2020 4WD UTE COMPARISON! 8 utes torture tested – SHOCK winner! Industry experts expose the truth

This is not your typical standard run-of-the-mill new vehicle test. You see here at Forwarder of Action we do things a little bit differently. Most people when they test utes like this they want to see how nice they drive to the local vineyard, whether or not the cup holders can fit a soy frappé latte or how it drives to the local polo match. You see none of that really interests us and it really shouldn't interest you because these vehicles are four-wheel drives. Now here at Forwarder of Action we're going to test these over three days of pure torture testing. That's going to take us from the beach. This thing's got no guts it's not going to get off the beach. To the bush. This thing's a freaking little mountain goat. This is a good car. And a lot of hard tracks in between. Definitely could do with some aftermarket suspension. And over that time we're going to test them how they're supposed to be tested. Joining me for this test we've got eight industry experts. Now these are the guys that work on these vehicles day in and day out. They know each of these utes like the back of their hand. Combined there's over a hundred years worth of experience so we're going to find out a lot of details about these utes that you're not going to hear anywhere else which makes this test very unique. We've gone with eight of the most popular dual cab utes in Australia. The Ford Ranger. This is the wild track two litre twin turbo version. It also comes in a 3.2 litre version. The Nissan Navara MP300 with its coil rear and 2.3 litre motor. The Isuzu D-Max. The Volkswagen Amarok in the V6 version. The Toyota Hilux SR5. The Mitsubishi Triton. The Mazda BT50 with a 3.2 litre engine. And the Holden Colorado. They've given us a Z71 model for testing. They're all diesel engines, they're all automatic and they're about to get tested like no other ute has been tested before. Over the three days we tackled tracks some of you might cringe at thinking of taking your brand new four-wheel drive down. But we're here to test these four-wheel drives properly because we push them to the limit. We're going to give each ute a rating out of 10 in 11 different categories. Our experts are here to give you the real answers on these four-wheel drives. Not the rumours that get spread on forums and social media. However just because a ute ranks first in these doesn't mean it'll win. We know that good value for money is the most important thing for you at home. So we'll then look at the price of the utes to determine which is the best value for money. We even things up by fitting the same Goodyear tyres to all the utes to make sure that the tyres weren't going to let any model down. Then we tested the utes on sand, dirt roads and proper four-wheel drive tracks and here's what we found. What we were looking for was the four-wheel drive that was the most capable off-road. Of course traction is almost everything here. Let's get stuck into it. Now this is a really cool section of track. Now what you're seeing here is a couple of big ruts combined with shaley, really loose, grounded material and then it's also up a really steep hill. So this is going to test the traction devices of all the vehicles. Now what's going to happen of course when the vehicle comes up through here as it dips into one of those holes of course it's going to put all the weight of the suspension down onto that wheel. The other wheel is no doubt going to get a little bit of air time and it's going to take all the traction from the one that's on the ground to the one that's spinning. Now that's how typically four-wheel drives work so we're going to be looking at the traction control devices as well as any traction devices the vehicle's got including lockers to try and get up this hill because the ones with lockers I reckon are going to definitely have the advantage. The main thing we noticed on the test and from experience was how much of a difference a diff lock would make. The Colorado and D-Max were the only ones without a rear locker and they found the four-wheel driving noticeably harder. You needed to drive them faster which meant you lost traction and had a danger of breaking something. The good thing is adding an aftermarket locker will quickly have these two up there with the best, especially the D-Max which has good ground clearance to start with. As you notice by that drive the vehicles with rear diff locks absolutely excel. They didn't need as much right foot, they could control the throttle and soon as one of those tyres came in the air and the weight was transferred down it still maintained traction and the vehicle just crawled through even though it did have wheels in the air and unloaded suspension. Now the vehicles like the D-Max and the Colorado who didn't have a rear locker had to rely on momentum and picking the perfect line to get through. It's a really good example about modern traction control systems and in particular the factory rear lockers and those with the factory lockers well they absolutely excelled. One of the things you'll notice about the Amrock when you get it off-road is it doesn't have a low range gearbox. Now it does have an off-road mode which is almost as good in terms of capabilities but you really notice it when you're coming down a hill the vehicle seems to run away a lot. It