A Brief Description of Mid-Size Pickup Trucks
Pickup trucks were primarily used as passenger cars for general purposes in
North America. Not only were pickup trucks popular among construction workers,
they were also the preferred vehicle of many office workers and housewives.
Because of the popularity of pickup trucks, manufacturers came up with the idea
to introduce a pickup truck that was much bigger than a compact truck but
smaller than full-size ones. These mid-size pickup trucks are more fuel
efficient compared to full-size pickups.
The Dodge Dakota was the first mid-size pickup truck introduced in the United
States in 1987. It had a V6 engine that distinguished it from compact pickups,
which only had four-cylinder engines. The Dodge Dakota is known for its ability
to carry sheets of plywood that measured 4 feet wide by 8 feet long flat on the
cargo bed. Compact pickups are only able to carry the same sheets of plywood in
the cargo bed at an angle. The Dodge Dakota mid-size pickup trucks have used
different V8 motors while other mid-size pickups like the Frontier, Ridgeline
and Tacoma only used I4 or V6 engines. In 2006, Mitsubishi introduced Raider as
a rebadged Dakota, using the same V6 and V8 engines.
The mid-size pickups and large pickups dominated the U.S. market in 2006. Some
of the more popular mid-size pickup trucks are the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC
Canyon, Dodge Dakota/Mitsubishi Raider, Honda Ridgeline, Nissan Frontier and
Toyota Tacoma.
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