The Best Truck of 2024 Is the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison

We live in a supertruck Utopia. Nearly every automaker is in on the trend, building everything from mid-size gravel missiles to full-size twin-turbo dune bashers. If you want to look rad, haul stuff, and go like hell, 2024 was the year for you.

The pick of the litter from this year’s many options came from Chevy. “But wait!,” you’ll shout, “The Colorado ZR2 came out years ago!”

You’re right, except this is the ZR2 Bison.

Why The Colorado ZR2 Bison?

The ZR2 Bison is the newest—and heretofore raddest—version of Chevy’s mid-size do-it-all. The Bison trim amps up the rock-crawling prowess of the ZR2 pickup, which is already the smoothest-riding, sickest-looking, best-handling pickup on earth.

That means 35-inch tires stock, a bevy of hearty armor cladding lining its belly, and even a camera underneath for avoiding off-road obstacles that’d otherwise take a swing at your oil pan. Plus there are locking diffs front and rear, and trick hydraulic bump stops to mitigate serious suspension hits.

These many mods make the Bison perhaps too extreme, just by a smidge, by increasing the height of the bed and limiting the view out of the rearview mirror, courtesy of a full spare wheel and tire affixed just behind the cab. Still, we’ll leap at increased capability for so few tradeoffs in civility. Everything else that made the ZR2 rewarding remains mostly untouched by the Bison glow-up.

The Bison trim amps up the rock-crawling prowess of the ZR2 pickup, which is already the smoothest-riding, sickest-looking, best-handling pickup on earth.

There’s the Colorado’s 310-horsepower, “High Output” 2.7-liter turbo four-cylinder, paired to a best-in-class eight-speed automatic; Plus the engine makes 430 pound-feet for all the crawling (and towing) power you’ll likely ever need.

And those delicious Multimatic spool-valve dampers deserve another mention. Carried over from the ZR2, these dampers offer the Bison a ride quality so good it’s beyond hyperbole. Put simply, the ZR2 is the best-handling truck ever built, and the Bison inherits that quality.

At just over $60,000, the Bison is not a cheap truck. But it’s the one that had our staff buzzing all year. If you’re in the market for the baddest truck of 2024, Bison has you covered.

Runner-Up: Toyota Tacoma Hybrid

Photo by: Ralph Hermens | Motor1

If you spent any time with the previous-generation Tacoma, the new hybrid feels like a revelation. Once you experience the new Tacoma’s torque and response, there’s no going back.

Toyota combined its turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder with an electric motor powered off a small battery mounted under the rear seats. The result is 326 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque, but numbers don’t tell the full story here. Toyota calibrated the system to perfection, so there’s ample torque available whenever you want it—this truck feels shockingly quick.

Once you experience the new Tacoma’s torque and response, there’s no going back.

This powertrain is available across a variety of Tacoma variants with broad appeal. There’s the nicely balanced and reasonably affordable TRD Sport and Off-Road trims, the luxurious Limited, the overlanding-ready Trailhunter, and the dune-bashing TRD Sport. Whatever you need, there’s a Tacoma hybrid for you.

And at the base of it all is the beloved Tacoma. This new fourth-generation model feels surprisingly light on its feet on the road, and the off-road models are as capable as basically anything. Toyota’s latest safety and infotainment tech is among the best in the auto industry right now, and of course, you get the sense that being a Tacoma, it’ll outlive all of us.

— Chris Perkins, Senior Editor

Runner-Up: Ford F-150

Photo by: Ralph Hermens | Motor1

The Ford F-150 is now in its 42nd year with the title of America’s best-selling vehicle, so seeing it near the top of this list is probably unsurprising. The 2024 model year saw minor tweaks to give this already-great truck modernized styling, more standard features, and a more-powerful twin-turbo V-6 base motor.

The refresh also added some new high-tech goodies, such as Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free driving assistance, the debut of the split-access (and ingenious) Pro Access Tailgate, and the hybrid models’ Pro Power Onboard that allows an F-150 to serve as a giant power-tool battery for days on end. The updated Tremor package is sure to please the ever-growing crowd of overlanders, as well.

The Ford F-150 is now in its 42nd year with the title of America’s best-selling vehicle, so seeing it near the top of this list is probably unsurprising.

These were all great additions to the F-150, but the real reason it’s on this list is the same reason it’s outsold every vehicle in America for four decades: It’s the best truck to get some real work done with. It can out-tow and out-haul every other full-size half-ton on the market. Its cabin focuses on user-friendliness, with easy-to-use buttons and knobs complimented with a readable, quick infotainment interface. Despite its rugged nature, it rides and handles comfortably. The variety of drivetrain options—from highly efficient hybrids all the way up to the Raptor R’s supercharged V-8—fits almost every imaginable use case and job site.

There are competing full-size trucks with more luxurious touches or big-screen high-tech features, but for the workers of the world who need a truck to be a truck, the F-150 is impossible to beat. Its new facelift for 2024 took an excellent truck and made it just a bit better, with a bit more to offer to everyone. The F-150 deserves to retain its title as America’s favorite.

— Victoria Scott, Staff Writer