doesn't have good engine braking and that low gearing that you sort of expect out of a four-wheel drive. So it really does ask the question is it suited for these sort of hard tracks? Four-wheel driving in this kind of country is all about control. You don't get that with an Amrock and it's one of the biggest letdowns of this ute. It does have a fancy traction control system but we found it really touchy on the tough stuff. It'll apply the brakes when you don't want it to and it'll take off with the touch of the throttle. When it came to ranking the utes here at the top of the end we had the Hilux and Triton getting nine out of ten, the BT50 an eight and at the lower end the D-MAX in Colorado had a six and the Amrock a five. We ranked the D-MAX in Colorado higher because their problem of not having a rear diff lock is easily fixed and relatively cheap. You can't fix the fact that the Amrock has no low range. Here's the next part of our test is to jump down onto the beach. Now this beach can be notoriously soft. It's Tiwa Beach depending on the tide of course. I'm in the Navara at the moment. I've just selected high range so it's in four-wheel drive and now you get to test them on the sand all these utes so that's very exciting to see how they perform. The vehicles with that low down torque that you know instant response when you put your foot down on the throttle are going to do a lot better on the beach. We've let the tyres down to 20 psi across the board so tyres are exactly the same across all eight utes. Let's see how they go. With common rail technology being so good these days all these utes have plenty of get up and go to handle even the softest of sand. The Amrock and that super punchy V6 was a nosey in front of the pack because it's got so much more power. We found that the Navara doesn't have a heap of power down low which is where you want it on the sand. It could do with a performance tune if you're planning on hitting the beach regularly or towing heavy loads. So we're on the beach with the Navara. I've driven it for about half an hour on the beach now. It went really well. We've just stopped. I've connected up the camper behind it as well. I've been driving it for about 10 or so minutes with a camper on the back. Had to pull over and just in some soft sand and it really really struggled a bit. One thing I have noticed about the Navara is you've really got to rev it above two grand to get that sort of power out of the diesel engine. It's only a small 2.3 litre engine and it probably struggles a little bit down low just taking off as well. So the Amrock scored an eight out of ten the Navara a six out of ten and all the rest got a seven out of ten. A basic 40 mil suspension lift would help these utes out in the sand because it gets their underbelly up higher and it drags through the sand less which makes a huge difference. By bushproof we mean are they built to handle the Aussie conditions and handle the punishment that us four-wheel drivers can put them through. Overall most utes are pretty similar. They've been designed so vital components aren't somewhere that they can get easily damaged. All of the chassis use similar thickness steel and are very similarly constructed. However there's one ute that has several design flaws that need to be pointed out. As soon as you pop the bonnet on the Amrock the first thing you're going to notice is the airbox. Now the airbox is a big complicated airbox. It's got about nine screws in here so if you wanted to quickly check your filter well you better have some tools with you to do that. And the other thing I notice is the intake is facing at the front so the first bit of water you're going to come across well it's going to get sucked up straight through that intake and it's going to potentially hydro lock your engine. Now looking down in this engine bay you can see the alternator is right down you can actually see it better through the wheel arch here. The alternator is right down the bottom of the engine at the front so again it's already covered in mud. We've done a little bit of mud driving on this test but as you can see this one is chockers full of mud. Now if you plan to do hard four-wheel driving I mean go out into the mud so the tough sort of low range stuff the Amrock certainly isn't the vehicle for you. So over the past few days the Amarok has been a standout vehicle but there have been a few little German technologies that have gotten in the way of what we want to do. We've just taken the wheel off this Amarok and instead of having your traditional studs that you can balance the wheel back onto they've got these bolts so you need to line this up and you don't want to be doing that on the side of a track. So it's these little things that make you understand and make you think that this vehicle as capable as it is is not entirely designed for us four-wheel drivers. Seven of the utes get a seven out of ten and the Amarok is going to score a five. As you'd probably already guess no factory suspension we tested was perfect. Original suspension gives you less clearance, a harsher ride and isn't designed to carry the weights we need to as tourers or tradies. All these utes could do with a quality aftermarket suspension upgrade. However there's still a few inherent issues with a couple of mates that you need to be aware of. To give you the in-depth info you're after we've invited