The battery on the Lightning is strong enough to actually charge other electric vehicles, including stranded Tesla owners
It has been a year since I first wrote about the Ford F-150 Lightning, a fully EV version of the wildly popular American truck. My original piece contrasted the illusion behind the still unreleased Tesla Cybertruck and the reality of the Ford Lightning, a truck that has certainly been a lot of talk, but even…
From a price of just under $22,000, the Ram 1500 has more than held its value
In 2012, the Dodge Ram 1500 was well into its fourth generation and offered plenty of choices. It had three engine choices: 3.7-litre V6, 4.7-litre V8, and 5.7-litre V8. You could get this full-size truck in two-wheel and four-wheel drive configurations, with a couple of automatic transmission choices and regular or extended cab body styles.…
Buckle up your seatbelts, folks
The Trudeau government is planning to hit Canadians with a big new tax on their trucks and sport utility vehicles. The proposed tax would cost an extra $1,000 on a Ford F-150, and a Ram 3500 heavy-duty pickup truck would get hit with a $4,000 tax. This new tax will come as a surprise for…
Powered by 3.8-litre V6 engine mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission
Although things have cooled down recently, Canada’s pickup truck market is still a going concern: at least one out of every four new vehicles sold in this country is a pickup truck of some kind. Manufacturers are falling over each other to get new models to market. They come in all shapes and sizes: from…
Accommodates five adults and has a cute little pickup bed that’s big enough to carry bits and pieces
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that’s the case, Korean car manufacturers have been extraordinarily complimentary to their Japanese counterparts since the early 1980s at least. Ever since the Hyundai Pony, the Koreans have employed a fairly simple principle: make automobiles driveable and easy on the pocketbook. It’s a modus…
Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Mazda are all trotting out changes, upgrades and revisions for 2022 model year
It’s that time of year again: car manufacturers are introducing their new and refreshed models for the coming year. Some really are new; others merely breathed upon and updated. Falling into the updated category is the latest iteration of Honda’s Passport SUV. For 2022, it gets new exterior styling that Honda is describing as “bold,”…
The year's version of this mid-size pickup truck has plenty of bells and whistles, but can it live up to the reputation of its predecessor?
A few lifetimes ago, I decided to bring in the new year by taking a long hike up a well-known trail near Harrison, B.C. The Clear Creek trailhead is on the road to Port Douglas on Harrison Lake, and makes its way northeast, until it kind of peters out somewhere just west of the Fraser…
Last year, Ford produced its last car. And if there was any doubt about Ford’s plans to be a company synonymous with pickup trucks – and hybrid drivetrain technology – the new Maverick should confirm its desire to move even further away from conventional passenger sedans. Not to be confused with the unremarkable Maverick sedan…
Buyers should keep in mind that pre-owned F-150s might have been used as work vehicles or regularly taken off-road
By 2010, Ford’s F-150 pickup had been the bestselling truck in North America for most of the past 43 years. Apparently, if you parked every F-series truck ever sold in Canada front to back, you’d have a line stretching from Halifax to Vancouver and beyond. Ten years ago, Ford still pretty much owned the full-size…
The engine is one of the most responsive yet well-behaved power plants in this market. Remarkably powerful, yet docile in the city
If I was a traffic cop and I wanted to make city roads safer and fulfil my ticket quota, one of the first things I’d do is pull over every full-size pickup truck that crosses my path. That would be especially true of the jacked-up, fat-tired, lift-kit behemoths that seem to be piloted by testosterone-addled…
With a starting price of just over $39,000 and a glitzy paint job, I’d think twice about putting this truck through its paces in the boonies
Canadians love their pickup trucks. Out of the 10 top-selling vehicles in Canada, four are full-size pickup trucks: Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, Ram Truck and Ford F-150. And the F-150 has been the top-selling vehicle, period, in Canada for at least the last decade. It outsells perennial favourites like the Honda Civic and Hyundai Elantra…
It’s civilized, practical and, as far as it goes, rugged. Score another one for Honda
When Honda introduced its Ridgeline pickup in 2006, it was well received except for one thing: it looked funny. It didn’t really resemble a traditional North American pickup, with its high rear deck sides and odd cargo layout. Some said it had more than a passing resemblance to the Chevrolet Avalanche, which wasn’t necessarily a…
Need four-wheel drive, some towing power, storage space and reliability? Look at the Toyota Sequoia, the Ford Explorer Sport Trac or the Mazda CX-9
So you have a cottage or need to tow a small boat or trailer – or both. You’re thinking used and need something with available four-wheel drive and a goodly-sized V6 or V8 engine – four cylinder models aren’t going to cut it here. A little elbow/storage room inside the vehicle wouldn’t hurt, nor would…