A Brief Description of Mid-Size Pickup Trucks
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.