our mate Michael the suspension expert at Fulcrum Suspensions to be a tester. He whipped a few wheels off to show you some of the issues they find when lifting these new four-wheel drives. The reason why manufacturers of these dual cab utes generally run rear leaf springs is purely for the load carrying capabilities. The reason why leaf springs give you the best of both worlds is because in a multi-leaf pack there is primary and secondary leaf springs. When you're unloaded you're driving around on the primaries which is less of the pack and when you're fully laden you're using that whole leaf pack. So we got the MP300 this is the only coil rear dual cab on the test. Obviously coil rear aids in comfort and flexes a lot better in the rear as well. However coil rear, a light spring rate for comfort is not that good for carrying loads so generally you'll either need to upgrade the spring, sacrifice some comfort or pair it up with some airbags. One of the main limiting factors on the front end of a MP300 or most Navaras is obviously the front suspension design. The strut is quite short, the upper control arm is set inboard so if you have too long of a shock the upper control arm comes down and fouls on the tower. This is one of the main vehicles that requires an adjustable upper control arm to get a good wheel alignment after you lift it. You are limited by how high you can lift it generally around the 35 to 40 mil without having to do major modifications. With the Hilux pretty decent quality factory suspension. They are however, the weak spot is the lower leg on the strut. If you drop into a washout that you didn't expect you could possibly bend the lower leg. With the Triton you are limited by the distance between your upper and lower droop stops so therefore you can't lift them as high as some of the other vehicles. You need to keep that in mind when you are upgrading the suspension. Fitting a Super Pro upper control arm to a Triton increases the distance between your upper and lower droop stops which gives you even travel at that new height. With most of these dual cab vehicles they require adjustable upper control arms when you lift them. Unlike the D-MAX in Colorado which you can get a true 50 mil suspension lift out of without changing the upper control arms. This is because with the D-MAX in Colorado when you lift them the negative camber is increased instead of positive camber. So negative camber is where the top of the tyre is in positive camber is top of the tyre out. Negative camber as you go around a corner the tyre stands up. Positive camber it lays out so it's going to roll onto the outer edge of the tyre but that's causing the outer edge wear. So with a Hilux a Ranger or a BT-50 you require adjustable upper control arms for clearance around the struts and better camber caster specs which gives you improved handling and tyre wear. While it'll save you hundreds of dollars in tyre wear down the track an upgrade to quality upper control arms will set you back an extra 800 bucks or more. The Navara did flex better off-road which gained it points. However with what Michael explained about the difficulty in getting a proper lift out of it it pulls it back into the middle of the pack. So at the top of the ladder is the Isuzu in Colorado because you don't need to fork out extra on upper control arms to fix the wheel alignment when you lift them. When choosing a four-wheel drive ute I bet many of you didn't even think about factoring brakes into your choice. However if you're towing or carrying heavy loads which is why most of you want a ute it's one of the number one components of your four-wheel drive in terms of safety. Once again we've reached out to our mate and brake guru Ian from Bendix Brakes who is going to explain the difference between the utes in terms of brakes. I bet most of you at home won't know what he's about to say. Bigger is always better and the reason for that is the bigger the brake the more friction you can get on the brake and the more heat you can dissipate. So obviously more friction better brakes. Looking at the the brake on the front brake here on the Hilux so you know the things that we're interested in is the size of the caliper and the diameter of the disc rotor. So Hilux is a bit of a standout amongst the group. A much larger rotor we've got a 320 mm rotor. We've got a four piston caliper. You can see there's a really big brake pad in there which gives us really good contact to that big big rotor. Most of the other vehicles are around the 300 mm. The exception to that obviously is the Amarok with four-wheel discs. Now the other thing to consider with brakes is the mass of the vehicle. So Hilux whilst it has a bigger rotor on the front it's also a lighter car. So if you compare this to say a Ranger it's about 250 kilos lighter. So decent sized brakes, better stopping and of course the thing to remember though when you load them up you still need some better brakes. So worth considering a brake upgrade. So here we are with the Triton. So it's a smaller rotor and a smaller caliper. So smaller rotor unfortunately is not as effective as getting the heat out of the system which means that you can't apply as much friction. So as we spoke about before more friction the better brakes. Big engines need big brakes and Volkswagen have given us the biggest brakes on everything that's on test. So front rotor 330 