Help Me Decide on Ranger over Taco / Colorado for Rear Locker on a Budget

[Blmpkn]

My buddy has a taco with a locker and tells me the locker only works in 4L and max speed is 5mph.... how useless lol.

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[Old Red Replacement]

Good luck finding anything in today’s market supply and demand.

Got a supercab 2020 XL, 4wd, locker , tow package,
1/21 before all shit hit fan . You don’t need fancy model just better tires. Paid 32.5K with
3.5K trade on old 98 Ranger truck.

Added mud flaps, engine cover, tonneau, bed rug, tailgate damper , hood bug deflector, trailer brake controller, bed tie downs+ 1k from plain Jane to useful, good luck in search.

 

[seanellaz]

I'm in the market for a mid-size 4x4 truck and want to have (1) off-road tires (from the factory) and (2) a locking rear differential. I'm not made of money and if I were, I'd be looking at full-size trucks even though I really don't need one.

I live on a sometimes-plowed dirt road and am looking at buying an even more remote property and feel like the locker is a must for me.

Tacos look (kind of) cool but you can't get a rear locker until you pony up $37,655 MSRP for the TRD Off Road trim. Colorado is interesting but you can't get a locker without the $44,140 MSRP ZR2 trim. I don't know much about the Frontier but I think it's the same story. The Ranger XL with E-Locker and off-road tires or with FX4 package (which includes these items) each MSRP at $34,290.

Seems like the Ranger is my only real option or am I missing something? I test drove the Ranger and it was great on-road. Test drove the Taco and thought it didn't drive as well although the V6, which I really don't care about, was nice. Again, I understand the Taco is go-to off-road platform but I'm not interested in modding and dragging through the brush a brand-new truck.

I don't want to have to modify to get what I think is the basic level of 'off-road' capability that you get with the locker. Any point in looking elsewhere than Ranger at this point? There's no way I'm going to start spec'ing out a midsize truck to the 38k+ range and while the ZR2 is cool, $44k is out of the question. I just won't spend that kind of money without getting the capabilities of a full-size.

Anything else I should think about before I pull the trigger?

Ranger is faster, better mileage, and higher rated reliability. I love my Fx4, comes with electronic rear locker. Feels bullet proof.

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