Nine Pickups Battle for AWD Supremacy, Raptor Blows Them Away But Doesn't Win

Anyone who’s ever seen a big car comparison knows that it’s almost impossible to get everything perfectly even. Sometimes it’s the little things that don’t align, such as different tire setups. Other times it’s much more. For example, the test might include more than one representative of the same series, with or without factory/aftermarket enhancements.

It’s precisely the latter case with the latest video from host Diyas, but fortunately, this channel never pretended to deliver accurate, scientifically usable results. We’re glad that he managed to have nine vehicles belonging to the same (overall) market segment. After all, we are dealing with the popular pickup truck class.

So, does it matter that up for test are no less than three Toyotas? Not that much, because none of them wins by the end of the day. But let’s stop with the spoilers and present the roster. Starting with the oldest, the crew gathered a 2008 Nissan Navara/Frontier, a 2021 Toyota Hilux (modified), a 2012 Ford Ranger, a 2013 Toyota Hilux (base), a 2014 Ford F-150 CrewCab, a 2018 Isuzu D-Max, a 2018 VW Amarok, and a 2018 Toyota Hilux Arctic Trucks.

The cherry on top of the rock-crawling gang is, of course, the 2019 Ford F-150 Raptor. As always, everything is neatly arranged in chapters, so there’s easy traceability to the points of biggest interest. But here’s the funny thing. Although the Raptor blew every other contender out of the water (or should we say dust?!), it didn’t win.

Instead, based solely on the regular performance of the AWD systems, the all-rounded VW Amarok came out on top. As for the Raptor, it was simply too good for the rest of the pack and the voiceover said that “within the framework of the test it hasn’t reached its limits.” But that counts as a victory in our playbook...