odd mil rotors and the best thing about it is what a great big pad and a great big swept area of rotor. So even if you look at the diameter of the rotor and compare it to say a Land Cruiser. A Land Cruiser because of the size of the hub probably doesn't even give you the same level of braking that you've got here as far as area. So awesome brakes and four-wheel discs so discs on the back. Best brakes hands down. So other than the Amarok all of these vehicles have a drum brake rear end. So obviously it's a cost-driven thing. They're trying to keep these vehicles affordable but they can be quite effective. There are a couple of things to consider. One is the drum brake actually does give you a really good park brake. So if you're on a steep hill usually they're pretty good they'll hold the vehicle well. And the other tip just while your car's getting service ask your mechanic to adjust the rear brake. So it'll take them a few minutes whilst on the hoist and it'll really increase the efficiency of your braking system. When it comes to brakes the clear winner is the Amarok followed by the Hilux for its bigger rotors and four piston calipers. And the Triton scores the lowest with six because of its much smaller rotor and caliper design. What's great is brakes are a part of your four-wheel drive that you can upgrade. Bendix have made it really easy with their ultimate four-wheel drive upgrade kit which will upgrade rotors, pads, brake lines and more to help your four-wheel drive stop better and more consistently when you add more weights to it. The hottest topic when it comes to new utes is modern diesel technology. We can all imagine how it would feel if we spent big bucks on a new dual-cab ute only to have major engine or transmission issues Before we start there's a heap of BS floating around on forums and social media about every one of these utes. Rumours start about inherent problems usually from an old mate of a mate who is a mechanic in the mines and they say this all the time. We brought several issues to our experts including transmission shutters in the Colorado, bad oil leaks from the Navara, towing belt dramas on the Amarok and all were deemed not a common issue. This is the reason why we give you access to the industry experts to give you the truth on issues just like this. Speaking of experts we've got our tuning expert Rob from Ultimate Diesel Tuning as a tester. They work on these eight engines every single week. They know how they're built, they know how they get their power and how much they're capable of and most importantly how many issues they have. Having tuned over 5,000 of them to date we reckon Rob knows what he's talking about. Well after three days in southeast Queensland we've had the opportunity all the drivers to drive all the vehicles and I must say whether we were towing off-road the performance of this engine in the V6 Amarok was an absolute standout. To give you some numbers and what it was like we'd see on average at the shop about 360 Newton meters at the rear wheels out of a Mazda BT50 where the V6 Amarok would go close to around 450 to 460 at all four wheels. After doing a custom tune on the V6 Amarok we'd see that go about a 30% gain which takes nearly 600 plus Newton meters at all four wheels. So it's no surprise that this vehicle from a perspective of on the road and towing was an absolute standout amongst the pack. When you hear the name Isuzu you think diesel engines. The 4JJ1 is a four-cylinder three-litre turbocharged engine. It's been in their commercial range of vehicles and also their passenger range of vehicles. This is a very impressive engine and when we see these custom dyno tune we see north of 30% gain in torque as well as that out of all the utes and common rail diesels we see this is a very economical motor on the fuel bowser as well. One thing that's virtually impossible to test over three days of course is reliability. Now the Isuzu motor would have to be the most reliable motor out of the out of the bunch and I'm going to make the call there because we have traveled with this vehicle right around Australia for a couple of years now and it's never let us down. It's the sort of vehicle you'd own if you wanted to get 500,000kms out of your engine well the Isuzu would probably do it and do it well. The Nissan Navara NP300 has a 2.3 litre twin turbo engine it's one of our smaller engines we've had tested over the last few days. It does achieve good power through the twin turbo but it does come on later in the rev range so when you are towing or you are a little bit off road you do need to have the revs higher in the rev range to generate that torque where some of our other utes we've tested over the last few days does generate low down torque below that 2000rpms. So comparing the Nissan Navara to all the other utes we've driven I certainly would not be my pick and choice today with towing or driving in soft sand. Beside me is the Ford Ranger 2 litre biturbo 10 speed transmission. Ford also have another engine combination which is a 3.2 litre 5 cylinder single turbo 6 speed transmission. Now both engines have similar power output but what we've seen with the 2 litre biturbo is it's running close to 30 pounds of boost and increased AFRs over the 3.2 litre engine to achieve the same power output. If it's my choice I'd be taking the 3.2 litre over the 2 litre. So let's settle the Toyota DPF