It's hard to escape pickup trucks nowadays. They're everywhere in the US and Canada, and for a few good reasons. They're mostly affordable, endlessly practical, comfortable, come equipped with tons of modern tech, and can be used for the most demanding tasks you can imagine throwing at them. This includes everything from hauling scrap metal to being a suitable stand-in for the family minivan.

Really, modern trucks are great, but unless you're willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on the most hopped-up Ford SVT Raptors and Ram Rebels, you're generally not going to find yourself behind the wheel of something exciting. But that doesn't mean all trucks are boring, or that you necessarily need to spend a fortune on one to have a good time.

This list will cover 10 of the most interesting, coolest, and some of the best driving pickup trucks that you can buy for under $20,000. The values of these trucks were researched in Canadian dollars, and are current at the time of writing.

10 Toyota Tacoma X-Runner

Toyota Tacoma X-Runner
via driving.ca

The Toyota Tacoma is a great truck in any form. It is our Hilux, our go-to pickup for dependability and long-term reliability. It's an argument made over and over again in favour of Toyota, but like another common argument against Toyota, the Tacoma isn't exactly exciting. At least, every Tacoma but the X-Runner edition. This is a pared-back RWD performance truck, with lowered double-wishbone suspension with Bilstein shocks, chassis bracing, and a 240 hp 4.0l V6 with a 6-speed manual transmission.

9 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning

Ford F-150 SVT Lightning
via performance.ford.com

Ford made a big splash recently with the unveiling of the new Bronco, but if there's another model that Ford needs to revive it's this: the F-150 Lightning. This pumped-up supertruck used a 5.4l V8 with forged internals and a supercharger that put out a whopping 380 horsepower and 450 pounds-feet of torque. That was enough to send this single-cab, short bed truck from 0-60 mph in just over 5 seconds. It came with both manual and automatic transmissions, either option was equally adept at producing otherworldly burnouts.

8 GMC Syclone

GMC Syclone
via thecargossip.com

After its demise in 1987, the spirit of the Buick Grand National lived on into the 90s under the hood of this fantastic little truck. Like the GN, the Syclone used a turbocharged V6, in this case, a 4.3l unit that put 280 horsepower and 360 lbs/ft of torque to the ground through all four wheels. It's a quick truck even today, but back in the early-90s, it was one of the fastest production vehicles you could buy, handily out-pacing some of Europe's finest sports cars and embarrassing the American institution that is the Chevy Corvette.

RELATED: 10 Pickups That Are Faster Than A Muscle Car

7 Chevrolet Silverado 454 SS

Chevrolet Silverado 454 SS
via fastlanecars.com

General Motors wasn't about to let GMC have all the performance truck fun. This battle-weary bruiser is the 1991 Chevy Silverado 454 SS, and it is nothing short of monstrous. Its thundering 7.4l V8 (454 cubic-inches, hence the name) was largely unrestricted by emissions regulations and put out 255 horsepower and over 400 pounds-feet of twist. Otherwise it was just a simple, handsome truck that you could theoretically use for hauling priceless antique furniture, as long as you have good control of your right foot.

6 Ford F-350 7.3l Powerstroke Diesel

Ford F-350 Powerstroke
via ford-trucks.com

A big diesel hauler might not necessarily be an "exciting" truck, but with an engine like the 7.3l Powerstroke turbodiesel V8 you needn't worry about being beaten off the line by some hotshot in an X-Runner Tacoma. The engine has tons of tuning potential if you want to go fast (or, more realistically, increase your towing capacity), but even stock it makes gobs of torque, and the available manual transmission will have you feeling like a semi-truck driver...until you pull up next to one of those at the lights and realize how massive they really are.

RELATED: 15 Biggest Pickup Trucks Ever Made

5 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel

Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins
via cargurus.com

There's something about the Cummins 6BT inline-6 diesel engine that draws truck people back to the Ram, despite its poor interior quality, tendency to rust away and other unavoidable Chrysler Corporation issues. It's such a great engine that buyers can overlook some of these faults and hang onto these trucks for as long as the engine keeps ticking over, which it will for hundreds of thousands of miles.

4 Dodge Dakota Convertible

Dodge Dakota Convertible
via motor1.com

This is a very different Dodge truck from a very different time. The Dakota was Chrysler's answer to the Mazda B-series, Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma and plenty of others that popped up during the mini truck boom of the 80s and 90s. What separates this Dakota is its factory-option convertible top. It wasn't some dicey aftermarket job, you really could walk into a showroom and buy one of these. This made it the ideal truck for beachcombers, surfers and anyone else in a sunny climate, but you won't find too many of them much further north than the upper reaches of California.

3 Chevrolet SSR

Chevrolet SSR
via hagerty.com

This is another convertible truck that you're not likely to find anywhere, such was its lacklustre sales performance. But, taken on merit, the SSR is actually quite a cool vehicle. It's not even the worst example of modern-retro styling.

It came with a 5.7l V8 that later grew to 6.0 liters, a power-folding metal top and even an optional 6-speed manual transmission. Don't think this is some kind of Aussie-inspired muscle ute though, it still rides on a truck frame so it doesn't have the same handling characteristics as something car-based would.

RELATED: 15 Strange And Cool GM Cars You Forgot About

2 Hummer H3T

Hummer H3T
via tflcar.com

The Hummer H3 was one of the most unfortunate victims of GM's restructuring in 2009, particularly the "T" variant with a pickup bed. It's a model that could have evolved with the times, and would absolutely print money for GM nowadays with our insatiable appetite for SUVs and trucks. The H3T lasted only one year, 2009, and was killed with fewer than 3,000 units sold. Still, they're out there, and you can easily pick one up under $20,000.

1 Ford Explorer Sport Trac Adrenalin

Ford Explorer Sport Trac Adrenalin
via topspeed.com

The Ford Explorer Sport Trac is very close in philosophy to the Hummer H3T; an SUV that lost its rear hatch and grew a pickup bed. The model existed from 1999 to 2011, when Ford killed it pending a massive refresh to the Explorer that unfortunately saw it move from a truck-based body-on-frame design to an FWD unibody design.

But, before the Sport Trac met its untimely demise, Ford sent it off with a hopped-up performance model called "Adrenalin," noteworthy for two things: it continues this truck's dumb naming scheme by losing the last letter of the word "adrenaline," and it has a 300 horsepower 4.6l V8, rear-wheel drive for nasty burnouts and an upgraded exhaust system.

NEXT: These Rare Trucks Are Surprisingly Cheap