It’s absolutely understandable that if you want your next vehicle to be the best mid-size pickup truck on the market, there’s no room for error, and your shopping needs to be well thought out and end with you behind the wheel of the vehicle you deserve. We’ve seen a good amount of mid-size pickups throughout the year and seen some stunning displays of strength and efficiency from trucks such as the 2020 Ford Ranger, for example. There are many opinions shared by drivers everywhere regarding which vehicle is better than their competitors as only one can arise victorious, such as the testing we’ve conducted with our comparison between the 2020 Ford Ranger vs 2020 Chevy Colorado.
Both of these vehicles exhibit a lot of promise and are beloved by the millions of fans they serve throughout the world each and every year. During our testing process, we retained the ultimate goal of assisting you in finding the perfect mid-size pickup. We conclusively discovered aspects about the 2020 Ford Ranger in particular, which we believe allows it to one-up the competition in a number of ways that you and many other drivers will appreciate.
Getting To Know the Contenders
For a mid-size pickup to achieve its maximum potential, it needs an engine that can deliver on the promise of power while achieving a respectable EPA-rating along the way. It’s here where we start to stray away from the mutual similarities as we dive deeper into the specs and take a look at the engines that come standard for both the Ford Ranger and the Chevy Colorado.
Interestingly enough, the base engine for the Ford Ranger is also the sole engine for the vehicle regardless of your selection from the three featured trims. What this means is that Ford gives you the ideal engine for your Ranger right out of the gate, and this engine does indeed outperform the engine found standard on the Chevy Colorado. Of course, the Chevy Colorado does allow you to pick between a few other engines, but they remain costly upgrades. Not only is the base engine in the Ranger more powerful than the Chevy Colorado’s base engine, but it’s also more fuel-efficient as well.
Found standard on the 2020 Ford Ranger is a turbocharged 2.3L 4-cylinder engine, the 2.3L Ti-VCT I-4 more specifically. This engine has the capability to produce 270 hp with 310 lb-ft of torque, and more impressively, the Ford Ranger comes standard with a 10-speed automatic transmission paired alongside this engine, regardless of trim. In contrast, the Chevy Colorado comes standard with a 6-speed automatic transmission.
Furthermore, this 4-cylinder engine produces an impressive EPA-rating as it achieves an estimated 21 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway. This outpaces both the standard engine found on the Colorado and even retains a higher EPA-rating than the optional and expensive V6 engine Chevy offers, which sees a rating of 18 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway. The base engine found on the Colorado exhibits weaker performance overall as it produces only 200 hp with 191 lb-ft of torque. If you’re interested in towing, then look no further than the base 2.3L 4-cylinder engine found on the Ranger as it supports a maximum towing capacity of 7,500 lbs while the base engine on the Chevy Colorado has a much lower capacity of 3,500 lbs.
Other Features
When looking at both vehicles in their base form, we see features appear on the Ford Ranger either appearing as available upgrades or coming standard, whereas these same features only appear on the Chevy Colorado when we look into the more expensive trim options. The base trims include the Ford Ranger XL and Chevy Colorado Base. A perfect example of these features has got to be the implementation of cruise control, which is an available option for the Ranger XL and remains entirely absent on the Base Colorado.
Continuing the trend of convenience, your Ford Ranger will come standard with a compass and a total of three 12V power outlets and will be perfectly suitable for charging any wireless devices you and your family may bring on a trip. Looking over at the base Colorado we were upset to find no compass and only two 12V power outlets, which is certainly fair, although we do prefer the additional power outlet on the Ranger and is much appreciated. For those who prefer having an auxiliary audio input jack alongside the option to use Bluetooth, then the Ranger is the choice for you as an auxiliary input is not available by default on the Base Colorado but does come standard on the Ranger XL.
Something being featured on automobiles more prominently each year is the integration of a 4G Wi-Fi hotspot. You and you’re family will have the ability to connect your wireless devices to the internet with ease. This can even help you reserve cellular data thanks to the ability to be connected to Wi-Fi at all times within the vehicle. Wi-Fi hotspots are certainly becoming the new thing that many automotive companies are trying to feature on more vehicles than ever before. We did find one built into the Ford Ranger XL, and it is not available whatsoever on the Base Colorado, leaving it only available on the higher tier trims.
The Ranger XL even includes some safety features not seen on the Base Colorado. These features include a pre-collision assist system with automatic emergency braking, which comes standard on the Ranger XL, and the only way we see a similar feature in the Chevy Colorado is to go with a more expensive trim.
The Chevy Colorado is well known for its traction control known as StabiliTrak, and on the Ranger, we see Ford’s answer to the tech with AdvanceTrac with built-in Roll Stability Control (RSC) which provides much of the same results. Both vehicles offer Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) along with rearview cameras and a respectable assortment of airbags, although the base Colorado doesn’t include OnStar integration, whereas the Ranger XL has an SOS Post-Crash Alert System built-in which can be very important to some drivers.
Available options for the Ranger XL are automatic high beams that can assist in enhancing your visibility at night by dynamically adjusting your lights depending on road conditions and oncoming traffic. Chevrolet’s rendition of this known as Intellibeam is nowhere to be found on the base Colorado trim.
The Best of the Best
Although both vehicles proved to be solid mid-size pickup trucks and worthy contenders, we definitely felt the 2020 Ford Ranger not only offered the best price, but we also admired the features we saw on the Ranger XL that felt sorely missed when we turned out attention over to the base Colorado. Because of this, we’ve ultimately decided the Ford Ranger is the better option. The base engine found in the Ranger ended up being a major advantage as we saw it outperform the standard Colorado counterpart.
At the end of the day, it’s Ford who we can continue to trust when it comes to building some of the very best mid-size pickups on the market, and there is an exuberant number of reasons why visiting your local Ford dealership can benefit you. As the automotive industry continues to grow, we’re not only excited to see what new exciting and innovative features get introduced in future renditions of the Ranger and Colorado; but, we’re also excited to see you driving the vehicle of your dreams.