issues up front. From May 2018 we saw revisions take place for the Toyota Hilux and Prado. It saw an update in software and also a DPF burn button in the car installed. We've also seen on the Toyota website where there's all information about the DPFs. So from May 2018 we haven't seen any issues with the new model Hilux or Prados. Mitsubishi Triton's reliability is one of their strong points. The 4 cylinder 2.4 litre turbocharged engine is very reliable. We see hundreds of these through our workshop each year. From a driver's perspective we do see a little bit of lag down low. Easily fixed with a tune with these vehicles and getting the response to come on a lot nicer down low and a lot more torque but reliability is a big plus. So let's score all the utes out of 10 for their ability to tune. That V6 of the Amarok is a beast and the power Rob can get out of it is scary. So he gives top marks in this category. The D-MAX is one you'll see a heap of difference in after a tune. Plus it gets high marks for reliability and fuel economy. So it scores an 8 along with the Triton. It's incredible the amount of extra usable power and torque you can get out of all of these common rail engines and a quality tune like the one you can get from the team at Ultimate Diesel Tuning will give you a huge performance gains extremely safely. If you're looking to get more performance out of your four-wheel drive I reckon you should give our mate Rob a call. We're very lucky to have Australia's number one transmission expert as a great mate. Nobody knows transmissions like Rocket from Wholesale Automatics and we got in touch with him to learn more about the driveline of these four-wheel drives. A strong transmission is one thing but the biggest killer of them is heat. The transmissions are built to handle the weight of the standard vehicle and not the loads we put in them or things we tow. So we were surprised to know that the only two utes with a dedicated transmission oil cooler were the Triton and Navara. In fact Rocket went out on a limb and said the Triton is as close to perfect as the transmission can get in terms of reliability, ability to stay cool, smoothness and also has the best tip trunk system because it gives you the most freedom to choose what gear you want. Most others will often override your choice. This is big for four-wheel drivers who need to choose the right gear that matches the terrain. Since 2010 Rocket hasn't had to remanufacture a Triton transmission and that says a lot. Nissan had dreadful problems with their previous transmission in the old D40 Navara and so far all reports are pretty good on the new one but Rocket won't trust it until it's a few more years older. Rocket says the Amarok box is brilliantly matched to the V6 engine however because it doesn't have a low range it's always in high range meaning it's almost guaranteed to overheat on tough four-wheel drive tracks or towing heavy loads. Even if you fit an aftermarket transmission cooler to the Amarok it has a system where it won't kick in until it's already over 90 degrees so you need to spend more for a part to fix this. The Amarok is made for cold European conditions and hasn't been adapted well enough for Australian conditions. The 10-speed on the Ranger engine is forever changing gears which is frustrating when towing. There's been an inherent problem with the 6-speed Ranger and BT50 transmission because the aluminium of the valve body is extremely soft. When it gets hot it warps and fails. Thankfully the newer models are getting much more reliable but the Rocket would fix more of these than just about any other transmission. If you're towing with one of these you need to spend money getting it fixed or it may not last 100,000 kilometres. One final point, did you know that the D-MAX and Hilux run the exact same transmission? It's a tough-as-nails design but will need an aftermarket oil cooler if you plan on towing a lot. So here's the scores for transmission. Overall the Triton is hands down the and the Amarok, Ranger and BT50 drop a point. Yes we're all four-wheel drivers and campers but the majority of us will have a ute to be our daily driver too. That means it's got to be comfy, be able to carry loads to and from the work site, tow trailers and so much more. Let's see how they all stacked up. Firstly let's get this straight, we aren't judging these vehicles on their rated tow capacity because in our opinion you shouldn't be towing over three tonne with any of these utes. Put that weight behind any of these stock vehicles and you'll immediately won't feel safe. So we're not looking at how much they tow but how well they'll tow a camper trailer around Australia or a big boat every weekend or a tradie trailer during the week. It might not be the right vehicle for a four-wheel driver but if you're towing that V6 Amarok is a weapon. It's a clear winner for towing. However remember that you'll need some serious upgrades to the transmission if you're towing regularly. The Navara really lacks low down power so as soon as there were hills or a soft sand exit it failed. This thing has got no guts, it's not going to get off the beach. You'll definitely need a tune if you're wanting to tow with the Navara. The BT50 3.2 litre engine and transmission was really well suited to towing the trailer and it was the one we chose to tow the trailer off the beach when the Navara got