Yahoo Autos These Are The Midsize Trucks You Probably Forgot
Pickup trucks are not immune to model bloat. Trucks may be even more guilty than other vehicles of getting bigger with each successive model — to the point that today’s midsize trucks are not far from being as big as old full size trucks.
Put either the latest Ford Ranger or Chevy Colorado next to an old F-150 or Silverado (C/K), and the size similarities are impressive. But midsize trucks used to actually be midsized in both height and length, even bordering on compact.
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The Suzuki what? That was my reaction to the Equator I saw parked at a local H-E-B a few days ago. Not only is this midsize pickup truck from a carmaker that no longer operates in the U.S., but the Suzuki Equator is simply a rebadged Nissan Frontier — another underrated and often overlooked pickup truck.
Isuzu Hombre 1996-2000
Isuzu is just as dead in the U.S. as Suzuki, so you’d be forgiven if you don’t recall this rebadged Chevy S-10. Isuzu sold another small truck in the U.S. prior to the Hombre, known simply as the Pickup, which was one of those trucks that could easily be confused for any one of its rivals from other Japanese automakers. The Hombre was less forgettable than that, but not by much.
Isuzu i-Series 2005-2008
Even more forgettable than the Hombre is its successor, the Isuzu i-series. These midsizers, which were based on the Chevy Colorado, ranged from the i-280 to the i-350 at launch. The i-series had the bad luck of being made in the aughts, when the “i” prefix was popularized by Apple with the iPod, iPhone, iMac, etc. But the i-350 was powered by an inline-five engine, and that’s cool in its own right.
Subaru Baja 2002-2006
The Subaru Baja is not exactly a midsize or compact pickup truck; it’s a coupe-ute, meaning it’s a car and truck hybrid. That also means it combines the best parts of both, thus it has most of their strengths and few of their weaknesses. It’s comfy on the road and has open cargo space, albeit less of it than a truck.
Nissan Truck (Hardbody) 1985-1997
The Nissan Hardbody is the predecessor of the Frontier. But, like Nissan’s best cars, such as the Fairlady Z, the Hardbody started out as a Datsun. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Nissan Hardbody was much like its Japanese compact truck rivals, but could be told apart by one distinctive design touch on the front end. Who could forget the Nissan Hardbody’s lovely hood slats? The Nissan Frontier dropped the three slats, unfortunately.
Mitsubishi Raider 2006-2009
You may have noticed that the underlying theme here is rebadged trucks. And the Mitsubishi Raider is just a rebadged Dodge Dakota, which reverses the tradition of rebadged Mitsus sold as Dodge vehicles. A Dodge Raider was once available, but that was an SUV sold under the Dodge brand despite being a Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero. This Raider, on the other hand, was a Dakota, a midsize truck made in Michigan that wore a Mitsubishi diamond badge.
Mitsubishi Mighty Max (L200) 1986-1996
The Mitsubishi Mighty Max is just an L200 or Triton, which means it’s just an awesome truck. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Japanese compacts were hard to tell apart, and the Mighty Max looked a lot like the contemporary Mazda B-Series. In fact, at one point the B-Series would be powered by a Mitsubishi inline-four engine, so the two truck models shared more than just looks.
