2004 Truck of the Year Value Comparison

Value
Getting what you paid for depends on what you want. On one hand, the SRT-10 is a $45,000 oddity with neither the polish of a sports sedan nor the workhorse functionality of a pickup. Looking at it another way, the SRT-10 is a half-price Viper. It has the heart of a Viper and even sounds like a Viper. Likewise, Chevy's SSR, though truck-based, will be of little use on Home Depot runs, but as a turnkey factory street rod, it shines with a far-better top mechanism and bags more luggage capacity than the Plymouth Prowler had. Still, it seems pricey. And will the nouveau fat-fender look have legs in the market or run its course in just a few years, the way the Thunderbird did?

Most of the sales growth in recent years has been in full-size trucks, and well-equipped ones at that. But not everyone is looking to spend $30K or more for a vehicle designed (at the outset) to carry heavy or messy loads. In personal use, at least, the occasion to use the bed to carry something comes infrequently. A role less-than-full-size pickups have played over the last few decades is that of the affordable, entry-level vehicle--a durable car substitute that's easy to park and insure and not bad on gas. With the all-new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, General Motors is paying attention to this part of the market.

For the foreseeable future, most of the action will continue to be in full-size trucks. Nissan is challenging the status quo with an outsized truck that's big on power, guts, and features.

And Ford's new F-150 is still the game to beat. With a full range of models from bare-bones work truck to full-tilt cowboy Cadillac (sorry, Escalade), new highs in ride and handling, a long list of innovative features, and a new degree of design excellence, the Ford will likely continue along the successful ways its forebears have for more than a half century.

Bottom Line
So there you have it: seven tough competitors, five of them new from scratch. Some, like the SRT-10 and SSR, serve niche factions of the truck-enthusiast market. Others, like the F-150 and Titan, seek to either hold onto a massive share of the market (Ford) or aim to steal some of it (Nissan). We're impressed by how diverse this market has become and how well the modern pickup truck can serve as a worksite hauler, an everyday commuter transport, and weekend pleasure craft for a wide variety of people. We drove, tested, poked, reviewed, and argued our way through yet another Truck of the Year program. It was tiring, fun, and enlightening. And now it's time to name a winner...