stuck. The Amarok gets an eight, missed out on a nine because the transmission needs work. The BT50 gets an eight and the Navara gets a six and the rest well they get a pass mark. All these utes have pretty similar payload and GVM on paper but did you know there's a huge difference between what you can actually carry in them? Canopy wizard Tim from Mitts Alloy explains. So we're here today to talk about tray and canopy packages on dual cab utes. A key determining factor on what you would decide to put on the vehicle is where is the centre line of the rear axle in relation to the back window of the cab. So you can see here with the Mitsubishi Triton if you were to put a standard 1800 tray on this vehicle you would have 80 to 90 percent of the weight behind the rear axle. This is going to cause the car to ride poorly and bend chassis. So for the Mitsubishi Triton, the Volkswagen Amarok and the Nissan Navara MP300s we'd recommend a 1600 tray and maybe even a shorter canopy. The rest of the range the rear axle is moved slightly back so we'd look at an 1800 with maybe a full length box. So if you're looking for a full size tray and canopy package for work or for touring the best vehicles would be the Toyota Hilux, the Isuzu D-Max, the Ford Ranger and the BT-50. So the Volkswagen Amarok is an interesting vehicle. It has the widest tub section and can fit a full 1200 pallet on the back. You might also find it difficult to get a standard tray package out of many manufacturers for the Amarok because it is such a wide vehicle. So I've got three handy tips if you're looking at putting a tray and canopy package on a brand new vehicle. Number one, research the tray and canopy and make sure that the weight of the package does not exceed the vehicle's GVM. Two, talk to the dealer about having it supplied without a tub or tray on the back to save a couple of dollars. And number three, talk to the dealer about rolling the purchase price of the tray and canopy into the dealer finance. These are just some of the considerations when setting up a vehicle for touring and for work. There's been a lot of misconception about the strength of chassis in these dual cab utes. Over the last three days, I've managed to look over all the vehicles and find that the chassis is roughly the same height, the same width and the same thickness of material. So they're all around 3.2 to 3.4 mm thick and they're all constructed the same way. So it's a formed sheet chassis. So you start with a flat sheet. They actually press it and form it into a c-section. So there's one on each side. It gets mounted inside of the other one and then it gets welded down both sides. So that's the same in every vehicle. There's a lot of companies out there that do do chassis bracing kits. It is important not to over-brace the chassis. All you end up doing is transferring the problem into a different area. Chassis are meant to flex with the vehicle. So if you do over-brace them, you can have cracks appear in other places within the vehicle. There's a misconception out there that you'll see a lot of Tritons with bent chassis because the chassis is weak. It could actually be the fact that the owners are putting too much weight in them and that's sitting all behind the rear axle. You don't get this kind of information anywhere else. For being able to fit a full-size canopy, the Hilux, D-MAX, Ranger and BT-50 score top marks. And the Triton and Navara get a six due to the design of their cab and the Colorado gets a seven. While the Amarok gets full points for carrying a full pallet, the fact you might find it hard to safely get a full-size tray on it, plus you might need to fork out extra money for a custom canopy, it drops a point to sit level with the Triton and Navara. We're not rattling off the features of each ute. Which one has seat warmers? Which one has the best stereo specs? We've got eight typical blokes here who will tell you how comfy they are in the real world. Let's see what they thought. The general consensus was that the Triton was the comfiest. It didn't have fancy sports seats or a leather interior. The seats were made for real blokes. It was really spacious inside and everything was simple. Some dashes were so complicated you didn't know where to look. The Triton kept things simple and we as four-wheel drivers loved it. The Amarok and Ranger were really comfy and quiet inside. Good if you're cruising around all week from job site to job site. The two least comfy were the D-Max and Colorado. The D-Max is still very basic inside. Some might like that, but there was also a lot of engine noise inside the cab. The Colorado has uncomfortable seats and everything has that cheap plastic feel. So after all the testing, here's where the numbers are We haven't yet factored in what we believe is the most important point and the biggest difference between some of these vehicles, which is price. We here at 4WD Action are all about value for money. That doesn't mean the cheapest option is the best. It means you're not wasting any money on something that is too expensive or something cheap and nasty that won't last. To do this, we're going to look at the price of all these utes and compare them to the overall scores. Some of the manufacturers gave us their high-end models, but to be fair, we need to compare So for the Ford Ranger, we're choosing the price of their XLT model, and for the Colorado, their