.
ВЕРДИКТ: A “Hey, look at me!” extrovert with the abilities to back up its pizzazz.
1995 Ford Ranger Splash
160-сильный V-6, 4-ступенчатый автомат, 3940 фунтов
Базовая/тестовая цена: 20,038 24,601 долл. США/XNUMX XNUMX долл. США.
Cargo bed, L/W/H: 72.4/44.0/16.3 in
Payload/towing capacity: 1200/5600 lb
C / D РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ТЕСТА
60 миль в час: 9.5 секунды
100 миль в час: 44.4 секунды
1/4 мили: 17.6 секунды при скорости 77 миль в час
Торможение, 70 миль в час: 0 фута
Сцепление с дорогой, противоскользящая накладка диаметром 300 футов: 0.63 г
C / D наблюдаемая экономия топлива: 15 миль на галлон
First Place: Chevrolet S10 ZR2
Our winner and reigning champion comes from a likely source. Chevy is the No. 2 truckmaker, second only to Ford. And like the recent spate of greatly improved bowtie products, the S10’s sound basic design has been transformed into a user-friendly do-it-all.
With the heavy-duty ZR2 suspension, the S10 scored a 9 or an 8 in every category and topped the fun-to-drive contest. И, it checked in with the leanest sticker price. Base is just $17,350; as tested, with the stiffer suspension and a full complement of power options, it held at $23,042.
максимумы: Fleet-footed, swell-riding, lotsa features for less money.
НИЗКИЕ: The tires that giveth on the road taketh away on the track.
Chevrolet’s stock response to power hounds is the 4.3-liter pushrod V-6. It makes 191 horsepower, second-most here, and squeezes it into a box 160 pound slimmer than the beefy Dakota. Putting its power down through a part-time four-wheel driveline and a sweet-shifting four-speed automatic, the Chevy surged from rest to 60 in 9.0 seconds.
Chevy S10 Compared and Used Buying Guide
If anything can be called the sports car of this bunch, this is it. With the ZR2 package’s three extra inches of ride height, four additional inches of track width, and Bilstein gas shocks, the ZR2 steered into turns sharply, with minimal body roll. However, the handling numbers don’t read particularly well—it was least efficient during the lane change, posted the lowest skidpad numbers, and braked worst in the group, at 213 feet from 70 mph—but from its stable feel and good transient behavior, we’d rule out any true handling sluggishness and lay those unimpressive figures on our choice of knobby all-terrain tires.
Conversely, the Chevy also displayed the most docile on-road behavior. “Rides like a Cadillac on sandy mush,” said Csere. “It doesn’t bottom at all—it just glides over things.”
You won’t look like a geek in this truck, either. It’s big, wider than the Dodge by a couple of inches, but doesn’t appear to be what Sears politely refers to as “husky.” The grille has a gentle sneer, the bumper flips up like a ducktail haircut, and the shape is self-confident enough to do without the graphic nonsense that clutter the others’ flanks.
Utility doesn’t suffer. The Chevy outweighed the seemingly tiny Nissan by only 40 pounds but sported 5.4 extra inches across, granting it enough space for a comfortable pair of buckets, a big console, and leg- and headroom for the tallest hats and boot heels. The side-facing jump seats would be usable by small children, though their legs would be shunted toward the front by the mini-console found between them.
On those credentials alone it would rank highly, but the Chevy also cocoons the driver nearly as well as the Ford Splash. The cupholder grabbed water bottles as easily as cola cans, and the radio/CD player pulled in stations from San Diego. Most heartening, the ZR2 felt very solid and of a piece.
The best combination of off-road ability and on-road comfort belongs to Chevrolet. The mustard on the pretzel is that it’s swift, good-looking, and a strong value. Taking Baja by storm just got a little easier. And quicker.
ВЕРДИКТ: A handsome, well-equipped playtruck for any surface.
1995 Шевроле С10 ЗР2
191-сильный V-6, 4-ступенчатый автомат, 4060 фунтов
Базовая/тестовая цена: 17,350 23,042 долл. США/XNUMX XNUMX долл. США.
Cargo bed, L/W/H: 74.1/54.9/17.1 in
Payload/towing capacity: 1500/5500 lb
C / D РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ТЕСТА
60 миль в час: 9.0 секунды
100 миль в час: 37.8 секунды
1/4 мили: 17.2 секунды при скорости 78 миль в час
Торможение, 70 миль в час: 0 фута
Сцепление с дорогой, противоскользящая накладка диаметром 300 футов: 0.63 г
C / D наблюдаемая экономия топлива: 14 миль на галлон
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