LTZ model. We asked each of the manufacturers for the recommended retail price on a white version of each of these with no accessories. You'll almost always be able to get a better deal than these prices, but we're taking out variables to show you the cost difference. In fact, in our opinion, most top-spec models of dual-cab utes aren't a good value for money choice. You're usually paying an extra $10,000 just for a slightly nicer interior and fancy paintwork. We believe a better option is to buy a lower-spec ute and spend that money on necessary upgrades to the suspension, a good set of tyres like the Goodyears we chose, and things like brakes, a tune, transmission cooling, bar work or counterpiece. Here on the screen are the prices for all the utes. As you can see, the Triton and D-Max are considerably cheaper, and the Ranger is the most expensive by a fair margin, followed by the Hilux and Amarok. However, when it comes to value for money, we really need to mention that insane resale value you get when anything has a Toyota badge. It might cost several thousand dollars more when compared to a brand-new Triton, but it'll hold its value for much longer, making it a worthy investment. For this section, the Triton gets nine points and the D-Max eight for their great price tag. The Hilux, while more expensive, gets a seven because of resale value, and the Amarok gets a six and the Ranger a five. The most positive thing is just how close the scores are. We are really lucky to have such a good range of dual-cab utes for us to choose from in this country. As a great value for money all-round four-wheel drive and touring vehicle, the Triton takes the cake. It does have a few issues that need to be fixed, but given the price of this vehicle, you can fix them all, plus add accessories and still come out on top. Just be careful about overloading it. In second place is the trusty Hilux. It was one of the standouts off-road and didn't score less than a pass mark in everything else. There's no obvious weak points and that resale value is a big plus. That super-reliable engine and price point puts the D-Max in third place. If you put a locker in the back and upgrade the suspension, it'll be an absolute weapon. If all these utes had 200-plus thousand kilometres on them at the time of testing, you'd choose the D-Max because it won't let you down. And rounding out our top four is the mighty BT50. It's a cracking vehicle for towing or for a tradie setup because of its motor and transmission combo, plus its ability to fit that full-size canopy on it. Here's what I have to say about the rest of the field. Overall, the Colorado really hasn't made that much noise in the test, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You see, it hasn't been a star performer, but it hasn't let us down. It's just done everything sort of well, and for that, you can't really make too many bad comments about it. Now, while the Navara didn't tick all my boxes, it doesn't mean it isn't a good four-wheel-drive ute. It performed quite well in our test. It's got a factory rear locker, and in the tough stuff, it did actually perform quite well. On the sand, like we said before, it did get stuck a heck of a lot, and I think that's largely due to the fact that the engine is just a bit lacklustre. It doesn't have the same power and the same usable torque as some of the other vehicles. Now, this version here is the Wildtrak, and that means it comes with a lot of really plush inclusions like leather seats. It's got a really nice interior, but you are paying a premium for this vehicle. It is nearly $70,000, which makes it one of the most expensive vehicles on our test. Overall, I think the Ranger is a great package. It's perfect for touring, perfect for doing tough tracks, and there's a lot of accessories on the market for these things, so if you do want to make this into the ultimate tourer, well, you can. Well, there you go. After three days of testing, all the results are in, and there can only be one winner, and I'm standing in front of that winner this year for the 2020 Four-Wheel-Drive Action Ute of the Year, Mitsubishi Triton takes first place honours. Now, at the start of this test, I didn't really expect the Mitsubishi Triton to be taking out the first accolades of this whole test, but to be honest with you, there's a lot to love about this vehicle. Number one, of course, is the value for money. This is the best value for money four-wheel-drive ute on the market right now. Combine that with a really good turbo diesel engine, a bulletproof transmission, a very comfy vehicle, and you've got yourself a four-wheel-drive ute that ticks all our boxes as four-wheel-drivers, so a big congratulations to Mitsubishi for producing a ute with all of these features at a price point that is so achievable for four-wheel-drivers to get into. Now, of course, if a ute didn't come first, it doesn't mean that it's not the right ute for you, so in the If you do own a dual cab, well, tell us what you chose, why you chose it, and if you're happy with it. We're keen to go through the comments and see what you guys have to say, so that's enough for us. If you like this video, of course, make sure you like, comment, and of course, subscribe to the number one YouTube four-wheel-driving channel in all of the world of four-wheel-drive action. That's enough from us. I'll see you around next time.